Review: 'No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey Through the American South'

It’s taken me a while to write this review of Gary Younge’s book ‘No Place Like Home: A Black Briton’s Journey Through the American South’ largely because of other obligations and, admittedly, forgetfulness. Since finishing this book I just needed to write a review, and have been sitting on this for a few weeks now.

The book focuses largely on the journey of the Freedom Riders, a group of black and white activists who decided to challenge a decision by the United States Supreme Court. Despite the decision, that stated public buses were no longer segregated, the law remained unenforced in most states, especially in the Deep South. A group of black and white activists decided to challenge this non-enforcement by embarking on a journey, via public bus, through the Deep South. They refused to “correctly” use segregated facilities, from the seating areas to the facilities in bus stations. The reaction they received was beyond anything they could have imagined. They were mobbed, violently beaten, hospitalised, their buses were set on fire and eventually they were arrested.

Journalist Gary Younge decided, 36 years later, to retrace their route, visiting key sights and interviewing a variety of people along the way. More than just a simple historio-travelogue, ‘No Place Like Home’ has entrenched within its pages a political polemic about racist practices today in both America and Britain.

Younge was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, to Barbadian parents, and grew up in the care of his mother, who instilled in him a deep sense of racial identity. Younge devotes his opening chapter detailing his own upbringing right up to an incident on a bus in Brighton, where, as part of a group of black youth visiting Brighton, his bus was attacked by skinheads. As he decides to embark on his own Freedom Ride, he recalls this memory that had been previous buried deep in his memory.

This mini-autobiography prefacing the rest of the book isn’t mere indulgence on Younge’s part. Not only

does it allow us to see what sparked Younge’s interest in the Freedom Riders, it also gives us an idea of British racism, as the book uses America and the Freedom Riders not just to polemicize against American society, but towards Britain as well. My favourite quote happens very early on, when he notes why race is such an issue in America and seemingly non-existent in Britain (by that I mean, not really outwardly spoken about):

“In Britain you are encouraged to keep your racial identity under lock and key; in America you are a slave to it”

In Britain, we don’t talk about it. A colleague describing Younge would use every word except “black”. In America, meanwhile, McDonalds post adverts in African-American magazines promoting the contributions of its black workers.

The problem of this sense of “lacking” in Britain is that you feel like you have this big secret, and whenever you mention the topic of race you’re “bringing up the race thing” you’re “forcing it down their throats”. This doesn’t mean America is so liberal in its attitude. In America, your race defines you; segregation occurs on a much larger scale than in Britain. You are told “you are black, here is where you live, this is where you work and this is what you like”.

Amongst many things, Younge’s book really helped me verbalise my thoughts on the Trayvon-Zimmerman trial. Many people around me acted as if the shooting of an unarmed  person of colour and the acquittal of the murderer could only happen in America. I actually wrote an article entitled “The British Trayvon Martin: Muhammed Asghar”. This was a similar case, where a man clearly in the wrong was acquitted with murder on “self-defence” grounds. Click the link if you wish to find out more.

The question of black people in Britain appeals to me in particular, as in Britain, my race does feel a bit like a secret. I am white in appearance, and when I tell people I’m mixed race they are just startled and avoid asking the question that’s burning in their minds: “why do you look so white then?”. Younge’s book got me thinking, what would it be like if I was American? Would I be able to openly say “I’m mixed race” without feeling like I’m “shoving it down people’s throats”? Would I be able to comfortably delve into black history and reggae music without people accusing me of acting something they insist I am not? What would be the price of this apparent “freedom”?

‘No Place Like Home’ provided me with a thoroughly intriguing and entertaining read, and certain phrases and occurrences will remain ingrained on my memory for a long time. Still, a few weeks after reading it, I find myself asking questions and debating internally some of the arguments Younge presents. Finally, if you are looking for something to compliment the book, I recommend the documentary “Freedom Riders” on the PBS website (possibly could be found elsewhere). I think it’s important to have a visual representation of events, and the documentary certainly does this with interviews and pictures.

-Khia Reynolds

US Supreme Court leaves Minority Voters Unprotected

So much has happened recently, that I couldn’t decide what to write about for this blog post. The Wendy Davis ruling managed to get a few paragraphs written about it before I changed my mind. The privatisation of student loans nearly received a mention, but I think it’s a little too early for me to say anything concrete. I haven’t read enough on the “concentration camps” in Greece to write much, and the Stephen Lawrence/police spies overwhelms me a little. So I decided to write about something not so big here in the UK, the supreme court ruling in the US that meant a 50-year-old civil rights law was struck down by the supreme court, which will leave minority voters unprotected.  

If you’ve never heard of the law and don’t know what this means, like me until a few days ago, let me quickly explain. The 50-year-old law, which some say was the most important civil rights law ever passed by congress, prevented states with backgrounds of racial discrimination from making any changes to electoral rules without seeking permission form the federal authorities. For example, this meant they could not suddenly introduce literacy tests that would prevent many minority voters from registering .

The reason given for striking down the law was that racial discrimination in the south was just not significant today. On a completely unrelated note, loved and admired Southern TV chef Paula Deen admitted to using “n****r” more than once, and expressed a wish to throw a plantation-themed wedding party, complete with black slaves.

Gary Younge wrote an excellent article for the Guardian, where he puts into words so succinctly something I’ve been trying to express for a long time now; “racism is now more subtle, not that it has disappeared. They have taken down the offensive signs but continued the offensive practice”. I keep trying to tell people, just because the USA has a black president, and black people aren’t being lynched anymore, it doesn’t mean racism is effectively over. Replacing these old, racist practices are more subtle ones. You don’t call people “n****r” these days (unless you’re Paula Deen of course), now you introduce cuts and withdraw laws that just so happen to affect minorities as a by-product.

The impact of this issue has been rather cushioned by the Wendy Davis filibuster. Of course, it’s obvious why. Nobody stood on a podium and argued for minority rights for 11-hours, the offending party (the republicans) were not defeated. Here in the UK, the ruling barely made the news because it quickly happened with no opposition. Simply: “by the way, minority groups are no longer protected, racism is over, have a nice day” and that’s all the attention the case receives.

I can possibly pin down the reason for my being so annoyed as a result of my recent reading. For my dissertation I started reading Caribbean literature and about the experience of black people in the UK. As a result I’ve read about events like this new ruling happened again and again that were supposedly not racist. I’m annoyed because no matter how many times people say it, racism isn’t over. We can’t just forget what happened in the past, as I seem to see many people claiming in their “but slavery was ages ago!” speeches.

I did want to write about the Wendy Davis filibuster, as it was a big step in the feminist movement. However, I feel the minority ruling was so important to talk about, not because of any difference in importance, but because I felt that the media attention that case has received, and continues to receive, is already sufficient. Now, if Rick Perry goes ahead and somehow passes the anti-abortion law anyway, people will know about it. I feel that because the minority ruling deserves more attention, as I’ve seen very little about it here in the UK. If a state suddenly excluded a minority group from voting through a change in electoral rules, we’d probably not know about it unless we were the victims of it. And that, is a rather sad state of affairs.

-Khia