Beyond Skin Colour - A Review of 'Strength of Soul' by Naomi Raquel Enright

An anti-racist book that rejects "race"

Sharon Hurley Hall
November 13, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Hello friends,

Can you simultaneously be staunchly anti-racist while firmly rejecting the fiction of "race"? Naomi Raquel Enright's Strength of Soul* does that, and much more.

Ably combining narratives of lived experience with academic underpinnings, this highly readable book is part memoir, part exhortation for us to examine the way we view the world and move through it.

I've been lucky enough to share virtual space with Naomi regularly over the past several years and have huge respect for both her intellect (or perhaps I should say learnedness) and her excellent writing. I consider her one of my best teachers in the area of multiculturalism and she has caused me to question things I took for granted in both my work and life. (I have a multicultural household of my own.)

And so I was really looking forward to this book.

The title comes from a quote from Adrienne Rich which talks about what it takes to define yourself and be seen and heard despite being omitted from common narratives about the world. (And, as the author shows, despite the efforts of those around you to sway you in a direction that doesn't feel true to you.)

It's something Naomi does again and again. As we read, we learn of her upbringing in a multiethnic, multicultural family, and of the decisions her parents made that gave her a firm sense of self and what was right and wrong in this area from very young. We see Naomi as a young adult taking these lessons to her college experience and then her work, and then we see her forming a multiethnic and multicultural family of her own.

Living Beyond the Fiction of “Race”

A key decision was to ensure that her white presenting son understood the fullness of who he is beyond the fiction of "race" and could live from that truth. (Check out her essay There Is Only Us for an update on this.)

There is Only Us

To begin the work of antiracism from an “us and them” standpoint is anathema to functioning differently. We must function differently..

www.antiracismnewsletter.com/p/there-is-only-us-naomi-raquel

This book makes you feel. I personally related to two of the most poignant experiences Naomi shares, experiences she had multiple times. The first, the surprise and shock that a woman who was brown skinned could have a white father (something my own daughter has experienced quite a few times.) The second, when she was assumed to be her son's carer rather than his parent. That happened to me quite a few times when my daughter was young. (Side note: when I say racism is global, this is one example because we had similar experiences in two completely different countries.)

When asked to summarize her story in just a few words as part of a training course, Naomi says: “No, I'm not adopted. Yes, he is my biological son.”

A Tapestry and a Treatise

Strength of Soul is both a tapestry and a treatise showing how we can approach the question of humanity differently while continuing to undermine the harmful fiction of "race" that racism supports. (If the formulation of that last sentence made you think, the book will explain it.)

Near the end, there's a 10-point plan for what we must all acknowledge to build a post racist post white supremacist society. This radical approach has the potential to transform how we live and is worth paying attention to. Naomi urges us to rewrite our narratives for as she points out: "Our stories are not written in our faces."

I read this book quickly, but I plan to read it again and I know it will stay with me, as Naomi's writing and conversations often do. I believe it will make readers ask uncomfortable questions that are needed as we tackle racism together. So buy it, read it, absorb it - you'll be glad you did - and be sure to follow Naomi on LinkedIn for more.

10 Standout Quotes from Strength of Soul

As always, I'd like to share a few standout quotes:

“Race is not intrinsic to human beings but rather an identity created, often by socially dominant groups, to establish meaning in a social context. This often involves the suppression of groups defined as racially inferior.”
“This society has categorized people by skin color for generations, so a family like mine, who defies the assumption of skin color as both definer and affinity, unsettles people in many ways.”
“One of the most horrible consequences of an ideology of racial difference and whiteness and their results, racism and white supremacy, is that they strip black and brown people of their humanity and allow white people not to see themselves in black and brown people.”
“Ever since my son was born, I have refused to accept his "whiteness". I believe my son's physical appearance does not tell his story.”
"I think in order to deal with the real issues, it is racism we need to name every time. Not race. Race is part of why systemic racism was created and why it has continued to thrive."
“We cannot even begin to think of challenging systemic racism if we accept the foundation that created it.”
"No, I'm not adopted. Yes, he is my biological son. My experience with racism is that it is the status quo."
“It is unacceptable that as a result of an ideology of racial difference and white supremacy, white people are more often than not in positions of power and black and brown people are not.”
“No one in this society should accept racist narratives they privilege and protect whiteness while simultaneously disenfranchising and criminalising blackness and brownness. It is the acceptance of those narratives they gives white supremacy and systemic racism the power they require to thrive.”
“The descendants of African slaves have been cut off from their roots by force, but the descendants of Europeans who grabbed ahold of whiteness have been cut off from their roots by choice. To be so disconnected from one's ancestral past is psychologically harmful.”

Have you read Strength of Soul? How did it land with you?

Thanks for reading,

Sharon

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