Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire

Racist insults leave you feeling dirty because, even at five years old, we already know on some level that, in this society at least, we are indeed lesser citizens with all the baggage of racialised history following us ghost-like about our days. We are conquered people living in the conquerors’ land, and as such we are people without honour. At five years old we are already conscious of the offence caused by our black body turning up in the wrong space, and have begun to internalise the negative ideas about blackness so present in the culture.

Akala’s book takes a critical look at the British class system, its interplay with a history of white supremacy. Akala, a mixed-race British activist/Singer, uses this book to analyse his experience growing up and how Britain’s racial history influences and shapes events for black children, especially in the UK. It explores the silent thesis that suggests the intellectual inferiority of black children, the animalistic/violent instincts, the docile nature of black people even during their emancipation and how history might have been rewritten to fit that narrative.

The book explores the future of racial relationships and calls for a reform of the educational system that will strip off negative stereotypes and push especially black children towards realising their full potential.