Orecchio Acerbo

These are pictures of the cosy setting which constitutes the much respected Italian publisher of children's books called Orecchio Acerbo. My host in Rome and my "ex- close friend" is Author in Residence there; since the publisher is a close friend of his, he spends some months every year living in that building which is how I got to see inside.

You'd think I got to meet the publisher herself too but thanks to whatever kind of introduction my ex-close friend gave about me, I was told the publisher "didn't know what to say to me". I was so staggered by the stupidity of the reason, that I didn't pursue it further.

Contrast that with Montreal where my Quebecois  friends would introduce me to their close friends saying, "These are my friends and I hope they will be yours too".

I was once taken to a birthday party in Montreal where the host, a friend of a friend told me in her broken English that she didn't speak English very well, but I was welcome in her home. That was all she might have said to me, but at the party I was never for a moment made to feel alone and that evening will always remain one of my happier memories of Montreal.

In spite of all this, the setting of Orecchio Acerbo is beautiful, therefore it makes its way into my blog. Enjoy the pictures.

This is what structural racism looks like. It is not just about personal prejudice, but the collective effects of bias. It is the kind of racism that has the power to drastically affect people’s life chances. These highly educated, high-earning white men are very likely to be in positions that influence others’ lives – teaching, prosecuting, examining college applicants and hiring staff. They are almost certainly the kind of people who set workplace cultures.

They are unlikely to boast about their politics with colleagues or acquaintances because of the social stigma attached to holding racist views. Their racism is covert. It doesn’t reveal itself in spitting at strangers in the street. Instead, it lies in an apologetic smile while telling a non-white employee that they didn’t get the promotion. It manifests itself in a CV tossed in the bin because the applicant has a foreign-sounding name. Racism is woven into the fabric of our world. This demands a collective redefinition of what it means to be racist and what we must do to end it.

We must see who benefits from their race, who is affected by negative stereotyping of theirs, and on whom power and privilege is bestowed – not just because of their race, but also their class and gender. Seeing race is essential to changing the system.

~ Reni Eddo-Lodge