The Hate Race
Maxine Beneba Clarke

The Hate Race
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Review
by Mark Rubbo
Maxine Beneba Clarke’s father was the first in his family to go university. They were working class, from Tottenham, a suburb of London. He’d shown a talent for mathematics and became an academic; her mother was an actress. They were a bright young couple with a bright future in England so people were surprised when Bordeaux Clarke accepted a teaching position at a University in Western Sydney and he and his wife Cleo moved to Kellyville in Sydney’s west. There they proceeded to have three children. Their middle daughter, Maxine, grew up to become a poet and writer of great note.
Apart from their education and culture, what made the Clarke family different from the usual English migrants was their Afro Caribbean heritage – they were black. What is it like to be black in Australia? The Hate Race is an attempt to explain what it feels like to suffer a lifetime of constant slights that range from comments yelled from a passing car, ‘Fuck off, you black bitch’, to the more restrained but just as hurtful, ‘Maxine you are a very, very nasty little black girl.’ To navigate this while growing up was a constant strain. Maxine’s wonderful mother would try to support her, reminding her that they were only words, but words did hurt her, they ‘hurt inside my heart’.
I felt a sense of shame reading this book; shame that I, that my society, were not better. But I also felt that this moving, beautifully crafted memoir was something that we should all read because it could teach us how not to be. I wondered: could I hurt someone because they were different, had I? You can’t read this book and not be affected by it; you can’t read this book and not be astounded by the force of its writing. It will be something you want to discuss with your friends, with your world.
Mark Rubbo is the Managing Director of Readings.
This item is in-stock and will ship in 2-3 business days
We are currently experiencing delays in processing and delivering online orders. Click here for more information.
Please note, our stock data is updated overnight, and availability may change throughout the day. Prices are subject to change without notice.Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.

The White Girl
$24.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

City of Trees: Essays on Life, Death and the Need for a Forest
$19.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

The Adversary
$29.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

The Fogging
$29.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

The Hate Race
$22.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Kokomo
$32.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

The Glad Shout
$19.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Ghost Species
$29.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male Power
$32.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

The Purpose of Power
$35.00Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Caste
$35.00Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Anti-Racist Ally
$14.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

I’m Still Here
$29.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Me and White Supremacy
$29.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man
$34.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Greyboy: Finding Blackness in a White World
$29.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

In the Dream House
$22.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Uncanny Valley: A Memoir
$27.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music
$32.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Jack Charles: Born-again Blakfella
$34.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Unfollow
$32.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Sontag: Her Life
$59.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...

The Way Through the Woods: Of Mushrooms and Mourning
$35.00Buy now
Finding stock availability...

Olive Cotton
$49.99Buy now
Finding stock availability...