Tomiwa Owolade

• Comment: I'm sorry, but you haven't made significant progress since the last review: the first sentences are still excessively sourced, whereas other statements don't even have a single citation.
  Plus, I'd argue that "This is Not America" might need a separate Wiki-article, since I don't think this is the right place to address the critical reception of the book. Oltrepier (talk) 15:24, 4 November 2023 (UTC)

• Comment: "Not so, Owolade rightly insists" is not neutral language. Framing should be in terms of what the subject says, and responses from critics, without editorialising. Greenman (talk) 09:23, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

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Tomiwa Owolade (born 1996) is a Nigerian-born journalist and author based in London, England.

Biography

Owolade was born in Nigeria in 1996 and moved to London in 2005. He studied English at Queen Mary, University of London and earned a postgraduate degree in English from University College London. He was one of the judges at the UCL Orwell Political Fiction Prize in 2023.

He has written for The Observer, The Times, The Telegraph, New Statesman and other t British newspapers and magazines.

He is interested in films, especially the films of Alfred Hitchcock, Wong Kar-Wai, Richard Linklater, and Michael Haneke.

In 2023, Owolade published the book This is Not America, in which he argues that "too much of the conversation around race in Britain is viewed through the prism of American ideas that don't reflect the history, challenges and achievements of increasingly diverse black populations at home. If we want to build a long-lasting and more effective anti-racist agenda - one that truly values black British communities - we must acknowledge that crucial differences exist between Britain and America; that we are talking about distinct communities and cultures, distinguished by language, history, class, religion and national origin."

Goodreads describes the book as "Humane, empirical and passionate, this book promises to start a new conversation about race and, vitally, shed light on black British life today." Reviewing it in The Guardian, Colin Grant called it a "timely intervention into the politics of identity", and concluded that “Even when two nations speak the same language, [race] can be lost in translation.” His book shows that in this country’s polarising culture wars its attitude towards race is being shaped by the enlightened and the bigots in the US. But he concludes: “To define someone exclusively by their race is to acquiesce to the visions of racists.” and Tony Sewell wrote in The Telegraph that it is "a sensible study of racism, unravelling the important differences between the UK and the US." Pratinav Anil writing in The Times , where it was book of the week in June 2023, explained that it looks in detail at the challenge of a patronising attitude that Owalade abhors "Such well-meaning condescension offends Owolade’s sensibility because he is an “integrationist”. Take your pick, his critics argue: you can be black or British. He takes umbrage at the “woke Powellism” of Kehinde Andrews, a professor of black studies at Birmingham City University who calls for independent black institutions and safe spaces to safeguard black people from racism