- Zadie Smith, from "Fences: A Brexit Diary" from her Feel Free: Essays collection.
Smith's analysis of Brexit, combined with astute and relevant antidotes from her life and those around her, all combined with her usual powerful writing, is one of the best things that I've read in some time. I highly recommend it. One thought-provoking sentence:
"While we loudly and rightly condemn the misguided racial attitudes that led to millions asking "them" to leave "us," to get out of our jobs and public housing and hospitals and schools and country, we might also take a look at the last thirty years and ask ourselves what kind of attitudes have allowed a different class of people to discreetly maneuver, behind the scenes, to ensure that "them" and "us" never actually meet anywhere but in symbol. ... In this atmosphere of hypocrisy and deceit, should the working-class poor have shown themselves to be the "better man" when all around them is corruption and venality? When everyone's building a fence, isn't it a true fool who lives out in the open?"
Powerful stuff, and relevant not only to her native England but what's occurring in the US as well.
