Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2023. Oluo argues that the school-to-prison pipeline starts very early for brown and Black individuals as their behavior in school is criminalized. eNotes.com, Inc. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. In 2020, Ijeoma Oluo's 2018 book "So You Want to Talk About Race" became a bestseller (again). This book is ideal for white people who are feeling like they are not overtly racist but want to understand more about ways in which they have benefitted from structures and practices in our society that made it easier for them, even if they did not realize this. I wanted to discover a book that I could recommend to friends and to people that I think are genuinely interested in understanding how people of color often think and feel and to be able to inhabit/formulate/grok a point of view that might be different from their own. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. [5] Oluo makes the argument that America's political, economic and social systems are systematically/institutionally racist. Teachers and parents! So You Want to Talk About Race Quotes Showing 1-30 of 403 "When we identify where our privilege intersects with somebody else's oppression, we'll find our opportunities to make real change." Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race tags: oppression , privilege , privileges , social-justice , social-justice-power 175 likes Like This. [1][7][6] Oluo argues that use of the word "nigger" or other racial slurs by white people is not appropriate even if the intention is ironic or the motive anti-racist. To illustrate her point further, Oluo shares a story of when she and her brother were little and were called this derogatory term by a group of white schoolchildren, discussing the long-term effects of this. Last Updated on August 5, 2020, by eNotes Editorial. Courtesy of Da Capo Press. Shes the author of the New York Times Best-Seller. Maybe I prefer the one that I read first because I read it first, or maybe I prefer the first author's style. With honesty and energy, Oluo also offers a wealth of discussion about Black hair and how she came to love her own hair. I was admittedly hoping for more on model minorities, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans and Native Americans. Read it, then let your friends read it. Oluo sees missed opportunities in the dismantling of affirmative action policies over the past few decades. Go. The book is divided into chapters that tackle issues such as the myth that class is a bigger problem . It is about race if it fits into a broader pattern of events that disproportionately or differently affect people of color.. "Simply put: Ijeoma Oluo is a necessary voice and intellectual for these times, and any time, truth be told, New York Times-bestselling author of You Can't Touch My Hair, Oluo is out to help put words to action, which at this day and age, might be exactly what we need, Harper's Bazaar (Named a Top 10 Book of the Year), New York Times-bestselling author of Shrill, writer, activist, filmmaker, and executive producer of Surviving R. Kelly, and a writer and speaker whose work on race has been featured in the. I am scared and I am hurting and we are dying. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. In this New York Times bestseller, Ijeoma Oluo offers a hard-hitting but user-friendly examination of race in America. In a difficult conversation on cultural appropriation, Oluo suggests that we listen carefully to marginalized people before adopting their cultural products. This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt. That year, Jessica Natale also surpassed 1 million Instagram followers with "@soyouwanttotalkabout." After Natale announced a book deal, Oluo accused her of capitalizing off her anti-racism work. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. In So You Want to Talk About Race , Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life. It does not feel fair to describe it as impassive, as Oluo often explores painful memories from her past to illustrate some of the phenomena that she is trying to explain. Absolutnie nie odwayabym si ocenia tej ksiki w skali gwiazdkowej. It is easy to compare her to other members of this movement, writers such as Morgan Jerkins, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, and Roxane Gay. I thought I would get more out of this read than I did based on the strong recommendations. Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2023. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. This book is probably the most informative work on current racial issues. Even fiction guides in some cases have to have a little bit of study to verify These are factually appropriate So You Want to Talk About Race Before now, Ive hardly ever experienced a passion about looking through textbooks So You Want to Talk About Race The one time that I ever read through a ebook deal with to deal with was back at school . Please try again. I'm finding it harder and harder to not just give into frustration and emotion, so I appreciated this book for its perspective of "this is very hard, and it hurts a lot, but we need to talk about it and here is how.". Oluo closes by reminding her readers that the goal of all these uncomfortable conversations about race isnt to help privileged people feel better by talking things out. The racism required to uphold White Supremacy is woven into every area of our lives. While white readers are going to gain insight on hard-to-understand-unless-you've-lived-it topics in So You Want to Talk About Race, readers of color generally will find camaraderie and a resource in Ijeoma Oluo's conversational approach to race, racism, and racial violence in America.. Our politics, our education system, our infrastructure - anywhere there is a finite amount of power, influence, visibility, wealth, or opportunity. "Nonfiction Book Review: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. Oluo acknowledges that many white people, including her own mother, often unintentionally say insensitive or hurtful things during conversations about race. It should always be anger-inducing. Ale prawdopodobnie to by cel autorki, ebymy nie zapomnieli i wycignli z tej ksiki jak najwiecej. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. (Goal is representational employment). I stayed up late into the night reading this. I WAS going to write a thoughtful and fair review. AA teaches POC and women that they don't have to work as hard. What one person might see as small inconsequential actions have the cumulative weight of life experience. Aside from Americanah, So You Want to Talk About ." PATI on Instagram: "It's our responsibility to educate ourselves. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. Our police force was not created to serve black Americans; it was created to police black Americans and serve white Americans., Conversations on racism should never be about winning., Our humanity is worth a little discomfort, it's actually worth a lot of discomfort., I know that it's hard to believe that the people you look to for safety and security are the same people who are causing us so much harm. This book really isnt an analysis of race issues. Regardless of the difference in stars I rated them, they are both must-reads and cover a lot of common ground and I recommend them both (but this one less than Eddo-Lodge's). "[17] The New York Times listed the book in its "New & Noteworthy" column. Oluo had evidence that this statement was not true and said so. While it is easy to mistake the title as tongue-in-cheek, it is quite literal. Sorry, there was a problem loading this page. In opening up a discussion about examining ones privileges, Oluo writes that everyone has some privileges, and it is best to acknowledge these at the outset of a conversation. Oluo responded that future editions of the book would instead use the term "indigenous peoples". Thus, Oluo advocates that the fight for social justice has to be intersectional. Worth every penny-very practically and neutrally explains themes in systemic racism, Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2020. Her goal is to force readers to wade out into uncomfortable social territory without making them feel too overwhelmed or upset to keep reading. For example, in the chapter What If I Talk About Race Wrong? Oluo offers six ways to handle a conversation that has gone awry. . Please try again. The books arguments rarely rely on facts or statistics and in the few instances where statistics are cited the author often confuses correlation with causation. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. Oluos interview with Dolezal, entitled The Heart of Whiteness, was published in 2017. Black students make up only 16 percent of our school populations, she reminds readers, and yet 31 percent of students who are suspended and 40 percent of students who are expelled are black. Oluo urges readers to talk about these staggering statistics, and not just in activist circles. The way George Floyd was murdered is horrifying and heartbreaking. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app. Words and behavior matter. So You Want to Talk About Race is a 2018 non-fiction book written by Ijeoma Oluo, an American author of Nigerian descent whose columns and news articles on race have appeared in The Guardian, The Stranger, and Jezebel, among other places. Oluo references President Kennedys 1964 establishment of affirmative action (programs designed to reduce systemic inequality in education and federal employment), and President Reagans 1983 legislation to defund affirmative action. As simple as the premise of these chapters may seem to some, they are vitally important. This becomes, possibly, the one negative with Oluos book for those who know her from her active online persona and viral essays/articles and might be expecting some of that spirit here. While Gays extremely personal essays are vulnerable and powerful, it does not seem fair to compare them to Oluos. 2. For the next week, this platform will be dedicated to sharing the . Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2023. Her censorship triggered a huge controversy because it implicated Facebook as a company that censors people who post about social justice. As a result, the book might feel out-of-date to some and stale to some readers, especially those who regularly engage in conversations about race through social media or read Oluos online work. Oluo then moves into a discussion of police brutality by presenting some stark statistics: She asks readers to understand and consider that American police forces evolved from Night Patrols, used to control Black and Native American populations in New England, and slave patrols that returned fugitive slaves to their masters. "So You Want to Talk About Race - Summary" eNotes Publishing Unlike many other scholarly works on race, this book uses language that is accessible and could even be used in an AP Language course. Oluo argues that this slur reminds people of color of a history of enslavement, lynching, and violence. White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? As Oluo concludes her book, she urges readers not to be content with just talking about systemic racism: readers should also take action by voting for local officials, participating in school systems, supporting businesses owned by people of color, and boycotting banks that exploit people of color. You dont have to totally get it to know that you dont want to continue doing something that hurts people., And if you are white in a white supremacist society, you are racist. What we do now is important and helpful so long as what we do now is what is needed now., Systemic racism is a machine that runs whether we pull the levers or not, and by just letting it be, we are responsible for what it produces. 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