![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Ijeoma Oluo is a writer and journalist who has focused on writing about misogynoir, intersectionality, online harassment, the Black Lives Matter movement, race, economics, parenting, feminism and social justice. Now she has written a book, So You Want To Talk about Race, which brings together her thinking on these topics in an accessible introduction to the basic concepts of the discourse, for the person who wants to enter the conversation on racism in a useful way.
She tackles the hard questions head-on, with clear examples and plenty of practical metaphors to get the important ideas across. In each chapter, she addresses a different, common area of discussion around race, and provides specific ideas about how to tackle the issues, what things to keep in mind, even, where relevant, key facts for engaging in argument. The topics she covers are wide.ranging, and important. The intersectionality of race and class that pushes back against the idea that policies aimed at reducing poverty are also going to resolve race-based poverty. The definition of racism as a structural phenomenon, not an individual one, and how that affects the discourse. The effect of micro-agressions. What privilege is, and why you need to check it. The depth of misogynoir (google it) in our society, and why it hurts black women so badly. The politics of cultural appropriation. Social issues such as affirmative action and the school-to-prison pipeline.
This is more than just an introduction to concepts. It is also a training manual, in a sense, that addresses the issue of how to have a productive conversation about race. It’s an important book for anyone, and particularly anyone white who genuinely wants to talk about issues of racism without harming the people of colour you’re talking to. And for those who want to engage with those who seem ignorant about racism, but teachable.
She tackles the hard questions head-on, with clear examples and plenty of practical metaphors to get the important ideas across. In each chapter, she addresses a different, common area of discussion around race, and provides specific ideas about how to tackle the issues, what things to keep in mind, even, where relevant, key facts for engaging in argument. The topics she covers are wide.ranging, and important. The intersectionality of race and class that pushes back against the idea that policies aimed at reducing poverty are also going to resolve race-based poverty. The definition of racism as a structural phenomenon, not an individual one, and how that affects the discourse. The effect of micro-agressions. What privilege is, and why you need to check it. The depth of misogynoir (google it) in our society, and why it hurts black women so badly. The politics of cultural appropriation. Social issues such as affirmative action and the school-to-prison pipeline.
This is more than just an introduction to concepts. It is also a training manual, in a sense, that addresses the issue of how to have a productive conversation about race. It’s an important book for anyone, and particularly anyone white who genuinely wants to talk about issues of racism without harming the people of colour you’re talking to. And for those who want to engage with those who seem ignorant about racism, but teachable.
