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From the Bookshelf of Our Shared Shelf…

So You Want to Talk About Race

Ijeoma Oluo

Start date: August 1, 2020

Finish date: October 1, 2020

Discussion: Aug/Sept '20 Antiracism

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Showing 2 of 7 topics — 190 comments total

Aug/Sept '20 Antiracism

* Before We Start: Reading Expectations
By Pam · 7 posts · 666 views

last updated Sep 28, 2020 07:40AM

Ok
By lyndaaaaaaaaa… · 2 posts · 2276 views

last updated Nov 01, 2022 03:44AM

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What Members Thought

Jul 05, 2020 Katherine rated it really liked it

Shelves: wow-book-club-reads

This was really great to read in these moments of uprising and putting a spotlight on police brutality that is opening the demand for defunding the police.

It was quite the easy read, but not a fast read, as the book really surfaced memories of a range of experiences I've had in navigating racist dynamics around the world, and in the US. The book does a good job of explaining and naming the different realities that minority communities face from microagressions to school-to-prison pipelines to po ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 08, 2020 Amy (Bossy Bookworm) rated it really liked it

Shelves: politics-social-justice, nonfiction, race

Oluo is specific in her approach here; each chapter is crafted around a potential race-related statement you might encounter that may be loaded, unfair, unfounded, and/or fraught with racism, then suggests rebuttals that might continue or redirect the conversation based on facts. She wrote this book and continues to write "in the hopes that what I write and say, and what others write and say, will inform and inspire action."

The book is based on promoting conversation and communication, and Oluo Oluo is specific in her approach here; each chapter is crafted around a potential race-related statement you might encounter that may be loaded, unfair, unfounded, and/or fraught with racism, then suggests rebuttals that might continue or redirect the conversation based on facts. She wrote this book and continues to write "in the hopes that what I write and say, and what others write and say, will inform and inspire action."

The book is based on promoting conversation and communication, and Oluo aims to provide step-by-step measures for awareness, sensitivity, opennness, and honesty. She explores sitting with discomfort, listening to experiences different from your own, and becoming informed about the many issues that affect race relations--including the numerous complicated intersectionalities that shape the experience of race.

She notes that "almost nothing is completely about race" but that race is an "interwoven...piece of the machine." To that end, at the end of each chapter she provides constructive measures a reader can take: asking questions about the status quo, taking a role in shifting policies, or capably managing errors of fact in conversations.

There are, understandably, some common threads between this and "White Fragility" by Robin DiAngelo; for example, noting the desire to remove the pressure on people of color to be walking Google sources for experience and history lessons; recognizing fallibility in often-traditional colorblind approaches to race; and how guilt can paralyze and prevent productive action and change.

The amount of notes I took bordered on ridiculous; at some point it started teetering on the edge of transcribing. Oluo wrote "So You Want to Talk About Race" to "help people fight the systemic oppression that is harming the lives of millions of people of color," and she provides a book that pays meticulous attention to the conversation pitfalls that can prevent progress, as well as the facts and goals that can promote understanding and change.

"The way we vote, where we spend our money, what we do and do not call out--these are all pieces of the system." Oluo offers specific, sometimes small steps we can take toward "talk[ing] our way to understanding...and using that understanding to act." ...more

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Mar 20, 2018 Aimee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: top-2018, aoc

Jan 21, 2018 Anne marked it as to-read

Feb 08, 2018 Tea marked it as to-read

Mar 03, 2018 Jenny marked it as to-read

Jul 12, 2018 Denise Cormaney marked it as to-read

Oct 31, 2018 Janie marked it as to-read

Shelves: 2022-planned-reads

Dec 14, 2018 Aaron marked it as to-read

Dec 14, 2018 Adjrun marked it as to-read

Oct 04, 2019 Jaime marked it as to-read

Nov 14, 2019 Kristin added it

Feb 20, 2020 Kate marked it as to-read

Jun 02, 2020 Stacy marked it as to-read

Jun 10, 2020 Kerith marked it as to-read

Jul 01, 2020 Melissa rated it it was amazing

Jul 31, 2020 Kim marked it as to-read

Aug 27, 2020 Megan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: life-changing, non-fiction, look-at-me-im-reading-grown-up-book

Dec 31, 2020 Stephanie Romine marked it as to-read

Feb 20, 2021 Colleen marked it as to-read

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