So You Want to Talk About Race

by Ijeoma Oluo

I’ve seen the look of trepidation on the faces of people of color when they are told that their organization or workplace will be reading this book together. They immediately envision the burden that will likely be placed on them; they know they will be treated as the walking racial Google of the group to explain every term or nuance that escapes their white peers, or as the unpaid therapist to help their white peers process their emotions in realizing that perhaps they aren’t the anti-racist heroes they thought they were, all while ignoring the deep strain and trauma they are inflicting on the few people of color in their midst.