So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo: A Discussion

I just finished reading “So You Want To Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo and as soon as I finished it a review was not something I felt comfortable writing. So I decided on a discussion instead.

For reference I am a white 21 year old woman who was adopted into a Hispanic family. Yet, just a product of my whiteness I realized that loving and appreciating people of color all my life doesn’t stop some of the places where I’ve said or done something that is racist. That the way I was brought up in school still gave me ideas that are racist and the only way to dismantle those is to look them straight in the eye and start to unlearn them.

I loaned this book off of Libby and I knew I was going to feel uncomfortable reading it, but I was surprised by how much. I am very much similar to the kind of white person Ijeoma is talking about. I think of myself as mostly good. I believe in justice and equality for all, but beyond talking about it I haven’t done much. This election will be the first I’ve participated in. I have a plan to start being more active and supportive of candidates that make dismantling this enormous system of oppression important. My plan is to do better.

Honestly, I still have a lot of this books ideas to think about on my own. Research to do. Things I still need to learn. The work is never done. I want to do it, because it’s the right thing to do. In a lot of ways I feel off writing this cause as much as the book is aimed at white people wanting to help start dismantling this system.. it feels uncomfortable. Which is entirely the point.

All I can think is people of color are hurting. They are hurting cause the system that has been built has pushed them down for far too long. There has never been true equality in the United States. That’s a future I want to help work towards. Reading this book to further educate myself has been a start. I know I’m going to fail. I know I’m going to say the wrong thing. But, I want to try. That’s the only thing I know to do.

I don’t just want to talk about race. I want to take action. Thanks to this book I’m starting to see a path to how. Racism isn’t just the big stuff. It’s also the minor transgressions you don’t even think about. The automatic reactions that have been formed through education and upbringing. It’s been time for change well before I was born. We all need to be fighting in this. Working for a better more inclusive future.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!

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