Book Review - So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5 of 5 stars)

You should read this if: You're unfamiliar with racial justice issues (or "disagree" with the social justice movement). Or if you're a POC who finds yourself frustrated in talking about race with others.

You should not read this if: You're looking for in-depth historical and statistical analysis on any specific racial justice issues - it's clearly not the intention of this book.

Review
This book should be the first place that white people who are interested in racial justice should go. Oluo covers a large breadth of topics, addresses common questions, and most importantly, generally assumes good intentions and offers gentleness and grace. Much discussion around race points out "bad actors", which often leaves people well-intentioned people defensive as they simply do not feel like they harbor obvious malintent. She provides many helpful anecdotes and illustrations, particularly around how POC can be hurt despite the best of intentions - I personally found the "punched in the shoulder" illustration quite helpful for repeated trauma.

All in all, this book is helpful. It's helpful for POC looking to communicate racial trauma, and it's helpful for (white) people who are looking to understand the POC perspective.

I do not agree with all that Oluo says, but she puts forward the best arguments for and against, without holding up straw men that seem so common in public discourse. [Aside - it's good that Oluo put the whole "if you're white, you're a racist; if you're a man, you're a sexist" argument at the end and did not over-emphasize it, as many, myself included, strongly disagree with that terminology]. As with most of these race-related books, I wish there was more time spent on Asian concerns, but alas - one can only hope :)

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