Review: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

As a Black woman, race has always been a prominent part of my life. I have never been able to escape the fact that I am a black woman in a white supremacist country.

Introduction, So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Preamble

I have had this book in my to-be-read pile for what feels like years now. In those years, I have read books that are adjacent to it that go into topics of race in different ways. I finally got around to reading it this year as I am reading more non-fiction books this year. Ijeoma has written two more books since this one which I am also planning on getting to. Hopefully, not years from now.

Let’s get into it.

The Book

Before I started reading this book, I was aware that this was a 101 level book meant for people who are starting to grapple with the topic for the very first time. The book is as advertised. If you are well versed in the topic of racism you may find some of the content of this book rather elementary but I think there is value in it as a refresher of the basics.

Ijeoma’s writing gets straight to the point. She writes in clear and concise language and does not mince words when talking about the various topics she gets into in this book. This book covers a variety of topics related to race and racism in America – privilege, affirmative action, intersectionality, police brutality etc.

I’ll note here that the concept of “privilege” and more specifically the phrase “check your privilege” feels like a 2010s anachronism and they are not phrases I hear much anymore in discourses about racism. A friend pointed out that this was because like the word “woke”, was a term that was coined by POC and then misappropriated by right wing white people and as such the word lost much of its power.

Ijeoma uses experiences from her own life to ground these topics in way that I think makes them more relatable to people. I joked in a social media post that this book is for people who don’t understand why Solange’s song Don’t Touch My Hair resonated so much with people of colour. This was before I got to the chapter in this book titled “Why you can’t touch my hair” in which Ijeoma relates that to her own experiences with her hair and issues with self-image.

I also appreciated that this book is not just targeted towards white people learning about race. Ijeoma presents various strategies that POC can use – essentially framing guides for conversations a POC may have with a coworker/friend/family member who was racist.

Conclusion

Overall, I think this book achieves what it sets out to do – that is provide a introductory crash course in the topic of race and racism in America. It is written well and provides important personal context to the various issues talked about. I’d recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn the basics of racism in America.

I keep saying in “America” and I think it is key to note that that is book specifically covers topics from an American point-of-view, the author is American and her experiences are from an American lens, if you are looking for a book about race and racism that covers other locales, this ain’t the book for you.

I am looking forward to reading Ijeoma’s other books in the near future. Instead of concluding this non-fiction review with a quote I am going to give a music recommendation instead – go listen to Solange’s album A Seat at the Table, it is an excellent R&B album. My most favourite track on it is Mad featuring a fire verse by the inimitable Lil Wayne.

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