So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo Review

Written by A.L.

Picture Below: Book Cover and Author Ijeoma Oluo

Information

Author: Ijeoma Oluo / Genre: Nonfiction / Published: 2018

Summary

So You Want to Talk About Race is a 2018 non-fiction book by Ijeoma Oluo. Each chapter title is a question about race in contemporary America. Oluo outlines her opinions on the topics as well as advice about how to talk about the issues (Wikipedia).

Review

So You Want To Talk About Race reads exactly like a conversation. Ijeoma Oluo's words are powerful, passionate, and deeply empathetic. Although there will never be a complete "manual" to racial justice that fits everything you need to know about going into anti-racism work, So You Want To Talk About Race comes close. This book covers and defines key racial issues that are relevant to American society, from systemic racism to the model minority myth. If you didn't know what those terms meant before, you'll know after you read this book. It breaks down concepts into a digestible format, with both personal stories and hard statistics. Please keep in mind that due to the vast amount of topics covered in the book, each topic is not explored completely in depth. Needless to say, the book did a fantastic job at nudging me to research more in-depth about each topic and was impactful in the way it blended emotional encounters with numbers that pushed me to understand the severity of racial inequality in America even further.

For those of you non-fiction haters (I used to be the same way) I suggest that this be your first non-fiction read.