Reviews with content warning for Bullying - So You Want to Talk About Race

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

17 reviews

jojo_'s review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

4.5

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alisazhup's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

“‘Racial oppression should always be an emotional topic to discuss. It should always be anger-inducing. As long as racism exists to ruin the lives of countless people or color, it should be something that upsets us. But it upsets us because it exists, not because we talk about it.”

Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to “model minorities” in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.

This is a book all first year students at my college are going to be reading this year. When they handed it out to us, I was worried it would be difficult to understand. But while the book is centered on a heavy topic loaded with a lot of trauma and history, it really does inform you and equip you to have conversations about race and take action against racism.

I like that the chapters are not filled with an overwhelming number of facts and statistics, but there’s just enough to help me understand racism on a systemic level, like how the model minority myth makes us overlook Asian American economic disparity based on country of origin. At the same time, I appreciated that the author was willing to share her own experiences with racism. This helped me understand racism on a personal level.

Each chapter discusses a topic that is extremely relevant to today, and because of that, important to understand. I’m glad I got the chance to read this because a lot was new to me- for example, I didn’t know what tone policing was and I didn’t know the school-to-prison pipeline existed. Since I didn’t know about them, there was nothing I could do to fight them. There were so many moments where I felt called out for the ways I contribute to the system of White supremacy and I’m glad, as the author puts it, that I have the opportunity to do better.

Read this if you like/themes:

✅Politics/Current affairs

✅Social justice, activism, and intersectionality

Books similar to this one:

✅Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

✅Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro

✅Slay by Brittney Morris

✅Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

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meganlikesreading's review against another edition

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informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Started this on 25 March, finished on the 27th. Really good and detailed analysis about the need to speak about race and racism. I loved how Oluo structured the chapters starting with a question, this really helped with understanding and evaluation of the topics covered in each chapter.

Would 100% reccomend. Ijeoma's writing is amazing.

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readandfindout's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

Style/writing: 4 stars
Themes: 5 stars
Knowledge/perspective: 5 stars

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andrewhatesham's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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jenny_d's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

5.0

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frenchtoast_n_books's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book has allowed me to add to my toolbox for fighting my internal biases, prejudices, and racism through the use of questions outlined in each chapter. It has allowed me ways of discussing race and racism through an antiracist lens by bringing underlying issues to the forefront of current events. It has helped me identify proper ways to address tough questions and answer them. It helps me become a better anti-racist, which is my goal.

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