Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

9 reviews

anjasshelf's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


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sometimes_ready's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I’ll be digesting this book for years to come. 

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alyssa_s10's review

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informative medium-paced

5.0


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puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

4.0


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anniereads221's review against another edition

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informative tense

5.0

It made me uncomfortable. But the more i learn the better ally i can be. This is just so important and puts it in a way that easy and simple to understand. 

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I'm a white person, so my opinions on books about racism don't really matter, and speaking as if they do feels weird. However, if my (more detailed) positive review of this book can get anyone to read it, I think that's worth maybe coming across poorly to others who think I should just say it's good and move on. Happy to hear others' opinions on this though if anyone finds anything I say in this review off-putting! 

So, that said: I feel like a lot of books on race/racism and related topics (policing, the criminal punishment system, racial justice) often lean towards either A) being too broad and not challenging enough, so that (white) people can feel like they understand without ever being made to feel uncomfortable, or B) starting from a place of understanding farther along in the process so that they maybe end up preaching to the choir a bit, because very few people will fully read them who weren't already in agreement. There are benefits to this and I'm not saying books in that second category aren't necessary and useful--they very much are. But still, I wouldn't recommend them to my older family members, for instance, or to people who want to understand but just don't get it yet.

This book, in my (again, definitely white) opinion, strikes a really good balance between those two sides. It very clearly and unapologetically lays out hard truths and things that might make readers uncomfortable, especially white readers who haven't had to think much about their own racism or complicity in white supremacy. However, it also argues so well a lot of the common points people make. Like, there are some people close to me who I've had conversations with about race where I've ended up frustrated because I couldn't get them to understand what I was trying to say. And this book, again and again, explained things in a way I feel like those people would actually get. I want every white person I've tried to discuss race with (and came away frustrated) to read this book. It's obviously not going to fix everything, but it might get them to a similar page where we can then start to talk about more actions and solutions, rather than getting bogged down in things like why white people can't say the N word or why focusing on addressing class on its own won't solve racism.

tl;dr, So You Want to Talk About Race is full of good, clear, solid explanations for people who are learning this for the first time, or may feel defensive or disinclined to believe basic truths about race and racism. 

There are also lots of examples of actionable ways to use privilege for good, help make conversations about race easier, etc. This book is useful for people at many stages of knowledge and experience with racial issues and theories, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested, but especially white people. 

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erikabee's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book hits the exact right point of being both incredibly informative, while also being accessible and practical. The content is such that I will keep this book and refer back to it throughout my life. Everyone should read this!

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jasminrain's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

I don't know if reading about racial injustice is something that you can enjoy doing, but this book was such a good reading experience. 

While it doesn't necessarily give that much new information to people that are familiar with the topic, I really really loved how the book was structured. Each chapter starts with the author's personal experiences on the given topic and moves then to discuss the structural basis of the problem and finally how to discuss about it. As someone who really struggles with confrontating people (about any topic), I found that to be really useful! The book is also very accessible and all the concepts, terms and phenomena are explained really well so I'd definitely recommend it for those who are new to the topic.

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alisazhup's review

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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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