Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

9 reviews

tiernanhunter's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25


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ellanaomi_713's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.25


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frantically's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad fast-paced

5.0

I learned so much from this book and I'd recommend it to all my white friends. Let's be better.

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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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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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reader_in_the_meadow's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

So you want to talk about race by Ijeoma Oluo talks about racism, racial oppression and how to fight those problems. 
The book is constructed of Praise for Ijeoma Oluo and so you want to talk about race, a preface, seventeen chapters, acknowledgements, notes and a discussion guide,

Each chapter starts with the autor recounting an experience from her personal history or the wider history of african american citizens and is followed by an explanation of the topic talked about in the specific chapter. Every chapter following the first one builts up on the knowledge, you, the reader obtains in the previous chapters.
by giving the reader first the chance to read of a real experience of an african american or person of color the reader will themselves expirience that and will afterwards have a critical look on the problematic shown in the example.

The writing is very emotional, which is likely to stem from the personal feelings the author has fo the problematic talked in the book. It helps the reader to also get personal with the things said. 
Still, some parts of the book were a bit harder to read, due to higher language/words, that were used.

I really liked how the individual chapters were intertwined and built up on each previous one. And having the chance to read about the heartbreaking experiences was very interesting and emotional.

What I didn't like though, was that the book was very american-centered which was not that advantaging for me, a german reader. I would have liked a more international take on the talk about the problematic.
I also thought that the length of the book was a bit lacking. While still being very informative, I think that such a complicated and deep-rooted topic, such as racism and racial oppresion is, definitely needs way more pages to be fully covered.

For me personally this book changed how I see racism and the concept of race. There are things I did, and sadly, still do, that are in fact racistic or microaggressions. It also helped me see how I cam be an even better ally to all non-white people and their fight for equality. 

In conclusion, this book is a very important book in our time and society and should be read by many more people all around the world, not only BIPOC or AAPI/API people, but also by white people from all age groups, to educate them on racism and racial oppression.

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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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andrewhatesham's review

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


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juliebergmann's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


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