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4.49 AVERAGE
4.49 AVERAGE
Such an amazing book about white male dominance, pay gaps, and the ways powerful women of color get demonized and attacked. I loved loved loved a majority of the book but the last 1/4 felt very disconnected. It was like Ijeoma Oluo got lost in what she was writing about and at the end, I found myself wondering if I was even reading the same book. Still highly recommend!
Whew. This one is going to take some time to digest- it's big, heavy, and important. My most immediate task is to think about what I do as the mom of a while male American.
Incredibly poignant well researched book. I think many people would benefit from reading this book. It’s a hard topic but it’s past the time that we need to discuss how white male supremacy hurts us all.
An absolutely wonderful book about white supremacy and how much harder nonwhites and nonmales have had to work to be seen as on par with nonexcellent, mediocre white men.
So many pieces that I had not considered, such as how the Great Depression was a man made (white man made) issue and impacted less people of color because of the jobs they held and the fact that their wages were less to begin with. How world wars shifted women and people of color in the workplace, but only until white men could come back. How Mexican Americans were deported, even though they were citizens because of racism and fragility. Among so many other things.
Great narration on the audiobook. Highly recommend.
So many pieces that I had not considered, such as how the Great Depression was a man made (white man made) issue and impacted less people of color because of the jobs they held and the fact that their wages were less to begin with. How world wars shifted women and people of color in the workplace, but only until white men could come back. How Mexican Americans were deported, even though they were citizens because of racism and fragility. Among so many other things.
Great narration on the audiobook. Highly recommend.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
reflective
medium-paced
2021: this is essential reading for anti-racism work in 2021.
I knew that after reading Oluo's first book [b:So You Want to Talk About Race|35099718|So You Want to Talk About Race|Ijeoma Oluo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499224833l/35099718._SX50_.jpg|56405219] that I would be interested in her second. I didn't realize how necessary this book would be! Oluo takes seven topics that exemplify how successful mediocre white men have been throughout history, and attempts to explain how we got to a Trump presidency / current racist structural institutions.
The biggest takeaway for me was the idea that each of these racist institutions are that way BY DESIGN. Oluo really digs into the history further explained behind each of these topics. For example, I had heard about the Great Migration and knew how to define it, but Oluo's chapter on it made me realize just how much had been missing from my own education. This makes sense, as I grew up with white-centric history classes and teachers.
These lessons tie so neatly into the modern real world that they are nearly tangible examples. Oluo starts with the history behind men centering themselves in social justice movements, and ties that into Bernie Sanders' run for the Democratic nomination in 2016 (and the resulting Bernie Bros). I learned a ton about the racism inherent in the creation of HBCUs, and the sexism in the post-WWII workplace that still exists today. Oluo brings the book into the 2010s with her final chapter, entitled Go Fucking Play:Football and the Fear of Black Men.
I fear that Oluo will be bombarded with more criticism about how a black woman could possibly write about what it's like to be a white man in America. But that's the beauty of this book - she doesn't pretend to know what that would feel like. By using her own experience as a Black person and a woman, she expertly concludes the ways that Black women are viewed as lesser in comparison to a society that continues to value mediocrity as long as you are a man and your skin is white.
I knew that after reading Oluo's first book [b:So You Want to Talk About Race|35099718|So You Want to Talk About Race|Ijeoma Oluo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499224833l/35099718._SX50_.jpg|56405219] that I would be interested in her second. I didn't realize how necessary this book would be! Oluo takes seven topics that exemplify how successful mediocre white men have been throughout history, and attempts to explain how we got to a Trump presidency / current racist structural institutions.
The biggest takeaway for me was the idea that each of these racist institutions are that way BY DESIGN. Oluo really digs into the history further explained behind each of these topics. For example, I had heard about the Great Migration and knew how to define it, but Oluo's chapter on it made me realize just how much had been missing from my own education. This makes sense, as I grew up with white-centric history classes and teachers.
These lessons tie so neatly into the modern real world that they are nearly tangible examples. Oluo starts with the history behind men centering themselves in social justice movements, and ties that into Bernie Sanders' run for the Democratic nomination in 2016 (and the resulting Bernie Bros). I learned a ton about the racism inherent in the creation of HBCUs, and the sexism in the post-WWII workplace that still exists today. Oluo brings the book into the 2010s with her final chapter, entitled Go Fucking Play:Football and the Fear of Black Men.
I fear that Oluo will be bombarded with more criticism about how a black woman could possibly write about what it's like to be a white man in America. But that's the beauty of this book - she doesn't pretend to know what that would feel like. By using her own experience as a Black person and a woman, she expertly concludes the ways that Black women are viewed as lesser in comparison to a society that continues to value mediocrity as long as you are a man and your skin is white.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced