A must read

A great resource on how to discuss race and spot everyday racism. Thank you Ijeoma for putting your energy into writing this book.

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10/10 recommend

Puts racism in such simple and relatable terms. I will be recommending to friends and family

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An essential perspective

Oluo writes a powerful story about race from a good heart and with a focus on actual change rather than warming sentiment.

As a white person I had to agree that I was raised in a ‘white supremacist’ culture and that I am still mired in the cultural conditioning of racism.

This isn’t a book that will give you any place to hide and pretend. I am grateful for that.

Being part of positive change is a commitment to progressive evolution of personal and cultural attitudes. You start by cutting the BS about your own role. A

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A necessary read

At times the author appeared angry and harsh, at others what she was saying was hard to read. There were moments where the text seemed to imply that all white people are responsible for racism, it’s our job to figure out how to fix it without asking people of colour for advice (it’s not their job to educate us) and where we share Ijeoma’s perspective it’s lip service and not genuine. This felt overwhelming and I can see why so many stop listening at this point.

The more I listened the more I realised why people of colour feel the way they do and the systemic racism I’m not exposed to. I realised the ways I have unconsciously done and said the wrong thing. There are times when we need someone to point out we’ve done the wrong thing in order to change. This book does that in spades.

This is not an easy read but it is a necessary read for all of us. There are lessons galore if you’re willing to listen and learn. I would love to see this as a dialogue starter in school.

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1 person found this helpful

A confronting & challenging read

To be honest there were times that I really struggled to read the book. It wasn’t until I read the final chapters that I became comfortable with the content.

I didn’t know I was uncomfortable having discussions about race. As a brown Polynesian woman I have to admit - sometimes it’s hard work & just easier to find ways to make people who I believe have acted in a racist way, feel okay.

I know people are racist, I know we live with systemically racist systems, I know people don’t want us to highlight it, talk about it, or express it - but because it makes people uncomfortable I tone it down. Not a shocking realisation, just a sad truth.

I found it hard to read the book because it felt like an angry read but by the end I started to understand - how it’s said, when it’s said & who is saying it doesn’t matter, just listen & genuinely try to understand.

I need a few days to process this book - but I do recommend it to others, you just need to be prepared ti feel disrupted.

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For Champions of Equality & Justice

As a WOC I found myself chuckling at times with the bittersweet familiarity, of Ijeoma’s experiences of talking about race with white people. I found the book to be a balm on the 1000 paper cuts of microagressions I experience daily. I also felt seen when she acknowledged her own unconscious bias towards Asian people’s experience of racism and our struggle with the model minority myth. Though this book is specifically for Americans, as a POC from Australia, I could still relate to the content, and see correlations between my country’s oppressive colonial systems and that of the US’.

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6 people found this helpful

If it feels like its a lot, its because it's true

If lile me, you are white, this might be hard. you should listen any way.

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Informative and honest

Author is honest, blunt and knowledgeable
Must listen for all educators, parents… actually all people

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Hmmmm...

Well, it's certainly useful as a guide for all those social media narcissists seeking to virtue signal their way to glory on twitter.
I suppose it's also a useful insight into the articles of faith of this new religion of intersectionality and critical theory. it certainly gives plenty of example of things we must believe on faith, and it does make a fair point about refraining from the use of the n word.

aside from that, this book is of very little real value. It's littered with unsupported assertions, anecdotes (in which the very worst of human nature is automatically assumed), and some of the boldest examples of black and white thinking I've seen. no reasonable person should accept the authors "either this proves the most absurd and extreme claim imaginable (e.g. all black people are less intelligent than other races), OR undeniable proof of racism and white supremacy" approach to analysing anecdotal evidence, or the findings of mysterious "studies" that are never elaborated upon.

seriously, if you genuinely want to do something worthwhile, start by listening to thinkers such as Coleman Hughes, Glenn Lowry and John McWhorter. they all happen to have the correct amount of melanin to be allowed an opinion on this topic, and they also deliver a much more fact based, realistic and intellectually honest approach to race relations.

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