I wish I felt better so I could really give So You Want to Talk About Race what it deserves, review-wise. The short review is if you haven’t already read this, you need to. Maybe you are like me and put it on your TBR right after its publication in 2018 and then it fell slowly down the list. Maybe you saw it on all of the recommended reading lists that proliferated in summer 2020 (A Reading List on Race for Allies, Antiracist Reading, Understanding and Dismantling Racism, 20 Books For 2020: A Reading List On Race In America) but it was just too heavy then, your brain could not do it as it battled the realities of pandemic and what it did to your reading (just me?) so you pushed if off again, promising yourself next year was the year.
Whatever the reasons to have not read it, or not re-read it recently, you need to make space for this one post haste. Ijeoma Oluo has an incredibly easy to read style, which is important when breaking down enormous topics like intersectionalism, privilege, and microaggressions and how to talk about them with others. Her messages are passionate, finely tuned, and crystalize ideas that could otherwise be vague but with compassion and the ability to turn her lived experience into universal moments of understanding. There are many reasons why Oluo’s work on race has been featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, among many other publications and they are easy to see when you spend time with her words.
Heck, today is her birthday – what better excuse do you need to add a book to your to read list?
