'Why am I always being told to 'check my privilege'?' dissects the concept of privilege and the worthwhile role examining it can play in anyone's understanding of how race functions in a social sense.

'Is it really about race?' points out how people sometimes attempt to derail conversations on race by raising concerns about other subjects, like gender and class. The book is divided up into chapters that address stumbling blocks individually. It's worth noting that Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility, a book that has shared recent bestseller territory with Oluo's, covers some of the same ground with a focus on white people's inability to discuss racism, but Oluo's book puts a broader focus on conversations about race and serves as more of a practical guide. The author doesn't only provide her audience with a brief but far-reaching education on the history of racism in the United States and how it applies to current politics and institutions, but bases this education around stumbling blocks that typically come up in discussions about race: sticking points, misunderstandings and fears that can be found in thousands upon thousands of heated interactions across the internet, office talk blunders and awkward family dinners. What sets Oluo's book apart from other antiracist texts currently experiencing a popularity surge in conjunction with mass protests against police violence is that it makes the daunting task of conversation its focal point. 'This is not because my mom means any harm or is in any way a worse offender than those who approach me after speaking engagements or readings (she's not),' Oluo clarifies, 't's just-she's my mom and nobody likes to discuss race with their mom.' In So You Want to Talk About Race, author Ijeoma Oluo, who is Black, recalls her own reluctance to have such a conversation with her white mother even after having launched a career writing and lecturing on race and racism. So You Want to Talk About Race is a compassionate, accessible guide to navigating conversations on racism in the modern world.įor the majority of people, having a meaningful conversation about race is not easy.

So you want to talk about race author