So You Want to Talk About Race

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-17

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

Systemic Racism

Systemic racism is a central theme in Oluo’s book. She defines the term as “any prejudice against someone because of their race, when those views are reinforced by systems of power” (26). This approach to racism shifts the emphasis away from individual racists, such as neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan and the Alt-Right, most of whom are politically disenfranchised and socially marginalized. Systemic discrimination focuses instead on the insidious forms of racism woven into the fabric of American society. The impacts of systemic racism are apparent in all aspects of life and include high unemployment rates in communities of color, wage inequality for racial minorities, high incarceration rates for Black men, low college enrollment rates for people of color, and a lack of representation at all levels of government. Local leaders shore up systemic racism in a variety of ways. For example, labeling minority neighborhoods “problem areas” reinforces biases many White people have about Black violence. In addition, it leads to more aggressive forms of policing, resulting in more arrests and the use of excessive force in communities of color.

Combating systemic racism requires recognizing that it exists and ending our complacency with it. It also requires action on multiple fronts. Affirmative action helps level the playing field for minority job and college applicants; supporting Black-owned businesses allows people of color to flourish financially; increasing the profile of minorities in television, films, and magazines and on social media normalizes their presence in wide-ranging contexts; voting for candidates committed to social justice in municipal, state, and federal elections leads to policy changes that benefit people of color; and last, participating in protests can upturn the ways in which governments allocate funds, diverting them away from oppressive institutions, such as police forces, to programs devoted to the advancement and betterment of minority communities.

Activism and Social Justice

Oluo is a writer-activist committed to ending racial oppression and promoting social justice. Using direct and incisive language, she argues vigorously for an end to systemic racism. Her book not only addresses the theme of activism, but also demonstrates that activism can take many forms. Her platform—the written and spoken word—is just one of many available to those interested in furthering social justice. Oluo emphasizes dialogue as a means of raising awareness about systemic racism and promoting mutual understanding between people of different races. The final chapter of her book, however, describes concrete steps activists can take to move the cause forward.

Voting is among the most powerful tools available to activists. Local elections are particularly important, as they provide opportunities for making racial justice a government priority. Local schools offer another avenue to effect change. Lobbying to close the racial achievement gap and against the erasure of the history and achievements of people of color in textbooks are two critical ways of promoting racial parity. A third strategy open to activists is bearing witness. For White people, this might mean offering assistance to a person of color being stopped by police. In White supremacist societies, the mere presence of a White witness is often enough to make others pause and consider their actions. Unions also provide opportunities for activism. Power in numbers, long used to lobby for fair wages and workers’ rights, can also be leveraged to make companies more inclusive.

Oluo also recommends boycotts as a path for achieving social justice. Being mindful of where one spends one’s money (and not patronizing racist businesses) funnels wealth to the right places. For college students and those employed in higher education, activism might take the form of sit-ins demanding diversity in admissions practices and the curriculum, or requests for anti-racism and diversity workshops.

The most visible form of activism, however, is the public protest. Organizations devoted to overturning systems of oppression and achieving racial justice have gained support in the wake of highly publicized incidents of police violence against people of color. Black Lives Matter, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Color of Change, the NAACP, and other groups have organized marches across the US, leading to the dismantling of racist monuments and to police reform.

Unconscious Racial Biases and Stereotypes

Oluo stresses the harmful effects of unconscious biases and racial stereotypes throughout her book. Biases are dangerous precisely because they are unconscious, making them difficult for people to see and therefore address. Gravitating toward White doctors, professors, and business advisors because they seem more authoritative, clutching one’s purse when a Black man approaches, and recoiling at the sight of a Black woman’s natural hair are all examples of unconscious racial bias. These biases privilege White people while consistently placing racial minorities at a disadvantage. Anti-Black bias is evident in all aspects of American society. The disproportionate numbers of incarcerated Black men, rampant police violence against people of color, and the near absence of Black people in the higher echelons of virtually all professions attest to its prevalence.

An important takeaway from Oluo’s book is that racial stereotypes, even those that are superficially positive, harm people of color. The model minority myth exemplifies this point. On the surface, the idea that Asian Americans are “naturally” hard working and good at STEM subjects may seem complimentary, but the myth is damaging on two fronts: First, it harms other minorities by placing them is strict opposition to Asians. If Asians are “good,” then Black people, Native Americans, Hispanics, and other racial minorities must be “bad.” Second, it harms Asians who do not fit the mold. The model minority myth was not created to help Asian Americans, but rather, to uphold White Supremacy by exploiting Asian labor, neglecting poor and disenfranchised Asians, and excluding Asians from systems of power. As Oluo argues, ending systemic racism demands rejecting the model minority myth.