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sarakomo 's review for:
Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America
by Ijeoma Oluo
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.