"Every day you are given opportunities to make the world better by making yourself a little uncomfortable and asking, 'Who doesn't have this same freedom or opportunity that I'm enjoying now?'" (69)

I forced myself to take this one chapter at a time, and I'm so glad I did. This book is so loaded with really important topics. I think everyone should read it. As a white middle class woman that was raised in a Christian home, I've faced very little discrimination for anything other than my sex, and seeing all the ways race impacts life for Black Americans and other non-white citizens was eye opening. One of my favorite aspects of this book that I think was so important was Oluo's emphasis on how the feelings of the privileged should not be a priority. We need to be focused on those being hate crimed, those being judged and disregarded solely due to the color of their skin, and advocate for them, doing all that we can to support them when they need it and walk with them through this fight to racial justice.

If you're a white person, you're going to screw up. You're going to say the wrong thing, not understand, hurt people, and more. Because race hasn't ever been something you've had to think about. I've never considered that race would be such a big factor in so many areas because it's not for me, and so it's so hard to understand. I will never fully understand because I have not faced that, but that's not the point. The point is listening to and lifting up the voices of those who have faced these hardships based on their race. The point is to trust them, and to hear their voices.

There were so many important discussions in this book. I've already got a cue of people lined up to borrow this book, and I can't wait for the conversations we're going to have. Another thing Oluo mentioned was that this fight may feel insurmountable, but it's not. Those in power want us to think that it is, but we have to remember that that's not true. We can fight this, and we will. Together.

Some quotes:

"Talk about racism is inevitable in today's society, but it often doesn't seem to get much further than an argument about whether or not something is about race." (14)

"When we acknowledge racism as part of a system, instead of being limited to our ability to win over racists, we can instead focus on how our actions interact with systemic racism." (32)

"The concept of privilege violates everything we've been told about fairness and everything we've been told about the American Dream of hard work paying off and good things happening to good people." (63)