“How can white men be our born leaders and at the same time so fragile that they cannot handle social progress?”

A detailed read that is still personal & engaging. Oluo takes us through years of painful history with clarity and thoughtfulness - and ends with a message of hesitant optimism. 

The book didn’t provide a new message or new logic for me (though I certainly learned some new interesting historical tidbits), but I felt as though the arguments were assembled carefully and patiently. I did feel like some chapters were much stronger than others (especially regarding supporting pieces of evidence).

Overall I thought this was excellent and I hope to tackle Oluo’s other works soon. 

CW: discussions of racism, racial slurs, hate crimes, sexism, gun violence & mass killings, police brutality, xenophobia, slavery, antisemitism, death (murder, suicide), colonization, islamophobia, transphobia, religious bigotry