This is a fantastic introduction for anyone who is interested in discussing race and privilege and the disparity in the United States between white people and BIPOC. In case you are not aware, BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

I listened to this on audiobook, but I am definitely buying a copy when I can to go back through it and annotate. I found it informative, enraging, and heartbreaking. She tells several stories that have stuck with me, but I think the one that hit me the hardest was a story about her brother in school being forced to sit on the floor and being made fun of for it by his classmates. I won't relay the entire episode here, but as someone who is in my son's school quite a bit I was simultaneously heartbroken and pissed off, my mama bear instincts making me wish I would go back in time and ask that teacher what the hell they were thinking. I think anyone who is involved in education, whether as a teacher or an involved parent, this books really goes into how education is nowhere close to fair for Black students and how that disparity follows them throughout the rest of their lives.

There is another section I really appreciate where she talks about really examining your privilege. And she isn't just talking about white privilege. She acknowledges that she herself has certain privileges not afforded to others and how it's important for everyone to understand what their privileges are so they don't use them to oppress others. One of my favorite lines in the book was in Chapter 4, where she says, "When we identify where our privilege intersects with somebody else's oppression we'll find our opportunities to make real change." It may sounds like common sense, but in much of our society that is something that is severely lacking, and I think it's an important thing to think about and act on.

Like I said, this book is a great starting point for people who want to have honest and open discussions about race but aren't sure where to start. I hope everyone picks up this book.