Ijeoma Oluo: So You Want To Talk About Race

https://www.ciispod.com/ijeoma-oluo

Ijeoma is a wonderful author and a local Seattle-ite who worked in the tech industry. I cannot recommend her book “So You Want To Talk About Race” enough. We selected this interview for two main reasons this month. First, we also run an Allies Book Club and so this was a bit of a kick off to get folks excited about joining the book club. Second, as part of our dive into the topic of racial discrimination Ijeoma represents someone that literally could have been our co-worker and so for us it really hit home how this isn’t just a problem “somewhere else” or “in the south” but happens every single day here in a relatively affluent area like Seattle.

Despite those two reasons being pretty specific to our crew - I think you’ll find Ijeoma’s views on things relevant no matter where you’re at in the world.

Suggested discussion questions (if you need something to start the conversation):

• Privilege (or lack of privilege) isn’t something that you get to turn off, you live with it day in and day out. Was it eye opening for you like it was for me to realize that the fact I haven’t thought about some of these things often is evidence of my own privilege?

• “They were letting their fear of admitting ignorance turn into hostility” “Try bringing up privilege to someone and watch how angry they get - and they’re not angry because it’s a black person, they’re angry because they don’t know what privilege means.” Thoughts?

• What thing that Ijeoma said stuck in your mind the most?