Learning to listen #1 - So You Want to Talk About Race

 (In an effort to sustain my investment in learning about systemic racism, I have committed to reading a book a week to educate myself about the history and current existence of racism in our world. Each week I will post voices of black people and people of colour as I hear their voices, and what I am learning.)

This week I read "So You Want To Talk About Race" by Ijeoma Oluo. This was the number one recommendation to understand the current problems with racism. Each chapter addresses a common thought or theme we hear raised these days. Oluo uses a combination of very personal stories, stories from others, and statistics to create a powerful eye-opening narrative that is impossible to ignore. If you are wondering about policing, privilege, affirmative action, school-to-prison pipeline, cultural appropriation, microaggressions, and aggressive tones, read this book.

This book has given me a better understanding of what Black people and people of colour are going through every day. It has opened my eyes to the extent of systemic racism that I previously didn't understand. It has equipped me to talk about these issues and address questions from friends and family.

Here are a few passages that were particularly powerful for me:

"Definition of racism: any prejudice against someone because of their race, when those views are reinforced by systems of power."

"If you hear someone at the water cooler say, "black people are always late," you can definitely say, "Hey, that's racist" but you can also add, "and it contributes to false beliefs about black workers that keeps them from even being interviewed for jobs, while white workers can be late or on time, but will always be judged individually with no risk of damaging job prospects for other white people seeking employment."

"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. We want to know that if we do "a" we can expect "b," and that those who never get "b" have never done "a."

"So, acknowledging us, believing us, means, challenging everything you believe about race in this country. And I know that this is a very big ask, I know that this is a painful and scary process. But I'm not lying and I'm not delusional. I am scared and I am hurting and we are dying. And I really, really need you to believe me."

"Talk. Please talk and talk and talk some more. But also act. Act now, because people are dying now in this unjust system...We have to learn and fight at the same time. Because people have been waiting far too long for their chance to live as equals in this society."