Ijeoma Oluo

Day 21 of #BlackHistoryMonth Black Theory:

Ijeoma Oluo

“When we are willing to check our privilege, we are not only identifying areas where we are perpetuating oppression in order to stop personally perpetuating that oppression, but we are also identifying areas where we have the power and access to change the system as a whole. Where I benefit most from being able-bodied is where I have the most power and access to change a system that disadvantages disabled people … When we identify where our privilege intersects with somebody else's oppression, we'll find our opportunities to make real change.” So You Want to Talk About Race

“We, people of color, of course are not the only people who have gotten less. Even without the invention of race, class would exist and does exist even in racially-homogenous countries. And our class system is oppressive and violent and harms a lot of people of all races. It should be addressed. It should be torn down. But the same hammer won’t tear down all of the walls. What keeps a child poor in Appalachia poor is not what keeps a poor child in Chicago poor - even from a distance, the outcomes look the same. And what keeps an able-bodied black woman poor is not what keeps a disabled white man poor, even if the outcomes look the same. Even in our class and labor movements, the promise that you get more because others exist to get less, calls to people. It tells you to focus on the majority first. It tells you that the grievances of people of color, or disabled people, or transgender people, or women are divisive. The promise that keeps racism alive tells you that you will benefit most and others will eventually benefit …a little. It has you believe in trickle-down social justice.” So You Want to Talk About Race

“You are racist because you were born and bred in a racist, white supremacist society. White Supremacy is, as I’ve said earlier, insidious by design. The racism required to uphold White Supremacy is woven into every area of our lives. There is no way you can inherit white privilege from birth, learn racist white supremacist history in schools, consume racist and white supremacist movies and films, work in a racist and white supremacist workforce, and vote for racist and white supremacist governments and not be racist.” So You Want to Talk About Race

“A political movement that focuses on class and ignores the specific ways in which race determines financial health and well-being for people of color in this country will be a movement that maintains white supremacy, because it will not be able to identify or address the specific, race-based systems that are the main causes of inequality for people of color. Health care discrimination, job discrimination, the school-to-prison pipeline, educational bias, mass incarceration, police brutality, community trauma—none of these issues are addressed in a class-only approach. A class-only approach will lift only poor whites out of poverty and will therefore maintain white supremacy.” Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America

“White male identity is in a very dark place. White men have been told that they should be fulfilled, happy, successful, and powerful, and they are not. They are missing something vital - an intrinsic sense of self that is no tied to how much power or success they can hold over others - and that hole is eating away at them.” Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America

“Whiteness is not only threatened when it takes on too many traits of identities of color; it is also threatened when communities of color cease to stay below whiteness, where society’s scripts say they belong. A white family may feel threatened not only when their daughter brings a Black man home for dinner (breaking from what is expected of her as a white person), but also if that Black man makes the same wage as her father (breaking from the expectations of Blackness that whiteness depends on). The same is true for masculinity. Men may feel threatened not only when their sons declare their love of the color pink, but also when their daughters choose monster trucks over dolls.” Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America

“Where do you light the fire?” Tarana Burke asks. “Your sphere of influence is a perfect place to start and end. . . . And if that is where you are a revolution for the rest of your life, that’s okay. What this moment in time tries to tell us is that your work is not real, your efforts aren’t big enough—if it’s not the Me Too movement, if it’s not Black Lives Matter, if it’s not that, then you haven’t done your job, you haven’t done enough. But I think that people need to understand just how important it is for people to see you want to be a revolution, for you to understand the people who you are influencing right around you. And that’s enough.” Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—and How You Can, Too

Links:

Books -

https://www.ijeomaoluo.com/books

So You Want to Talk About Race

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/67000604/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race

Be a Revolution

https://issuu.com/anyabashirianjh/docs/ebook_be_a_revolution_how_everyday_people_are_figh

Mediocre

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/66889127/readonline-mediocre-the-dangerous-legacy-of-white-male-america-pdf

Writings -

https://substack.com/@ijeomaoluo

Video -