So You Want to Talk About Race
That power imbalance allows the culture being appropriated to be distorted and redefined by the dominant culture and siphons any material or financial benefit of that piece of culture away to the dominant culture, while marginalized cultures are still persecuted for living in that culture.
Ijeoma Oluo • So You Want to Talk About Race
The truth is, you don’t even have to “be racist” to be a part of the racist system.
Ijeoma Oluo • So You Want to Talk About Race
Who writes the books and articles I’m using to help inform my opinions?
Ijeoma Oluo • So You Want to Talk About Race
The art form that black Americans have relied upon for generations is no longer theirs.
Ijeoma Oluo • So You Want to Talk About Race
It is our role not to shape the future, but to not fuck things up so badly that our kids will be too busy correcting the past to focus on the future.
Ijeoma Oluo • So You Want to Talk About Race
When we identify where our privilege intersects with somebody else’s oppression, we’ll find our opportunities to make real change.
Ijeoma Oluo • So You Want to Talk About Race
It’s the system, and our complacency in that system, that gives racism its power, not
Ijeoma Oluo • So You Want to Talk About Race
individual intent.
Ijeoma Oluo • So You Want to Talk About Race
When somebody asks you to “check your privilege” they are asking you to pause and consider how the advantages you’ve had in life are contributing to your opinions and actions, and how the lack of disadvantages in certain areas is keeping you from fully understanding the struggles others are facing and may in fact be contributing to those struggles.