This past weekend, I finished "Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America" by Ijeoma Oluo. I have not read her first book, "So You Want to Talk About Race," but I have read many other anti-racist books as a way to try and understand the workings of my country and be a better citizen and advocate in my work. I listened to this one on audiobook, as I do with almost all of my books.
"Mediocre" had many historical, recent, and personal anecdotes to support its thesis: Mainly, that continuing to refuse to address racial and gender inequality, and celebrate white male supremacy, is harmful to democracy, the economy and many other facets of American life. I agreed with a lot of what the book had to say, as I have witnessed and experienced the harms of white male supremacy at work in the world and in my personal and professional life, though most likely to a lesser extent as others. I still have white privilege.
My SO, who listened to part of the book with me, said he found the part about Bernie Sanders' presidential run validating. I've always found it a little silly that any mild criticism of Sanders on Twitter leads to a mob of strangers complaining about health care for all in the replies. I've jokingly said he's like the Taylor Swift of politics, because the same thing happens with any mild criticism of Taylor Swift on Twitter as well. Want to make an offhanded comment about Star Wars? RIP, your mentions. Do these folks think that systematic pile-on harassment is going to suddenly make the target of their ire a lifelong fan? Will I suddenly begin listening to Taylor Swift on repeat because a stranger condescendingly calls me "sis," or begin marching in the streets for Medicare for all because some jerk posted a poorly drawn meme in my replies? I'm not sure what the end goal is with this strange behavior. You don't need to make your interest in a person and their work your entire personality.
I don't think "Mediocre" is going to change any minds, or is meant to. I feel more and more that the divisions between political factions in this country grow deeper every day, to the point where two people might as well be living on separate planes of reality. There are many ways to find and read the news, and rather than reading broadly, people tend to gravitate toward news outlets that reinforce what they already believe.
I do think this book might add some reinforcement, talking points and validation for people who already agree that continuing to elevate white men and hold everyone to arbitrary, white, patriarchal standards will not help our country progress toward equal justice for everyone in any meaningful way.
I still think "Stamped from the Beginning" by Ibram X. Kendi is the best book for changing minds, mainly because it holds the reader's hand through a telling of America's racist history. It continues to be amazing to me how the same old racist ideas mutate themselves like a virus and turn into the beliefs for a new generation of racists. It makes me feel a little hopeless, too, that we can't seem to evolve out of our own crummy thinking.
No comments:
Post a Comment