I recently finished Ijeoma Oluo's So You Want to Talk About Race. (Buy it at one of the listed vendors. Also be sure to request it at your local library!)
I definitely recommend this book. I could easily quote virtually any passage to entice you to read it, but this was a particular stand-out for me:
When we were slaves nursing their babies, we were not nice enough. When we were maids cleaning their homes, we were not nice enough. When we were porters shining their shoes, we were not nice enough. And when we danced and sang for their entertainment, we were not nice enough.I take up space in solidarity with Ijeoma Oluo, because I believe in justice and equality all of the time, for all people.
For hundreds of years we have been told that the path to freedom from racial oppression lies in our virtue, that our humanity must be earned. We simply don't deserve equality yet.
So when people say that they don't like my tone, or when they say they can't support the "militancy" of Black Lives Matter, or when they say that it would be easier if we just didn't walk about race all the time — I ask one question:
Do you believe in justice and equality?
Because if you believe in justice and equality you believe in it all of the time, for all people. You believe in it for newborn babies, you believe in it for single mothers, you believe in it for kids in the street, you believe in justice and equality for people you like and people you don't. You believe in it for people who don't say please.
And if there was anything I could say or do that would convince someone that I or people like me don't deserve justice or equality, then they never believed in justice and equality in the first place.
Yes, I am a Malcolm. And Martin, and Angela, Marcus, Rosa, Biko, Baldwin, Assata, Harriet, and Nina. I'm fighting for liberation. I'm filled with righteous anger and love. I'm shouting, as all before me have in their way. And I'm a human being who was born deserving justice and equality, and that is all you should need to know in order to stand by my side.
What are you reading now?
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