Mediocre - Ijeoma Oluo
This brilliant book examines the deep-rooted structures built by white supremacy and patriarchy in this country, and how each and every one of these structures was built in the image of the white man, and how the white man has striven and continues to strive to maintain these structures at all costs. Ijeoma Oluo digs deep into research and weaves both historical and present facts together to create a cohesive and damning portrayal of 200 years of white male supremacy in the US. From the real story of “Buffalo Bill” to the present day racism and exploitation of Black men in the NFL, the author explores many poignant areas in our everyday lives where women and people of color constantly find ourselves fighting to survive in a world that was not built for us to thrive in. Ijeoma Oluo shows just how deep-rooted and dangerous these structures are, and how destructive the white man’s rage is whenever these structures are threatened.
I love Ijeoma Oluo’s writing style: it is conversational and smart, and brings the reader into the fold, but she is also direct and to the point, and all of her facts and examples are relevant and important. I didn’t grow up in this country, but I did study a lot of its history, and even abroad was often condemned by my teachers for being too damning in my writing (I will always remember the big red line drawn through the word “massacre” that I had used in an essay about Wounded Knee, with the words “please use a better word for this conflict”). We can’t rely on whitewashed history classes at school, here or anywhere else, to teach real history, so books like this are of utmost importance to me. The chapter on the GI Bill for example, widely celebrated as an amazing bill that helped so many people, was in reality extremely sexist and racist, created solely for the benefit of the white man. History really is cultivated by those who want us to see it differently, whitewashed and told in a different light than what really happened.
This really is a brilliant book, and one that I will be going back to over and over again. I can only imagine how difficult this book was to write, especially for a Black woman, which makes me appreciate it even more. Thank you so much Ijeoma Oluo, for the work that you have done and continue to do for us all.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.