Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in So You Want to Talk About Race, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism, Privilege, and White Supremacy
Confronting Racial Pain
Intersectionality, Oppression, and Social Justice
Cultural Appropriation
Summary
Analysis
Oluo felt like an outsider growing up in Seattle, especially at school where there weren’t other black students. When she’s older, she joins a Facebook group for people of color and discovers a vibrant community of people like her to hang out and discuss arts and culture with. One day, at a group picnic, she feels awkward when a few black men playing basketball nearby ask to join them. It’s never occurred to her that other black people might find her “bougie” group “pretentious” and inaccessible. She feels lucky that she can shield some of the blow from racism in privileges that “white Seattle valued,” but she feels bad for overlooking that the community isn’t as radically accepting as she assumed.
Oluo shifts track to discuss the topic of privilege. Once again, she stresses that privilege is intersectional; it’s an oversimplification to say that all white people are equally privileged and all black people are equally oppressed. Her anecdote here shows that privilege and oppression come up in complex, multilayered, constantly shifting ways. She’s oppressed as an outsider in “white Seattle,” but she’s privileged within her social group relative to the new “outsiders” (the basketball players) who want to join in. She signals this by describing her group as potentially “bougie” (wealthy) and “pretentious” to other people of color.
Themes
Oluo hates the phrase “check your privilege”—it’s usually a sign of a conversation gone wrong. But she also thinks it’s important to understand privilege, and how it’s relevant for social justice efforts. To Oluo, privilege is really an advantage that you have that others don’t. They include privileges based on race, physical ability, gender, and class but can also include less obvious privileges like sexual orientation, physical appearance (or body type) and neurological differences. Oluo argues that addressing systemic oppression requires us to understand the full impact of the advantages our privileges give us.
Oluo wants to unpack the concept of privilege a bit further. She stresses that privilege and oppression are two sides of the same coin: a person with privilege is advantaged because the system gives them that privilege by taking opportunity away from somebody else. Privilege is thus inherently unjust. Second, she reminds the reader that privilege is intersectional: everyone likely has some forms of privilege and faces some forms of oppression, and it's important to examine these, to “check your privilege.”
Themes
For example, Oluo has a college degree that she worked hard for while raising a child. She’s proud of the effort she put in but feels it’s dishonest to pretend her degree is entirely due to her own efforts. She grew up in a household with a mother who taught her to value education. She grew up as a nondisabled child with access to a school designed to serve her needs. Her grade school education was free. She’s a documented citizen which gives her access to financial aid. Her degree gives her access to jobs and promotions that smarter people without degrees can’t get. Oluo feels that if she doesn’t question these privileges, she’s contributing to a system that is unfair.
Oluo uses her own situation to show how privilege and systemic oppression are related. She’s privileged in being educated, able-bodied, and documented, which gives her greater access to economic success (through financial aid and employment). Oluo has these privileges because society gives her more opportunity by taking opportunities away from disabled, uneducated, undocumented, and poor people. Her list also subtly emphasizes that oppression is intersectional (it affects different people for different reasons in many overlapping ways).
Themes
Oluo thinks people feel threatened by the concept of privilege because we don’t like to believe we’re harming others, don’t deserve what we have, or don’t understand how the world works. It’s crucial, to Oluo, that people understand the privileges they do have come at somebody else’s disadvantage. As a light-skinned black woman, Oluo is perceived as more intelligent than dark-skinned black women. If she accepts advantages on the basis of that assumption without questioning it (say, if she accepts a job without asking why her dark-skinned counterparts didn’t), she’s allowing those biases to continue.
Once again, Oluo stresses that that people don’t like to confront their own prejudice (or check their privilege) because it’s uncomfortable. As before, however, Oluo argues that being complacent about privilege is the same thing as being actively prejudiced: it allows the inequality to continue, and it allows a person to attain success because others are held back (through discriminatory attitudes and practices).
Themes
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To Oluo, having privilege is like having power to speak up in situations where others don’t. She thinks we should check our privilege, because doing so helps us identify areas where we have more power to change the system. She recommends making a list of all the advantages you had growing up—including things like growing up middle-class, being cisgender, being documented, being neurotypical, and so on. She suggests resisting the urge to think about all your disadvantages at this stage. Oluo feels underprivileged as a black, queer woman, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t check her privilege—otherwise, she might exclude people (such as black trans people or disabled black people) from her fight for social justice.
Oluo argues that one way to work through the discomfort of facing one’s own prejudice is to recognize that privilege is unfair, but it’s also power. The most ethical thing that a person can do with that power is to use it to seek change—they can call out problems and try to change the system so that power is more equally distributed in the future. It’s thus important for everyone to check their privilege—not to punish themselves or feel guilty for having an unfair advantage, but to help identify areas where they are in a position of power and are therefore able to recognize future power imbalances and fight oppression. Oluo’s advice to make a list also stresses that people are privileged for many different reasons, which all need to be addressed to fully eliminate power imbalances in society.
Themes
Oluo suggests studying your list and thinking about how your advantages in life shape your views on racism, education, and wider social issues. Then, seek out people who don’t have your privileges and listen to what they say about those topics. Oluo does this herself every year, and she recommends getting used to the discomfort, “sting,” and guilt that come with having privileges. These feelings, she says, won’t kill you. But learning about your privilege will help you stop being defensive and become more empathetic and generous during arguments.
Oluo acknowledges that even though the aim of identifying one’s privileges is to make positive social change, the effort will inevitably stir up uncomfortable emotions (such as the “sting” of shame and guilt). Once again, she advises the reader to embrace their discomfort rather than avoiding it. Oluo also implies that the fear of feeling uncomfortable is one of the biggest barriers to productive activism.
Themes
Oluo continues, saying that once you’re aware of your privilege, you can start dismantling it. For example, if you had a private education, use your financial security to support efforts for improving public schools. If politicians seek your political support, ask them what they’ll do to support other communities. If you have a flexible schedule and can make a daytime parent-teacher meeting, ask the school if they can move the next meeting to times that accommodate working parents. To Oluo, there are endless possibilities for leveraging your privilege to make ca change, so she urges everyone to regularly check their privilege.
Oluo illustrates several ways in which a person can flex their power to make a positive social change. Her varied examples remind the reader that privilege is intersectional—it’s not just about race. As before, Oluo concludes by urging the reader to remember that doing nothing with the power that privilege gives them isn’t neutral, it’s actively oppressive: being complacent only perpetuates the existing system of power imbalances and creates further inequality, which is why people need to be aware of the privileges they have so they can use them productively.
Themes
