In So you wanna talk about race, Oluo compares systemic racism to a machine that churns out racists and oppresses people of color just by functioning. Oluo says that people who know the machine is running but do nothing to stop it are complicit in the damage the machine causes. Using this metaphor, she argues that people who are complacent about racism or ignore the issue altogether are not being neutral—they are being actively racist because they are allowing a system that oppresses people to continue. This means that everybody has an ethical obligation to dismantle the machine (the systems of society that cause people to become racist), even if they didn’t build it. In other words, silence about systemic racism allows violence against people of color to continue, and Oluo believes that this is inherently unjust.
Machine Quotes in So You Want to Talk About Race
Systemic racism is a machine that runs whether we pull the levers or not, and just by letting it be, we are responsible for what it produces.
Machine Symbol Timeline in So You Want to Talk About Race
