So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo Book Analysis

In Ijeoma Oluo’s, So You Want To Talk About Race, Oluo engages in extremely crucial convocations surrounding fundamental racial issues. As a woman of color, Oluo shares her own life experiences, while educating and breaking down concepts of racial oppression of colored people. In the chapter, “Why Can’t I Touch Your Hair” Oluo explains what its like living in a society with a dominant white culture. Oluo addresses her burdens to the topic of cultural appropriation, emphasizing annoyance and emotional tolls through her stories, while clearly communicating with the audience, clarifying to white people why not to let triggering curiosity lead to disrespectful advances. 

In chapter eleven, Oluo uses her personal experiences, sharing her encounter of triggering questions in the work environment to support her claim of cultural appropriation. Oluo shares her story of beating multiple candidates, some higher ups, to win a new job, however, is soon targeted by curious questions being the only African American there. During the middle of their work dinner, her boss asks, “Is that your real hair” (154) then continues to make numerous statements that he assumed about her type of hair. Her boss feels like he’s appropriating his knowledge, learned from “that Chris Rock movie about hair” (154), while Oluo feels he is shaming black women for how they do their hair, still showing of oppression. The author explains the topic of cultural appropriation, explaining what it was like for her growing up in a society wanting hair seen in commercials and magazines, and that she didn’t need a movie to inform her on black hair. Oluo writes, “I wanted to be a beautiful girl, and beautiful girls did not have hair like mine” (156). Oluo exemplifies the seriousness of a dominant culture, showing how “your hair is everywhere” (157),  informing white readers the racial tensions of everyday actions. 

Oluo shares how a lot of nonblack people know little about her hairstyling methods, which sometimes leads to unnecessary staring and touching. Oluo emphasizes her annoyances of lack of racial understanding. She states how she finds it not only inappropriate, but weird that people would want to touch her hair. Oluo directly talks to the audience, sharing “it is a continuation of the lack of respect for the basic humanity and bodily autonomy of Black Americans that is endemic throughout White Supremacy” (159), showing how the extent of racism goes further than obvious offenses. Oluo addresses the underlying dynamic struggle of systemic racism, and how society is built on an understanding “that nothing and nobody is beyond your grasp” (161).

Oluo demonstrates how African hair is still used to determine a place in society, “we still live in a country where our hair determines how professional we seem, how respectable we seem- even how intelligent we seem” (160). Oluo describes the systematic racism still used in today’s society, explaining that since slavery, Black Americans have been treated as curiosities and property, trying to express themselves in “white America” (160) without being segregated by white interests. Oluo expresses the questions of non Black people, telling them they could question the segregation of Black hair products, and the exclusion of “how-tos” (160) in magazines, stating “as long as our hair and our bodies are judged and controlled and violated by White Supremacy, it will always be so much more” (161).

The author effectively introduces her claim through her writing, using her own life experiences and breaking down cultural topics to the audience. Oluo is able to successfully communicate her ideals to the audience, establishing her credibility while speaking directly to the readers displaying emotional appeals.