Jargogled Impressions.

Ever since I moved to America, I have wondered why the topic of race here is so fraught with complexity and evokes a range of emotions from people across the spectrum. It almost feels as if no one understands the issue right to its core and that the cloudy vortex of interpretations seem to cast a pall on the whole effort at dissecting the issue. People get offended for reasons that escape me sometimes. Offense is easy to come by in the age we live in today, more so because of the information overload we deal with every passing second. Fake news, fabricated news stories, promoted articles, native advertising, etc. are increasingly leading to a complete surrender of truth to the eyes of the observer. However, if someone takes offence, it becomes important to understand the world from their eyes instead of positing an opinion on why they need a thicker skin and/or a less sensitive personality. Sometimes, the offended person may have a view so entirely different from your own that knowing a bit more can help you understand where they are coming from and enable you to develop a more nuanced understanding of the issue at hand.

Arriving fresh from India, where there are thousands of religions that coexist right next to each other, I have often wondered if the discomfort I have sensed with people who want to talk about race and do something about it often is a result of an incomplete grasp of the whole picture. I wonder if they are clueless about the best way to constructively lead a discussion for a more meaningful outcome that does not hurt anyone.

On a whim and to answer some of these questions I picked up “So you want to talk about race”, by Ijeoma Oluo. The title spoke of the content in the book clearly and the book justified it – a handy guide for those who are not people of color and are willing to let themselves be educated about the various issues that separate races today through the eyes of someone who brings with her distinct and clearly articulated experiences of discrimination, racism, and frustration. The author is clear in her opinion on the offended being always right, regardless of the situation or the intention of the offender. And this is key in my opinion towards maintaining an open mind about such divisive issues as affirmative action, immigration, intersectionality, cultural appropriation, model minority myth, and social identity.

In the world we live in today, it is fairly easy to form an opinion on things based on what you read and experience in your own small island of a world. Stepping out into the immediate world is an important step towards enlarging your understanding of the complex society we live in today. The book helps you step out of the echo chamber we often find ourselves in through a well reasoned argument on why we should view racism as more than saying “if someone is mean to others owing to their race”. Many a times, racism exists in smaller packets that do more harm than is assumed in its own discrete, sharp ways. Understanding where these racial landmines exist and being conscious of their effect on the overall phenomena of systemic racism is key to unlocking the world where race exists only as a medium to share culture and unique worlds and not as a pretext for subversion.