mediocre the dangerous legacy of white male america review

The book offers easily accessible yet little-discussed examples of the institutions created to help White men overcome feelings of inadequacy while maintaining power. She interrogates the Ivy League and examines our nation’s love and creation of White-intended but Black-in-reality football and how the “rough sport” was introduced to help ease White middle-class anxieties. Oluo writes of President-elect Joe Biden’s conflicted history of being both for and against bussing. mythologized history with the stories of modern-day militants, it’s easy to see the through line between today’s White male embrace of standing their ground and its origins in a false Western narrative of “White male righteous victory” over the land and the people. The first chapter, for example, deals with the mythology surrounding Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, and the so-called Wild West. Unlike Oluo’s 2018 bestseller, So You Wanna Talk About Race, Mediocre is no “primer,” as the author describes it. Oluo methodically identifies and explains the structures that create, multiply, and embolden him. Your ultra average, angry White man didn’t happen by accident. It’s a “very dark place,” Oluo says, and there are things every American can do about it - starting with two things: an acknowledgment that we need white men and an admission to our complicity in this terrible, untenable legacy.Weall joke about having the confidence of a mediocre White man, but New York Times bestselling author Ijeoma Oluo breaks down what this really means in her new book, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America. White male privilege exists today in economics, pro sports, in language, in an ignorance of history and the contributions of Black men and women, and in entertainment. It’s in the workplace, where Black women continue to make far less money than their white male counterparts. It’s been on college campuses, and in places of higher education where Black people were historically denied entrance. We see white male privilege all over politics, from the top down and especially in political arenas where white supremacy exists. It exists in the West, as white men fight against white men over land that white men stole. It’s been going on for hundreds of years, Oluo says, and Black women aren’t the only ones on the receiving end of it. There are, Oluo says, “a thousand memes” that feature the words, “Lord, give me the confidence of a mediocre white man,” meaning that “white male mediocrity is a baseline” from which all power rotates, “regardless of skill … or talent.” It’s as if some sort of higher rank should be granted just because those individuals happen to be white men.

Our House First Time Home Buyer’s Series.BOOK REVIEW: 'Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America' by Ijeoma Oluo - The Washington Informer Close

Mediocre the dangerous legacy of white male america review