Decolonize Your Mind: "Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America" by Ijeoma Oluo
Here at She’s Full of Lit, we are deeply committed to anti-racism work, and anti-racist reading. While it’s important to take action and not just “join a book club” (as so many white women are wont to do when it comes to performative allyship), we are still a book blog.
So, here’s another entry in our series, Decolonize Your Mind, in which we’ll recommend anti-racist books and break down what’s so enlightening and educational. We don’t want to lump these into our regular book reviews, and we also can’t do the work of reading, reflecting, and acting for you. So read on —hopefully you’ll find them as interesting and informative as we do! (We also highly recommend purchasing these books from Bookshop.org rather than Amazon if you are able.)
“Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America” by Ijeoma Oluo
Publisher Synopsis: What happens to a country that tells generation after generation of white men that they deserve power? What happens when success is defined by status over women and people of color, instead of by actual accomplishments?
Through the last 150 years of American history -- from the post-reconstruction South and the mythic stories of cowboys in the West, to the present-day controversy over NFL protests and the backlash against the rise of women in politics -- Ijeoma Oluo exposes the devastating consequences of white male supremacy on women, people of color, and white men themselves. Mediocre investigates the real costs of this phenomenon in order to imagine a new white male identity, one free from racism and sexism.
As provocative as it is essential, this book will upend everything you thought you knew about American identity and offers a bold new vision of American greatness.
Why I Loved It: First, let me admit that I chose this book because it seemed like an easy entry point for my first book in this series; while I’m newer to (attempting to be) actively antiracist, I have long considered myself a feminist. Yes, it’s totally centering — but at least I’m aware of it? — but it was easier for me to agree with Ijeoma Oluo’s thesis that white men are not only the worst, but actually dangerous, than it has been to clearly articulate my thoughts about…”Stamped from the Beginning” or “Caste,” just for example.
I really like how approachable she made this subject matter, and how it was thematically grouped — i.e., origins, workplace, sports, education. It made it easy to read a chapter or two at a time (which is honestly about all I can handle in one sitting), and the information was easy to digest. While this is a tough subject matter, her tone and humor made it easy to read, and I adore her writing style.
What I Learned:
So much. So, so, so much.
Oh, you want specifics? Okay then.
As I mentioned earlier, I appreciated how she broke down this subject matter into discrete themes, and I learned a ton in each of the areas where she focused her attention. I knew in the abstract that the history of America is more shaped by this idea of white BDE than other nations, but I didn’t know how it began, evolved, and had invaded literally every aspect of modern life — from the beginning of football to advertising to how we interact on college campuses. Ijeoma did her research - there are about 20 pages of footnotes - and artfully breaks down how institutional supremacy is so skewed towards white men (and uncomfortably, how white women often take advantage of that).
I guess what I want to stress is that none of this is actually surprising when I think about it, but it’s astounding how much white male (unearned) supremacy — and yes, it’s supremacy, not just privilege — is ingrained in all aspects of life in the U.S.. I rant a lot about the patriarchy, but it feels like I’m not doing enough to dismantle this system. She focuses on the last 150 years of U.S. history, basically starting with Manifest Destiny and the Civil War, with the thesis that conquering the West and the end of Black slavery created a perfect storm for white male fragility.
This, combined with a newly expanded industrial age and the rise of social justice movements, entrenched the worst parts of this fragility into our political, economic, and educational systems — providing a base for white men to trample down anyone that challenged their space at the top of the power structure in this country. This book made me reframe a lot of what I’ve just blithely accepted, and really challenge what it means to be an American. It’s a testament to her skill as a writer that I devoured this book, and I never felt like I was being lectured to; she made it engaging and fun, while also being totally educational.
Key Quotes:
As you can tell - I flagged a lot of things I wanted to remember in this book (I am not precious with my books at all) - so it was hard to narrow this down. I’ll try, though!
“Plenty of women have met the ‘male feminist’ who can quote bell hooks but will use those quotes to speak over you. Plenty of people of color have met the white antiracist who is all for Dr. King’s dream until people of color start asking white people to make actual sacrifices for racial justice. Ego can undermine the best intentions, but often, when thigs like this happen — when someone we trust as an ally ends up taking advantage of their position and then turning against the principles the once claimed to fight for when that abuse is discovered — we find that their intentions weren’t that great in the first place.”
“The assumption that women would vote for women for no other reason than their gender is insulting to all women’s intelligence, as is the insinuation that women candidates who focus on ‘women's issues’ are also not concerned about economic or health care issues. In this statement also lies the quieter yet just as harmful assumption that white men only vote for candidates that center their own white male interests.”
“Not only have things in America not been built for me; they have never been built for me. And although that has been physically, financially, politically, and psychologically disastrous for my community, I have come to see it is also damaging to be led to believe that everything is built for you and that anything built with the consideration of others is inherently harmful to you.”
“White supremacy is, and always has been, a pyramid scheme.”
“The concept of race in America was created for the subjugation of Black and brown bodies for the seeming benefit of white Americans. There are no pockets of America that are exempt from this. There is no liberal utopia that got a different memo.”
“The presence of women in the workplace not only undermines white male authority there; it also lessens men’s opportunities to dominate women at home. The power and ego of entitled white men — who maintain firm control of the vast majority of government offices, manager’s offices, corporate boards, and other realms of leadership — remain the biggest obstacles that most women face in their careers.”
“Every white man in business is pure potential…but what are women worth? What would it look like to value us and our potential? What is the risk of destroying our careers before they even start?”
“Many white men see a political landscape dominated by white men and think it is that way because white men are just more politically minded. They think that the absence of women and people of color from powerful rooms is due to self-selection. They do not question how unwelcoming the room they have built might be.”
“American football was founded as part of the elite white male preoccupation with maintaining physical power over a nation and its people…when we look at how the sport has embraced violence, undermined workers, and exploited people of color — what could be more American than that?”
“It’s the expectation that many white men have that they shouldn’t have to climb, shouldn’t have to struggle, as others do. It’s the idea not only that they think they have less than others, but that they were supposed to have so much more.”
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