Book 761: Mediocre – Ijeoma Oluo

As soon as I heard that Oluo was releasing another book I immediately sought out a copy. I couldn’t wait until it was released so sought out a galley ASAP.* I will buy a copy as well, because she’s wonderful. My response is definitely messy, but it’s because she makes me think so much about so many things and I just sort of try to regurgitate all of my thoughts at the same time instead of cohesively sharing them.

First, a diatribe about the early reviews I saw on Goodreads: If you ever needed a reason to read books like this (you don’t), you should take a look at the reviews for this one on Goodreads. Not only have a lot of the 1- and 2-star reviews totally misunderstood the entire book, they have attempted to explain their ratings with the thinnest of reasons that frankly annoyed the shit out of me. Not only are there the men (god fearing Christians if they’re to be believed) who completely missed that Oluo isn’t saying all white men are mediocre, just that the racist-ass systems built by white men reward the most mediocre of them, they straight up appear not to have even read the book, let alone tried to understand it.

The WORST review by far is the white woman who attempted to tear down the book because it lacked academic credibility (“THE FEMINIST IN ME LIKED THIS – THE ACADEMIC IN ME DID NOT”), she may as well have started her review with “I’m not racist, but . . .”.  At no point has Oluo ever claimed to be an academic. She is very upfront about being a journalist and observer who writes about her lived experience and attempts to provide context (historical and current) to support or reiterate her claims (or even dispute them on some occasions). To call her out for something she never claimed or tried to do is an underhanded (you can read that as racist) attempt to undermine her credibility and lived experience.

“The ‘male supremacy’ in white male supremacy has been in place in white culture since before white people thought of themselves as white. For centuries, women were not allowed to own property, to attend university, to vote. Whatever degree of freedom women and girls had in their public and private lives was determined by men.” (Introduction)

“To be a white man—a straight, abled, cisgender white man—in public office means never having to say you’re sorry and still getting reelected . . .  Women, people of color, disabled people, LGBTQ+ people—they are afforded no such grace. Those of us who wish to hold office must have personal lives beyond reproach; we must be sure to moderate our political views. We must hold degrees from traditionally white institutions, or be able to prove that our education at schools of color did not radicalize us. We cannot appear to ever be angry. We must always prove that we are willing to prioritize the concerns of white men in our work no matter how few are in our constituency.

So while just about every flavor of white man in America is going to have at least a few representatives in their government, the rest of us are lucky if we have any. One Latinx person in office is supposed to represent the needs of all Latinx, Black, Asian American, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander constituents. One woman in office is supposed to represent all women of varying races and ethnicities, sexualities, classes, and political ideologies.” (Chapter 5)

Second, what I struggled with in this book: The sheer scope of it. This isn’t the first time I struggled with Oluo’s ability to write about a seemingly crazy diverse set of subjects and weave them together into a cohesive narrative. I said the same thing when I read So You Want to Talk about Race. Not only could I read an entire book about each one of the chapters in that book I could do it in this one as well. Oluo’s writing style is so approachable and conversational and the personal details where she connects herself to the point she’s trying to make is incredible. It not only makes the narrative come alive, it makes it personal. As I read Chapter 6, Socialists and Quota Queens: When Women of Color Challenge the Political Status Quo, I could sense her pride and feel her rage and the range of emotions she put into that one chapter was astounding.

And I won’t lie as a white cis-gendered male, who is probably mediocre at best, I definitely had some frank conversations with myself as I read this. Were there times I saw myself in it and was like oh shit that’s definitely not good? Yes. Were there also times where I was like holy shit why would any one do/say/allow something like that to happen? Also, yes. So it was an interesting few days as I read the book to see my own fallibilities but to also to see where I’ve grown over my life.

“While Chisholm may have been quickly erased from many history books, her impact on national politics for Black Americans and Black women was real. Chisholm was the first. Someone had to be, and she stepped up to show that a Black American—a Black woman—could run a serious campaign for president of the United States and could take that campaign to the national convention. The spirit of Shirley Chisholm was felt when Barack Obama became the first Black president in 2008.” (Chapter 6)

I also struggled a lot with how angry I am at the lack of a well-rounded education I received growing up. There are so many things that we were force fed that not only glossed over various atrocities in American history (hello Trail of Tears), but that were blatantly false or omitted. We never once discussed Shirley Chisholm (Wikipedia link) growing up in any of my American history classes and that’s absolute bullshit. Not only did we discuss Geraldine Ferraro’s (Wikipedia link) inclusion on the 1984 ticket, she was held up as a beacon of hope for women in political office and that was a DECADE AFTER Chisholm had not only ran for President in the Democratic primary, but went all the way to the convention. There were other pieces of my childhood education that Oluo shined a light on that just angered me even more and reminded me how much sway places like Texas (because of how many text books they buy) and other southern states have on our childhood education.

“I am not defending higher education because I love, or even like, the institution. I am defending it because without it, we are lost. And because I have seen, in my own academic history and in the countless hours I’ve spent on campuses across the country, what higher education could be.” (Chapter 3)

Finally, everything else that was wonderful and I loved: the intersectionality of everything Oluo writes. Not only does she center her interests in what she writes as a Black (queer? I can’t remember how she identifies, but I think she said she was somewhere in the alphabet soup in the last book) woman, but she includes nods to so many other intersections of identity and it is always wonderful to read, specifically this one acknowledgment of trans lives:

“To many women (and anyone with a uterus, regardless of gender), especially on the left, the assault on reproductive rights was a serious issue facing America.” (Chapter 2)

I don’t know why that one line stood out to me so much, but if anything, it made me fanboy for Oluo even more than I already do. Add in that she not only called out Bernie Sanders (and his bros) for their misogyny and racism, but she brought the receipts.

Seriously, though as much as I struggled with the depth and breadth of the work it was also one of the advantages of this book. From cowboys, social justice movements and the Ivy League to Black labor, women’s labor and politics, and professional football, she really went wide to say hey look at all of these systems (tied to one intrinsically systemic racist system) that prop up the most mediocre of white men. And again, she brought the receipts. She easily could’ve written a book on every one of the subjects or the people she interviewed, but she had to show some restraint as she says in the acknowledgments that it could’ve been 10,000 pages.

And THEN when she geeked out about voting and cumulative voting (new term to me) I was like OMG YES YES YES!

“Cumulative voting is a way to increase minority representation by pooling multiple votes across a larger group of candidates and allocating seats based on the pooled votes.” (Chapter 6)

I wasn’t aware there was the broader voting type of cumulative voting, but am VERY aware of ranked choice voting (Wikipedia link) from my time in the UK. I was involved in student politics and lost a very close election in ranked choice voting by like two votes maybe and it was amazing to see EVERY vote count when the other candidates were slowly eliminated and their second/third/etc. choice votes were actually used and counted! I cannot tell you how gutted I am that Massachusetts didn’t pass the ranked choice voting ballot initiative (Associated Press link) to use it in our state this past election.

I could go on and on and on, but basically read this book, and read everything else Oluo has written. Not only will you learn something, you’ll feel like you’re having a conversation and not being lectured to (no matter how many of us need the lectures and learning).

Recommendation: Honestly, if you have no intentions of learning or growing don’t read this, but if you have even the slightest of open minds then read this. I can’t recommend Oluo enough. She tells you what you’re going to get in her titles and then she gives you more. The breadth of what she writes about is always astounding and leaves me wanting more. Again in this work, like her last, I could read an entire book written by her about each one of the chapters in this book (now that would be a commitment). I think a lot of people who have reviewed it (and allegedly read it) may have missed Oluo’s point completely on this book. She’s not arguing that all white men are mediocre, she doesn’t even insinuate that. She’s reiterating (and highlighting – maybe even belaboring the point for many women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals) that the systems that we all live in inherently support/prioritize/reward the most mediocre of white men because that is how they were built and how they have been maintained. For example, I nearly did a spit take when she wrote this: “Man-made as in caused by dudes. More specifically, white dudes. The socioeconomic exclusion of women and people of color in political decision making, stock trading, and business running means that no matter where you place your blame, there are likely some white men.” (Chapter 5), because 1) it was hilarious, but more importantly 2) it was absolutely correct and factually accurate.

*I received a copy of Mediocre from the publisher via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “I was at an idyllic women’s writing retreat.”

Closing Line: “We have to have more than just the desire to fight; we have to have the bravery to look at ourselves and see our complicity in the violence of white male supremacy. We have to not only believe that we deserve better; we have to have faith that we can do better. And we have to start now.” (Not whited out as this is a work of nonfiction.)

Additional Quotes from Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America
“While both Natives and Europeans used scalping as a weapon in battle, the European use of scalping as one of their many tools of genocide would be largely erased by textbooks. In place of this gruesome history, Americans are widely taught half truths glorifying the supposed suffering and heroism of European colonizers.” (Chapter 1)

“Perhaps one of the most brutal of white male privileges is the opportunity to live long enough to regret the carnage you have brought upon others. (Chapter 1)

“So what happens when a white man decides to take up a cause that will directly threaten his identity as a white man? Well, sometimes he will subconsciously work to maintain his position above those he is trying to ‘help’ by elevating himself even further above them with his selfless deeds, by recentering the goals of the group to maintain his social and political power, or by quietly exploiting or abusing individuals he is claiming to help—or perhaps a combination of the three. Sometimes this is the conscious goal of the white man in joining these efforts from the very beginning. Such men are predators. But often these men are completely unaware of their hypocrisy because they are not doing anything out of the ordinary by centering themselves when they’ve always been centered, or by taking advantage of those who have always been taken advantage of—they’re just living according to the norms of society.” (Chapter 2)

“Let’s be clear: centering the needs of progressive, working-class, white men is identity politics. It is just as steeped in individual identity as movements focusing on women and people of color. But it comes with a level of privilege built in that allows it to escape wider scrutiny.” (Chapter 2)

“The next white male candidate that angry white men rally behind may not be Trump or Sanders, and the next female candidate they turn against is unlikely to be Hillary Clinton. But as long as we refuse to address the ways in which white men cling to political power, even to their own detriment, there will always be a white male politician to take advantage of this white male anxiety over the rise of women and people of color.” (Chapter 2)

“Regardless of party, people who understand how our political systems work are less likely to fall for (without being entirely immune to) reactionary populists who want to blame the failures of complex socioeconomic systems on ‘the Blacks,’ ‘the illegals,’ ‘the gays,’ or ‘the elite media.'” (Chapter 3)

“None of this, unsurprisingly, was effective in convincing Blacks that they should stay in the South. They fled in record numbers. Between 1916 and 1930, more than one million Blacks moved north in the hopes of finding jobs, education, and safety. By the time Southern leaders changed tactics and decided to improve working and living conditions for Blacks instead of antagonizing them, it was too late. The Southern cotton industry was in shambles. Because the Southern elites had tied all their financial hopes to that single industry and had driven away the workforce that could have helped the region transition into new industries, the South would never be the model of prosperity it had once considered itself. And by the end of the Great Migration, more than six million people had left the South, which would be forever changed.” (Chapter 4)

“Hostility toward women workers and workers of color did not start during the Great Depression, but even during that white-man-made disaster, white men diverted a sizeable amount of time and resources to ensuring that women and people of color understood that the American workplace—whether it be factories, plants, or offices—was only for white men.” (Chapter 5)

“Women and people of color are often seen as Hail Marys for businesses in desperate need of change. They are tossed, eyes closed, fingers crossed, across the field with little direction other than a prayer that they will land the team somewhere better than it is now.” (Chapter 5)

“I shouldn’t have to write any of this. It should be enough that these issues are impacting communities of color. We should care about what is harming our fellow human beings, even if it affects only their communities and not ours. It should be enough that this is hurting us. It is insulting that I have to point out the ways in which these issues also hurt white Americans in the hopes that I might get more people to care.” (Chapter 6)

“In 2017, four confident, talented, unapologetic young women of color were elected to US Congress, and everyone freaked the fuck out.
It sounds almost ridiculous to type that in this day and age, but when I think about the politics of recent years, it is as accurate a way as any to describe the fear, anger, and downright hatred that many Americans have toward women of color who dare reach for political power without first capitulating to white male supremacy.” (Chapter 6)

“American football was founded as part of the elite white male preoccupation with maintaining physical power over a nation and its people. When that preoccupation cost too many lives, the sport became a tool for maintaining elite white male power by distracting dissatisfied white working-class men. It is now a tool used to control the football players who risk their bodies and their brains to make rich white men even richer. And through it all, an adoring public has embraced the sport as a symbol of American power and masculinity. When we look at how the sport has embraced violence, undermined workers, and exploited people of color—what could be more American than that?” (Chapter 7)

“That American football was invented, at least in part, to create and maintain a violent white male ideal—an ideal so brutal that it claimed dozens of promising young lives each year—is a history that should perhaps be just as troubling to white Americans as the current state of football is to Black Americans.” (Chapter 7)

“In a world where many people of many different races and genders are bullied, where many people feel left out and overlooked, it is white men who are choosing to turn that pain and fear into self-harm and murderous rage far more frequently than almost anybody else in America.” (Conclusion)

“These men wanted me to know that they were miserable, they felt screwed over, and they felt demonized. They wanted me to know that the only option available to address white male patriarchy was either to maintain the status quo that was making us all miserable, or death. They wanted me to know that they were not capable of growth or change and that any attempts to bring about that growth or change would end them.” (Conclusion)