BOOK CLUB PROMOTES DISCUSSION ON RACE

LURA AJDINI, TRUMPET STAFF WRITER

“So You Want to Talk About Race,” by Ijeoma Oluo raises awareness on the effects of racism and promotes discussions about race. The Diversity & Inclusion Book Club at Wartburg College will be presenting the New York Times best-seller.

The book examines the issue of race in America, such as social dailylife effects and experiences of racism, words people may consciously and unconsciously use to racially discriminate, prejudices and biases and more.

“Oluo talks about situations where people of color or any other have been discriminated against,” Nina Adam, a fourthyear business administration major and a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Book Club, said.

“She simplifies it and makes it very easy for everyone to understand. She is not trying to blame white people, so to say, but she’s putting it out there for them to understand. She explains that often being a person of color in a white dominated society is like being in an abusive relationship with the world.”

“So You Want to Talk About Race” simplifies how racism is understood and draws the audience with its metaphors deeper into their emotions and situations of what happens, could happen and why it happens. Diversity & Inclusion Book Club is hosting other events regarding the book including transportation to Oluo’s speech at the University of Northern Iowa on Nov. 11 and a campus discussion about the book at 4 p.m., Nov. 11, in the Heritage Ballroom.

The events are interactive with question and answer portions. “It’s not just about race, but any aspect of diversity. This is an important piece of diversity and inclusion,” Krystal Madlock, director of multicultural student services at Wartburg College, said. “This is one of the reasons why we’re doing this and we hope we’ll continue to do things like this and to get our campus involved in it.”

Madlock mentioned another event during the Winter Term, organized with Jennifer Onuigbo from the Student Life Office, about group discussions based on “So You Want to Talk About Race.” For more information about the upcoming events, contact Madlock at kyrstal.madlock@ wartburg.edu.