Also, we must not fail to look at our culture and the people that we call heroes. “The most obvious examples would be to look at our political leadership and analysing the ineffectiveness and often the inadequacy of our leaders that is helmed mainly by white men. SHOP NOW What does white male mediocrity look like today both in the US and the UK? How do we recognise it? If we want to create radical change, not only do we have to address the bigotry and violence in our society and the rate of oppression ingrained in it, but we must also look at how we participate in these norms that are rewarding violent and oppressive behaviour.” “If was to pick one thing it would be the way that we define success and power, which, in most cases, is inherently harmful.

Through my findings, I want people to understand that this isn’t just a recent incident, but a product and a deliberate building of white male identity, which has been rewarded in our culture for multiple generations.” What do you hope readers will learn from Mediocre?

If you work with white men, if you vote, and if you pay attention to global politics, you’re constantly confronted with the phenomenon of how white male identity has been constructed. “Primarily, it was my life in work as a Black woman. Ijeoma Oluo Courtesy What made you delve into the topic of the dominance of mediocre white men? We caught up with the author to talked mediocrity, accountability, and progress. It’s a necessary read for the world we live in. Oluo’s latest book, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, paints an urgent, honest picture of how white male identity has spawned unrest in the country’s political ideology, exploring the system’s power dynamics with sharp insight and a profound pace that verges on activism. She is genuinely invested in the authentic portrayal of the Black community and what makes it tick, however emotionally exhausting it may be. The Seattle-based, Nigerian-American writer and author of New York Times best-seller So You Want To Talk About Race is inspired by identity politics in the US, focusing on critiques about race and the oppression of Black women in contemporary culture. Then there are others, like author Ijeoma Oluo, whose way of thinking is immediately and deeply immersive, forcing you to envelop yourself in her world, head under water, all at once. There are people who permeate your consciousness over time, drip by drip, like the leak of a tap.

Mediocre by Ijeoma Oluo