Read to Achieve
All about Read to Achieve
The Read to Achieve program at UTC introduces students to the academic and intellectual culture of university life. The program provides a positive reading experience for students, faculty, and staff, one that holds at its core the belief that reading is an integral part of the university experience. Likewise, the program fosters a sense of community among students, faculty, and staff.
Because the selected Read to Achieve book is not intended to be specific to any one academic discipline, students, faculty, and staff find the book and its subject matter a touchstone for reference and discussion across the campus. The chosen book always focuses on various topics surrounding diversity and inclusion.
About the 2021 Book
In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to “model minorities” in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.
About the Author
Ijeoma Oluo is the author of the New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race. Her work on race has been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post. She has twice been named to the Root 100, and she received the 2018 Feminist Humanist Award from the American Humanist Association. She lives in Seattle, Washington.
Praise for So You Want to Talk About Race
"Oluo gives us -- both white people and people of color -- that language to engage in clear, constructive, and confident dialogue with each other about how to deal with racial prejudices and biases." -- National Book Review
"Generous and empathetic, yet usefully blunt… it's for anyone who wants to be smarter and more empathetic about matters of race and engage in more productive anti-racist action." -- Salon
Quotes from So You Want to Talk About Race
“When we identify where our privilege intersects with somebody else's oppression, we'll find our opportunities to make real change.” ― Ijeoma Oluo
“You have to get over the fear of facing the worst in yourself. You should instead fear unexamined racism. Fear the thought that right now, you could be contributing to the oppression of others and you don't know it. But do not fear those who bring that oppression to light. Do not fear the opportunity to do better.” ― Ijeoma Oluo
“Systemic racism is a machine that runs whether we pull the levers or not, and by just letting it be, we are responsible for what it produces.”― Ijeoma Oluo
