Walter Mosley, Luis Rodriguez, the coiner of #BlackLivesMatter and others sketch a hopeful future for L.A. Unlike “Mediocre,” it is a direct response to the events of 2020.īooks How does L.A.’s racial past resonate now? #BlackLivesMatter’s originator and 5 writers discuss A former linebacker and current L.A.-based NFL analyst, he had been planning a book on sports psychology before the protests inspired him to instead create a video series - and now a book. “If I had updated this, it would have been a book that was less about patterns and more about the present.”Īcho tackles the issue from another perspective. “We’re in the natural continuation of what I’ve written about, so I wanted to say, ‘This is part of the disaster I was talking about,’” Oluo explains. Oluo, a fearless columnist, wrote a prescient 2018 book, “ So You Want to Talk About Race.” But as “Mediocre” was being edited, she declined the opportunity to update it in reaction to the pandemic and protests. 3 on the New York Times Best Sellers list.īeyond those parallels, their paths and approaches to this particular moment, after mass protests over the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, couldn’t be more different.

Acho’s debut, “ Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man,” was published earlier this month and debuted at No. Oluo’s book, “ Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America,” is out next week. Ijeoma Oluo and Emmanuel Acho are both children of Nigerian immigrants, and today both are guiding lights in America’s conversation about antiracism.

If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores.

Mediocre ijeoma oluo