Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

So I can't remember how I found the recommendation to read this book, but it came really highly recommended to understanding why people in power use identity politics to prevent change from happening. I imagined that this book would be similar to "White Trash" where the author gives the history of the creation of whiteness as a category to create a feeling of superiority amongst the poor white crowd and then the subsequent creation of white trash to describe this group to avoid intermingling with them. Instead this book was near impossible to understand because it just felt like talking point after talking point and so many academic buzzwords that I honestly don't even know what I read. I've worked in health policy for a very long time and I think that one thing that these elites do well to maintain power is to keep things really simple and not convoluted so that most people can understand what it means. The issue with this book is that it's coming in at a doctorate level of understanding and comprehension and then using theories to describe things instead of real life experiences.… (meer)