--- description: Find out how Ijeoma Oluo is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. title: 2021 TIME100 Next: Ijeoma Oluo image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba245f4c67cb7dc0/698a173ab3fce3d6ec0c7b30/time100-next-ijeoma-oluo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 16, 2021 # Ijeoma Oluo by Ibram X. Kendi  Libby Lewis I still remember an event we did together in 2019\. It was the second time I saw Ijeoma Oluo enthrall a crowd with an unmatched clarity and conviction, and her mix of seriousness and laugh-out-loud humor, all the while showing a deep and abiding concern for racial justice. She evoked what humanity needs to secure and defend humanity’s needs. No wonder Oluo has emerged as one of the most admired writers and “Internet yellers” around. During the wave of demonstrations against police violence and racism in 2020, her runaway best seller, _So You Want to Talk About Race_, educated countless people (I read it for a second time in July). After a mob—incited by white men and led by white men—attacked the U.S. Capitol, her new book, _Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America_, became ever more vital. Oluo’s meeting the time—this movement against white supremacy and systems of oppression. But the question she keeps asking us in her work: Are we? _Kendi is a National Book Award–winning author_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937617/ijeoma-oluo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937617/ijeoma-oluo/"},"headline":"Ijeoma Oluo","datePublished":"2021-02-16T23:33:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:47:43.451Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937617/ijeoma-oluo/","keywords":["list","franchise","TIME 100 Next","TIME 100 Next Advocates"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba245f4c67cb7dc0/698a173ab3fce3d6ec0c7b30/time100-next-ijeoma-oluo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba245f4c67cb7dc0/698a173ab3fce3d6ec0c7b30/time100-next-ijeoma-oluo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937617/ijeoma-oluo/","name":"Ijeoma Oluo"}}]}] ```