Across campuses, nonprofits, corporations, and communities, people often feel uneasy about conversations about race. According to Ralina Joseph, author of Racial Exhaustion: How to Move Through Racism in the Wake of DEI, many individuals are tired of repeating the same truths, while others are tired of trying to navigate guilt, fear, and confusion. In her new book, she offers language for this moment and a path forward.
For Joseph, the idea for this book began with her own body and spirit telling the truth. She recalled, “After the 2016 election, I became tired in a way that I couldn’t explain.” She watched white and Black women split sharply in their voting patterns, just as we saw again in 2024. The distance in political behavior made the idea of interracial alliance feel out of reach for her. Joseph shared, “Interracial sisterhood, once again, felt like an illusion.” This realization didn’t just sting – it stayed with her. As Joseph talked with friends and colleagues of many racial backgrounds, she noticed, “our collective tiredness was racialized.” For her, healing didn’t begin until she brought people together to name and process that exhaustion, and this collective evolved into the book Racial Exhaustion.
In her book, Joseph examines the brief rise and fall of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) efforts. She dates the surge from George Floyd’s murder to the Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action. During those years, DEI shot to the top of institutions across corporate, nonprofit, education, legal, and philanthropic sectors. As Joseph stated, “The very top recognized the need to at least acknowledge inequality. We were able to talk more freely.” From her perspective, the window closed quickly. With the high Court’s ruling, Joseph noted, “The space to talk in truly fundamental ways” vanished. She refers to this change as not only discouraging but also dangerous. Specifically, she shared, “Fear has created a true silencing around race.”
In this current climate, Joseph, who serves as the Vice Provost of Inclusive Excellence and a professor at UCLA, argues that we need better tools for staying in the work. Her main idea – radical listening – appears to stand in contrast to the listening sessions that many institutions host. She shared, “In real life, radial listening means listening without formulating a response. It entails listening with your heart, your conscience, and not just your head.” Joseph emphasized that she is not talking about polite neutrality. Instead, she is suggesting that it is “part of the critical communication of race,” alongside “sitting with discomfort, radical speaking, and reparative dialogue.” She believes real listening is slow and a lot of work. As she explained, listening in more formal settings “can be a check mark, a performance of listening as opposed to deeply working to hear with challenging information.”
Joseph does not romanticize fatigue in Racial Exhaustion. She distinguishes between the kind of exhaustion that signals growth and the kind that leads to retreat. A helpful self-check, she suggested, is to notice what happens after you practice deep engagement with others. According to Joseph, if your exhaustion lightens after genuine attempts at radical listening and honest dialogue, that is productive fatigue. However, she stresses, “If after putting in the work, the exhaustion waxes, let yourself rest. But don’t give up. Return to your practice rested.”
Joseph is equally clear that rest is not avoidance until it becomes a habit. From her perspective, “Being tired is absolutely a legitimate response.” She reminds us that this time in U.S. society is draining for everyone committed to justice. However, when fatigue becomes a shield against accountability, Joseph encourages people to return to the core practices: radical listening, sitting with discomfort, and speaking honestly. These acts, she argues, “actually give us energy through the connections they proffer.”
Despite acknowledging exhaustion, Joseph is hopeful. Her sense of hope comes from the people she listened to when writing this book. She shared that she listened to a lot of fatigue and frustration, but she also heard relief and gratitude for being witnessed. She noted, “Their gratitude was infectious!” Joseph said that the emotion that comes from being seen and understood fuels her belief that connection is not only possible but necessary. Radical listening helped those she spoke with link personal experiences to larger systems. She added, “Sometimes we think we can’t create change because these structures are too big, too entrenched. But by connecting dots, we were able to see that we weren’t alone. Joseph hopes readers see the book as ”a roadmap to the braver, more heartfelt connections we need to make it through these challenging times.”
Racial Exhaustion offers an invitation to be present and to show up with honesty, curiosity, and resilience. For Joseph, exhaustion is not failure. It is proof that we have been in the struggle. She believes that if we learn to listen deeply, rest when we need to, and return with intention, exhaustion can become a doorway to more grounded, courageous, and connected work.