How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Ibram X. Kendi has written a thoughtful, thought-provoking treatise on what antiracism looks like and how antiracism can achieve a socially just and equitable society—ideas that end up turning all our misconceptions and understandings upside down.  Racism is such a complex topic that it is difficult to conceive of where a person can even begin to deal with it, but Kendi does just that by building up his thesis in logical chapters that take on different aspects of racism.  He defines the ideas, gives examples, puts it into historical perspective, and contrasts the results of racism and antiracism ideas and policies.  His own personal journey to understanding is woven into the narrative, making it an engaging and accessible read. 

Kendi is the author of two other books, including The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education, 1965-1972 and Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award in 2016.   He is a professor at American University and the Founding Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center there as well as a columnist for The Atlantic.

This book is really a deep dive into the subject and draws on immense research, some of which came from his previous work.  In many ways, he shows that we are dealing with racism the wrong way around.  For instance, he asserts that "Racial inequity is a problem of bad policy, not bad people."

He says that the opposite of racist isn’t “not” racist, which means that we do nothing to solve the problems, but antiracist, which means that we are working for solutions against racism.  The aim of antiracism is to allow all to be fully human and equal, and to see people as individuals and not as representations of a particular race.  He writes about ethnic racism where hierarchies are created and people look down on other members of that racial group.  He talks about racism at the intersections of culture, gender, sexuality, behavior, class, and space.

I won’t say that it is an easy read—it isn’t, for a variety of reasons.  One of those is that you need to stop, re-read, and consider his ideas.  By the end, I had almost 100 highlighted sections that I wanted to refer to, showing the enormity of his ideas in what is actually a rather slim book for non-fiction (about 210 pages of text with another 100 pages of extensive notes for each chapter).  It is difficult to distill all these ideas into a coherent summary, partially because it is intimidating to try to understand racism and all its intersections and partially because it reveals your own racist ideas.  

This in an incredibly worthy read and perhaps the most important book of 2019, especially in light of many recent developments in America, including targeted mass shootings, racism aimed at members of Congress, racist criticism of an American city and its inhabitants, cruel treatment of brown children separated from their families, the reported rise in white supremacy, and so on.   America, read this book!  (It is published on Tuesday, August 13.)

One of the big quotes: “My research kept pointing me to the same answer.  The source of racist ideas was not ignorance and hate, but self-interest.” 

Advance copy from Netgalley