 Front cover | |
| Author | Ibram X. Kendi |
|---|---|
| Subject | Civil rights, antiracism |
| Publisher | One World |
Publication date | August 13, 2019 |
| Pages | 320 |
| ISBN | 978-0-5255-0928-8 |
How to Be an Antiracist is a 2019 nonfiction book by American author and historian Ibram X. Kendi, which combines social commentary and memoir. [1] It was published by One World, an imprint of Random House. The book discusses concepts of racism and Kendi's proposals for anti-racist individual actions and systemic changes.
Kendi is the founder of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University in Washington, D.C. [2] [3] How to Be an Antiracist expands on ideas from Kendi's previous book, Stamped from the Beginning , [1] which won the National Book Award in 2016. [4] [5]
The book is organized into chapters that each examine a different theme through a racial lens. These themes include: "dueling consciousness", "power", "biology", "ethnicity", "body", "culture", "behavior", "color", "white", "black", "class", "space", "gender", and "sexuality". [2] Kendi relates his evolving concept of racism through the events of his own life over four decades, touching on observations and experiences as a child, young adult, student, and professor, from classes he has taught, via contemporary events such as the O. J. Simpson robbery case and 2000 United States presidential election, and through historical events such as the scientific proposals of polygenism in Europe in the 1600s and racial segregation in the United States. Kendi further details the manifestations of racism, such as scientific racism, colorism and their intersection with demographics including gender, class and sexuality, arguing that racism is founded in both patriarchy and capitalism. [6]
Kendi argues that the opposite of racist is anti-racist rather than simply non-racist, [6] and that there is no middle ground in the struggle against racism; one is either actively confronting racial inequality or allowing it to exist through action or inaction. [2] He defines racism as any policy that creates inequitable outcomes between people of different skin colors; for instance, affirmative action in college admissions is anti-racist in that is designed to remedy past racial discrimination, while inaction on climate change is racist because of the disproportionately severe impacts of climate change in the predominantly non-white Global South. [4] Kendi defines a racist person as anyone who supports racist policies "through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea", while an anti-racist person is someone who supports anti-racist policies "through their actions or expressing an antiracist idea". [4] He draws upon what he describes as his own lifelong racism to argue that anyone, regardless of race, can be racist when they express harmful stereotypes about entire groups. [4] [6] Kendi relates how he once accepted certain stereotypes about black people, such as that black youth devalue education, and how he once wore colored contact lenses in order to not "look black". He calls such internalized racism "the real black on black crime". [6] Kendi disagrees with the prejudice plus power model of racism, which would not allow for Black racism.
Finally, Kendi suggests models for anti-racist individual actions and systemic (i.e. policy) changes. [7] [3] [8] He uses the metaphor of racism as a cancer to argue for society-wide "treatments" such as ending racist policies (as one might remove a tumor), "exercising" anti-racist ideas, consuming "healthy food for thought", and being vigilant toward a recurrence of racism "before it can grow and threaten the body politic". [6] Rather than presenting a how-to guide, Kendi uses his own experience as an example of shifting one's focus from the personal to the systemic regarding racial issues. [2] He argues that "being antiracist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination". [2] [4]
How to Be an Antiracist was named one of Time 's "must-read" books of 2019. [9] In June 2020, following protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, sales of the book surged, [10] [11] and it became a best seller on Amazon.com. [12] The book was listed eighth and fifth in Publishers Weekly 's hardcover non-fiction list on May 30 and June 6, respectively. [13] It was listed third in USA Today 's best-selling books list of June 10. [10] The book reached #1 on The New York Times Best Seller List in Hardcover Nonfiction list for sales in the week ending June 6. [11] By March 24, 2021, it had spent 45 weeks on the list. [14]
The book received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal , and Kirkus Reviews . Publishers Weekly described Kendi's prose as "thoughtful, sincere and polished" and the book's ideas as "boldly articulated" and "historically informed", stating that the book would "spark many conversations". [7] Kirkus Reviews found it to be "not an easy read but an essential one". [15] Library Journal said that "[Kendi's] stories serv[e] as a springboard for potent explorations of race, gender, [and] colorism". [1] A review in Journal of Communication Inquiry said the book "succeeds at fitting into many genres including autobiography, memoir, and even how-to guide" and that it was "commendable" how Kendi presents cultural concepts through stories from his own life. [6] A review in the journal Urban Education described the book as "necessary for all echelons of education". [2]
Black studies scholar Jeffrey C. Stewart called it the "most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind". [3] Professor of civil rights law Randall Kennedy said the book displays candor, independence, and self-criticality, but that it has major flaws, especially being internally contradictory and poorly reasoned. [16]
Ericka Taylor of NPR described the book as "clear and compelling" and "accessible", saying it "exemplifies a commitment to clarity". [8] A review in The Christian Science Monitor called the book "thought-provoking and insightful" and an "important and necessary contribution" toward understanding racism in the United States. [4] Journalist Afua Hirsch writes that Kendi shows "honesty in linking his personal struggles" to the book's subject, which Hirsch describes as "brilliantly simple" and "dogmatic", but that the book's personal anecdotes seem incomplete and the style resembles that of a textbook too much. [17] It was the Book of the Day in a review for The Observer in which Colin Grant found that the book "encourages self-reflection" and described the writing style as "calm" but "insightful". [18] Commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that the book has the character of a religious tract with overly simplistic distinctions between good and evil that cannot be falsified, and is sparse on practical suggestions. [19]
Behavior geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden argues that while "race is not a valid biological category", Kendi is nonetheless incorrect for stating in the book that "there are no genetic differences between groups of people who identify as different races". Harden points to this as an example of "moral commitments to racial equality" being "on shaky ground if they depend on exact genetic sameness across human populations". [20] [21] Geneticist Joseph L. Graves Jr. calls this a straw man, writing in The Lancet that Harden misses "a central point: human populations do not differ substantially in the frequencies of genetic variants that determine their complex behaviour, including intelligence and personality." [20]
John Philippe Rushton was a Canadian psychologist and author. He taught at the University of Western Ontario until the early 1990s, and became known to the general public during the 1980s and 1990s for research on race and intelligence, race and crime, and other purported racial correlations.
Racism is discrimination and prejudice against people based on their race or ethnicity. Racism can be present in social actions, practices, or political systems that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices. The ideology underlying racist practices often assumes that humans can be subdivided into distinct groups that are different in their social behavior and innate capacities and that can be ranked as inferior or superior. Racist ideology can become manifest in many aspects of social life. Associated social actions may include nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, supremacism, and related social phenomena. Racism refers to violation of racial equality based on equal opportunities or based on equality of outcomes for different races or ethnicities, also called substantive equality.
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that the human species can be subdivided into biologically distinct taxa called "races", and that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism, racial inferiority, or racial superiority. Before the mid-20th century, scientific racism was accepted throughout the scientific community, but it is no longer considered scientific. The division of humankind into biologically separate groups, along with the assignment of particular physical and mental characteristics to these groups through constructing and applying corresponding explanatory models, is referred to as racialism, race realism, or race science by those who support these ideas. Modern scientific consensus rejects this view as being irreconcilable with modern genetic research.
Critical race theory (CRT) is an interdisciplinary academic field focused on the relationships between social conceptions of race and ethnicity, social and political laws, and media. CRT also considers racism to be systemic in various laws and rules, and not only based on individuals' prejudices. The word critical in the name is an academic reference to critical theory rather than criticizing or blaming individuals.
Negroid is an obsolete racial grouping of various people indigenous to Africa south of the area which stretched from the southern Sahara desert in the west to the African Great Lakes in the southeast, but also to isolated parts of South and Southeast Asia (Negritos). The term is derived from now-disproven conceptions of race as a biological category.
Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the United Kingdom. As a sociological field, race relations attempts to explain how racial groups relate to each other. These relations vary depending on historical, social, and cultural context. The term is used in a generic way to designate race related interactions, dynamics, and issues.
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing is a 2005 theoretical work by Joy DeGruy Leary. The book argues that the experience of slavery in the United States and the continued discrimination and oppression endured by African Americans creates intergenerational psychological trauma, leading to a psychological and behavioral syndrome common among present-day African Americans, manifesting as a lack of self-esteem, persistent feelings of anger, and internalized racist beliefs. The book was first published by Uptone Press in Milwaukie, Oregon, in 2005, with a later re-release by the author in 2017.
Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate actions which are intended to create equal opportunities for all people on both an individual and a systemic level. As a philosophy, it can be engaged in by the acknowledgment of personal privileges, confronting acts as well as systems of racial discrimination and/or working to change personal racial biases. Major contemporary anti-racism efforts include the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and workplace anti-racism.
Ibram Xolani Kendi is an American author, professor, anti-racist activist, and historian of race and discriminatory policy in the U.S. He is author of books including Stamped from the Beginning, How to Be an Antiracist and Antiracist Baby. Kendi was included in Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America is a non-fiction book about race in the United States by the American historian Ibram X. Kendi, published April 12, 2016 by Bold Type Books, an imprint of PublicAffairs. The book won the National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Djamila Taís Ribeiro dos Santos is a Brazilian Black feminist philosopher and journalist. She graduated in political philosophy from the Federal University of São Paulo, where she also earned a master's degree on the work of Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler. Ribeiro is a collaborating editor of weekly magazine CartaCapital, as well as a columnist for CartaCapital and Folha de S.Paulo.
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism is a 2018 book written by Robin DiAngelo about race relations in the United States. An academic with experience in diversity training, DiAngelo coined the term "white fragility" in 2011 to describe what she views as any defensive instincts or reactions that a white person experiences when questioned about race or made to consider their own race. In White Fragility, DiAngelo views racism in the United States as systemic and often perpetuated subconsciously by individuals. She recommends against viewing racism as committed intentionally by "bad people".
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor is a book by Layla Saad published on January 28, 2020. Structured as a 28-day guide targeted at white readers, the book aims to aid readers in identifying the impact of white privilege and white supremacy over their lives. It contains quotations, terminology definitions and question prompts. It received positive critical reception, entering many bestseller lists in June 2020 after a surge in popularity in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests.
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America is a 2017 book by Richard Rothstein on the history of racial segregation in the United States. The book documents the history of state sponsored segregation stretching back to the late 1800s and exposes racially discriminatory policies put forward by most presidential administrations in that time, including liberal presidents like Franklin Roosevelt. The author argues that intractable segregation in America is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal levels, also known as de jure segregation — and not happenstance, or de facto segregation. Among other discussions, the book provides a history of subsidized housing and discusses the phenomenons of white flight, blockbusting, and racial covenants, and their role in housing segregation. Rothstein wrote the book while serving as a research associate for the Economic Policy Institute, where he is now a Distinguished Fellow.
Ashley Lukashevsky is an American visual artist, illustrator, and graphic designer. Her work mainly focuses on social movements and issues, including LGBTQ+ rights, Black Lives Matter, and immigrant rights. She has created work for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Planned Parenthood, and Rock the Vote.
Joy Angela DeGruy is an American author, academic, and researcher, who previously served as assistant professor at the Portland State University School of Social Work. She is currently president and CEO of DeGruy Publications, Inc and Executive Director of the non-profit Be The Healing, Inc. She is mostly known for her book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, originally published by UpTone Press in 2005 and revised and republished in 2017 by Joy DeGruy Publications, Inc. DeGruy and her research projects have featured in news and activist coverage of contemporary African-American social issues, in addition to public lectures and workshops on U.S. college campuses that include: Morehouse School of Medicine, Fisk University, Spelman College, Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Smith College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. DeGruy has spoken at the United Nations, UNESCO, C-SPAN, Oxford University, Association of Black Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, the World Bank, The Essence Festival, and featured in Essence Magazine, and films that include "Cracking the Codes," a film by Shakti Butler, "InVisible Portraits" by Oge Egbuonu on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), among others. Dr. Degruy has also received a 2021 grant from the MacArthur Foundation to further her healing work.
Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm is a 2021 book by Robin DiAngelo on the subject of race relations in the United States. Following on from White Fragility (2018), DiAngelo criticizes behavior by white progressives as racist and discusses situations from her diversity training workshops and personal life. The book became a New York Times Best Seller, and received mixed critical reception.
Antiracist Baby is a 2020 children's book written by Ibram X. Kendi and illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky. The book, inspired by the author's four-year-old daughter, was conceived as a tool for discussing racism with young children. The book proposes nine steps for discussing racism, with the ultimate goal of teaching children to be antiracist. The book states that "Antiracist Baby is bred not born. Antiracist Baby is raised to make society transform" and that a choice is necessary: "babies are taught to be racist or antiracist—there's no neutrality."
I'm not racist, but... is a phrase that often precedes a racist argument and provides a "veneer of political correctness".
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019 is a 2021 anthology of essays, commentaries, personal reflections, short stories, and poetry, compiled and edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. Conceived and created to commemorate the four hundred years that had passed since the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia, the book concerns African-American history and collects works written by ninety Black writers. A winner or finalist of multiple awards in its print and audiobook editions, Four Hundred Souls has been widely praised by reviewers for its prose and historical content.