How to Be an Antiracist (One World Essentials)
Antiracism is a transformative concept that reorients and reenergizes the conversation about racism—and, even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. At its core, racism is a powerful system that creates false hierarchies of human value; its warped logic extends beyond race, from the way we regard people of different ethnicities or skin colors to the way we treat people of different sexes, gender identities, and body types. Racism intersects with class and culture and geography and even changes the way we see and value ourselves. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideas—from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities—that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves.
Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science with his own personal story of awakening to antiracism. This is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond the awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a just and equitable society.
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Readers say they appreciate the book's insightful blend of personal memoir and cultural history, emphasizing clear definitions of racist and antiracis...
Summer 2020 has been an especially difficult time in America – this is an undeniable fact. As such, I’ve found myself reading a lot more books to attempt to learn more about the wheels and cogs manipulating the system. I would recommend this practice for just about anyone – though I personally know it isn’t going to be a very popular one.
I previously read Stamped – the YA edition of Stamped from the Beginning – which is another title from the author, Mr Ibram X. Kendi. I, however, did not realize this until I was about a quarter of the way through this book. (I felt pretty stupid about it, lemme tell ya).
Stamped is an excellent book to share with your children, should you be home-schooling and aren’t especially satisfied with the Euro-centricity of the materials – I’m just saying – there are no rules against teaching your own children your own history, especially if there is a source material out there for you to work from… *hint, hint*
How to be an Antiracist is one of Kendi’s more personal works, it is half memoir and half African American history – though some of the same material as in Stamped (and presumably Stamped from the Beginning). Having read something like White Fragility and feeling reasonably unimpressed by it, I can say Ibram X. Kendi has become my hero. There is a right way to handle identity politics and a wrong way, and I put a lot of stock in what Kendi says because he has gently and thoroughly explained in detail the way things are. Mr. Kendi writes a semi-memoir as a black man, struggling against his own internalized racism – and contrasts it to America’s history with internalized racism. The result is nuanced, stern without being callous, direct, and yet sympathetic. A quiet passion is threaded throughout his words – he is a true Teacher.
Because of this, not only do I trust his insights, I believe in his work. He is very honest and frank enough to say “even though I am a black man, I see where I’ve made my mistakes.” In the midst of Cancel Culture, it is good to see someone own up to past, faulty thought behaviors, put it out there for everyone else to see, and say I’ve learned from it. And we can call learn from that – thereby becoming anti-racist, and anti a lot of “Isms” ourselves.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you enjoyed this review, you can find it and others like it here.
I previously read Stamped – the YA edition of Stamped from the Beginning – which is another title from the author, Mr Ibram X. Kendi. I, however, did not realize this until I was about a quarter of the way through this book. (I felt pretty stupid about it, lemme tell ya).
Stamped is an excellent book to share with your children, should you be home-schooling and aren’t especially satisfied with the Euro-centricity of the materials – I’m just saying – there are no rules against teaching your own children your own history, especially if there is a source material out there for you to work from… *hint, hint*
How to be an Antiracist is one of Kendi’s more personal works, it is half memoir and half African American history – though some of the same material as in Stamped (and presumably Stamped from the Beginning). Having read something like White Fragility and feeling reasonably unimpressed by it, I can say Ibram X. Kendi has become my hero. There is a right way to handle identity politics and a wrong way, and I put a lot of stock in what Kendi says because he has gently and thoroughly explained in detail the way things are. Mr. Kendi writes a semi-memoir as a black man, struggling against his own internalized racism – and contrasts it to America’s history with internalized racism. The result is nuanced, stern without being callous, direct, and yet sympathetic. A quiet passion is threaded throughout his words – he is a true Teacher.
Because of this, not only do I trust his insights, I believe in his work. He is very honest and frank enough to say “even though I am a black man, I see where I’ve made my mistakes.” In the midst of Cancel Culture, it is good to see someone own up to past, faulty thought behaviors, put it out there for everyone else to see, and say I’ve learned from it. And we can call learn from that – thereby becoming anti-racist, and anti a lot of “Isms” ourselves.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you enjoyed this review, you can find it and others like it here.
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