How to Be an Antiracist
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
From the publisher's website:
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.
Ibram X. Kendi is one of America’s foremost historians and leading antiracist voices. He is a National Book Award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and the Founding Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. Kendi is a contributor writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News correspondent. He will become the 2020-2021 Frances B. Cashin Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for the Advanced Study at Harvard University.
Kendi is the author of The Black Campus Movement, which won the W.E.B. Du Bois Book Prize, and Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Race in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2016. At 34 years old, Kendi was the youngest ever winner of the NBA for Nonfiction. He grew up dreaming about playing in the NBA (National Basketball Association), and ironically he ended up joining the other NBA.
His third book, How to Be an Antiracist, was a #1 New York Times Bestseller and made several Best Books of 2019 lists. His much anticipated fourth book with Jason Reynolds, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism & You, was also a # 1 on the New York Times Bestseller. His first board book, Antiracist Baby, was recently published and was a #1 Indie Bestseller.
More information about Ibram X. Kendi
Read eBooks by Ibram X. Kendi
2020 Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions (Random House):
- In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi shares his own experience with racist thinking. How does his honesty help give us space to acknowledge and name our own racist behaviors and attitudes?
- Kendi writes, “The only way to undo racism is to constantly identify it and describe it—and then dismantle it.” Why does he believe we need to call out racism when we see it, even if it can be uncomfortable to identify?
- The book’s central message is that the opposite of “racist” isn’t “not racist.” The true opposite of “racist” is antiracist. “The good news,” Kendi writes, “is that racist and antiracist are not fixed identities. We can be racist one minute and an antiracist the next.” What does it mean to have to constantly reaffirm your identity as an antiracist? Is there any benefit to the fact that you can’t just decide you are “not racist” or an antiracist and be done with it?
- What is the first step you, personally, will take in striving to be an antiracist? How will you check yourself and hold yourself accountable if you notice you, or someone else, is being racist?
Stamped From the Beginning & Stamped, Antiracism, & You
In 2016, Kendi's Stamped From the Beginning, an award-winning nonfiction book about racism in America, was released. Stamped won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and made Kendi the youngest Nonfiction winner at 34. But at 500+ pages, the book was challenging for some readers, especially teens. In 2020, Jason Reynolds' adaptation of Kendi's Stamped was released. Reynolds "remixed" Stamped for teens, young adults, and reluctant readers. The two authors discuss the collaboration with Trevor Noah in the video below.
Stamped eBooks
How to Be an Antiracist Book Reviews
Ibram X. Kendi's Antiracist Syllabus
Ibram X. Kendi's Antiracist Syllabus (Originally published in The Atlantic)
From each book, move to a lifetime of anti-racist action. We should begin by developing clarity and direction that can come only from definitions.
Definitions of race: Dorothy Roberts’s Fatal Invention.
Definitions of racist and anti-racist, which I seek to explain in my books: Stamped From the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist.
If you are white and feeling on edge already, then read Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility.
If you are a person of color and think this syllabus isn’t for you, then read James Forman’s Locking Up Our Own.