#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award–winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a “groundbreaking” (Time) approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society—and in ourselves.“The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind.”—The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book … ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • NPR • The Washington Post • Shelf Awareness • Library Journal • Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews
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.
Praise for How to Be an Antiracist
“Ibram X. Kendi’s new book, How to Be an Antiracist, couldn’t come at a better time. . . . Kendi has gifted us with a book that is not only an essential instruction manual but also a memoir of the author’s own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to antiracism. . . . How to Be an Antiracist gives us a clear and compelling way to approach, as Kendi puts it in his introduction, ‘the basic struggle we’re all in, the struggle to be fully human and to see that others are fully human.’ “—NPR
“Kendi dissects why in a society where so few people consider themselves to be racist the divisions and inequalities of racism remain so prevalent. How to Be an Antiracist punctures the myths of a post-racial America, examining what racism really is—and what we should do about it.”—Time
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This is a very dense book. Emotionally challenging at times. Very informative. Read with a discussion group over 2 months meeting weekly. Points of view were changed. Discussions were thoughtful and deep. There is a lot to discuss and ponder.
Following Dr. Kendi’s growth and self-awareness layered with historic people and events ending with hope that change is possible is a textured journey.
The book will appear to be a quick read. The chapters are short.
But if you open up yourself to this journey, you will finish with more to think about and perhaps plans to change your little part of the world.
This book is hard reading and absolutely with the time, effort and self-examination it requires.
I don’t take everything at face value, but the author’s background and history is compelling, and the narrative and personal development he describes in this memoir is such a sad indictment of what has been the history of racial conflict and interaction. It provides a very helpful guide and understanding to what Black Americans realistically face every day.
This book is so amazing and makes you think deep. It’s no longer enough to not be racist; it’s time to be anti-racist. This book is such a great guide to learn how to do that and understand the story of an amazing human along the way!
This book was hard for me to read. It made me see myself in a new way that wasn’t always pleasant. The author’s courage in facing his racism provided an example that helped me see my own racism. As many valuable books do, his work created more questions than it answered, but I think that is necessary. Racism is a perspective in which we have all marinated for centuries. It will require us to be prepared to accept the pain of our failures to be the kind of people we’d like to be. Just don’t forget to celebrate and cherish the small accomplishments that will mark our progress if we persist, because it is not acceptable to stop trying.
This is a powerful book that challenges what we think we know of ourselves. Ibram X. Kendi doesn’t beat us over the head, but rather checks himself and in doing that challenges us to do the same. He defines racism helping us to be clear about where we stand.
I recommend this book as a good starting point for anyone who wants to broaden their understanding of racism. It’s part-memoir/part sociological text. Perfect? No, but it hits on some very real issues about race and policy, making it a valuable read.
After winning the National Book Award for his landmark study Stamped from the Beginning, Kendi follows up with an equally essential book of scholarship in How to Be an Antiracist. In this, his second book, Kendi continues his vital research on racist ideas by offering a guide for how we can examine our perceptions as a starting point of confronting and eliminating the devastating impact of racist ideas.
For Kendi, saying you are “not racist” constitutes a false position to have for yourself. He explains how believing you are “not racist” is nothing more than an act of denial and no different than asserting an ignorant stance in your understanding of the inequities caused by racial intolerance. To the contrary, becoming an antiracist means you pledge an unconditional effort to believe all races are equal and to ensure racial equality exists for all people.
Kendi explains how the function of bigotry and racist ideas is “to manipulate us into seeing people as the problem, instead of the policies that ensnare them.” Therefore, everything we do, say, express, and support determines whether we choose to be either racist or antiracist. If we allow ourselves to see deficiencies in people rather than the detrimental policies that produce the struggles of a group of people, we fall within the trap of racist ideas. The result is that ideas about race create arenas of power for policymakers. This enables them to subjugate groups of people and pass judgment on them, allowing for white groups to be elevated and groups of color to be degraded. In short, racist ideas spread the belief of who should be included and who excluded.
When we look at people strictly by race, we establish a hierarchy leading to racist ideas of which people belong and which do not. The tragedy of racism in America is that we have been conditioned not to fear young white men with guns, and instead to fear people in Latino, Arab, and Black communities. However, the facts make clear that crime and race have never been linked. The truth is that communities struggling with unemployment and poverty typically show crime as a byproduct.
One of the strongest aspects of Kendi’s study is how he inserts himself as an example of harboring racist ideas that he had to break down, reflect upon, and eventually dismiss. For example, he admits how he was a poor student throughout his high schools years. He accepts how he can be criticized for his lackluster academic record, but he makes clear that his poor performance had nothing to do with him being Black. It is racist to say he or anyone of color is a bad student because they are from a non-white race.
Moreover, to believe in a racial hierarchy is to believe in a racist idea. Until we understand that there is nothing behaviorally wrong with any racial group, our minds can never truly be antiracist. In order to advocate the role of an antiracist, we must remember this fact: it is individuals who behave either positively or negatively, and their behavior does not represent an entire race as either good or bad. It is supremacists who blame non-white people for the struggles of white people when, to the contrary, Kendi explains that “any objective analysis of the [white supremacists’] plight primarily implicates the rich white Trumps they support.”
To be antiracist you must know that political and economic conditions, alongside devastating policies, cause the problems that lead to racial inequities. In other words, there is no inherent problem with any groups or race of people or with any one neighborhood or community. Kendi reminds us how “. . . we will find good and bad, violence and nonviolence, in all spaces, no matter how poor or rich, Black or non-Black.” Therefore, if we learn to see racist abuse coming out of the mouths of individual racists, and if we can learn to see the racial inequities emerging from the racist policies put forth by policymakers, the goal must be to identify, call out, and confront racist ideas and the policies they produce.
Kendi says, “The history of racist ideas is the history of powerful policymakers erecting racist policies out of self-interest, then producing racist ideas to defend and rationalize the inequitable effects of their policies, while everyday people consume those racist ideas, which in turn speaks ignorance and hate.” How to Be an Antiracist guides us in understanding this historical dilemma, and it shows us how we can confront racism wherever it’s propagated and bring it to an end.
Eye-opening what the meaning of racist is. Humbling.
Perhaps the most evolved and reasonable views on the topic of anti-racism, Kendi takes us on his personal journey as a backdrop to a scholarly approach to race issues.
“Like fighting an addiction, being an antiracist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination.”
In this book, Ibram X. Kendi reshapes the conversation about racism and racial justice in America. He shows us new ways to think about ourselves and others. This is a mixture of historical information mixed with Kendi’s own experiences of becoming an antiracist.
“Denial is the heartbeat of racism.”
Each chapter touched on a different area, including power, biology, ethnicity, culture, class, and gender. Racism takes many forms and these separate chapters help break down and understand the different types and reasoning behind it. The chapters present historical information along with Kendi’s personal experiences, and information on how to ensure you are behaving in an antiracist manner in the future.
“The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it-and then dismantle it.”
This book should be required reading for everyone. Learning how to be an antiracist is something that everyone should be doing. You have to learn though that you will make mistakes but you can’t give up, you just have to continue to do better. Not only does this book teach you how to identify the different types of racism, it teaches you that sometimes you need to fail to succeed in the end. So read this book! Learn something new and change the world!
“Racist power is not goldy. Racist policies are not indestructible. Racial inequities are not inevitable. Racist ideas are not natural to the human mind.”
This was a thought provoking book that really dives into what racism is and how to tackle it. Kendi is real and reveals his own struggles and evolution of understanding racism. It was enlightening and helped me explore my own beliefs and fears and has given me some tools to move forward in understanding, supporting and becoming an Antiracist. It isn’t about black vs white. It is about who holds the power and the policies they put in place to keep that power and to instill fear. I would definitely recommend this book.
A critical book. Dr. Kendi breaks down the historical significance behind racist policy structures. Moreover, he provokes personal reflections by providing definitions to dig into. I also really appreciate how he took the time to clarify fundamental terms, like anti-racist.
Although I enjoyed learning about history, sometimes the flooding of facts overwhelmed me. Other times, I wished he’d go deeper, particularly in certain chapters and for clearer action steps.
I also applaud Dr. Kendi for likening racism to cancer and really drawing out the analogy.
An astounding book that reframes concepts and policies, truly making you think and perceive in new, enlightened ways.
How To Be An Antiracist is insightful and enlightening and has me thinking and seeing the world around me in a way I previously hadn’t. Prior to reading this, I hadn’t given thought to how types or levels of racism exist in the world. How many ideologies people have where race is concerned. Perhaps because I never thought of such concepts. But learning of them has me recognizing them.
A fantastic read and one I will reference and read again in the future.
A must read memoir. Open, in-depth and honest. Kendi puzzles with his own racist past as he seeks to address the question of what it means to be truly anti-racist.
“One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of “not racist.” The claim of “not racist” neutrality is a mask for racism.”
― Ibram X. Kendi
Truly a profound, unique book. I would recommend to all.
This book should be required reading for High School Government and Social Studies classes. Informative, thought-provoking and a good book for navigating the hard conversations still being had about this subject.
Its an amazing point of view isn’t it? Is racism attitude or activity, or is it that sometimes you can’t tell the two apart? If you read this, no matter how enlightened you think you are, you’ll never look at racism in quite the same way. You’ll do better. You’ll be better.