How to Be an Antiracist Book Summary

Book Summary

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Brief Summary

It is not enough to not be racist. To make a difference you have to be an antiracist. If you are not actively working against racism, you are a racist. An antiracist understands where racist ideas come from and how racist policies affect equity. An antiracist does not accept any form of racism, overt or subtle. Armed with facts, the antiracist does not allow common stereotypes, misconceptions, or tropes to allow them to accept racist conclusions. Using all the tools at their disposal, an antiracist should keep fighting for a future of racial equality.

About the Author

Ibram X. Kendi is a professor, author, and historian. Well-known for his essays on race and discrimination, Kendi is a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He founded the Anti-Racist Research and Policy Center at American University.

Topics

Biography & Memoir Politics

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Key Insights

In America, there is a long legacy of racism and the hatred, violence, and injustice that comes with it. Discrimination related to race and physical appearance is a complex topic that is more than traditional concepts of racism.

Ibram X. Kendi explores race and racism, including related issues such as colorism. Kendi brings in personal experience with insights from politics, history, and sociology. How to Be an Antiracist moves beyond simply not being a racist to actively working against racism.

Race-based perceptions may feel like a toxic and pervasive presence. Kendi offers some optimism, sharing how everyone can make things better by becoming an antiracist.

Racial inequity comes from racist policies, which are later defended using racist ideas.

Kendi points out the cause-and-effect relationship between racial inequities and racist policies. When policy creates a situation where one racial group fares better than another, Kendi considers this a racist policy.

Every policy supports or continues racial equity or inequity, even if it was not created for the explicit purpose of being racist. There are no neutral policies. Either a policy is racist or it isn’t.

Racist ideas argue that one racial group is in some way better than another. Racist policies usually come before racist ideas. These racist ideas are used to retroactively justify the inequity.

For example, Portugal traded enslaved Africans in the 15th century for decades before the concept of a “Black race” was created. After that, the Portuguese spread the racist idea that the Black race was savage and needing saving. The racist policy came first and was justified using a racist idea.

Antiracism works to promote racial equality.

If a policy works to increase or maintain racial equity, it is an antiracist policy. A policy does not need to be free of discrimination to be antiracist. Kendi points out that there is positive discrimination, which can enhance equity among racial groups.

One well-known example of an antiracist policy is affirmative action. This has been inaccurately labeled as racist for favoring applicants from racial minorities. However, this program discriminates in a positive way, meant to increase racial equality in hiring or college admissions.

Unlike racist ideas, antiracist ideas do not retroactively support antiracist policies. Antiracist ideas hold no positive or negative biases about any racial group. No matter the apparent differences, an antiracist idea believes that races are and always will be equal.

You are either a racist or an antiracist.

Kendi points to racial justice seeming to go backward in terms of progress. During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump said that Blacks were lazy and immigrants from Mexico were rapists. To fight racial injustices, you need to be an antiracist.

A racist spreads racist ideas or helps racist policies. You can help a racist policy by either actively supporting it or not caring and allowing it to continue unresisted.

An antiracist does not stand idly by when there are racist policies. People have to stand up to injustice or they are just perpetuating it. If you aren’t an antiracist, you are a racist.