Tiffany Jewell - This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work

You will notice I have chosen to use folx instead of folks because it is a gender neutral term created by activist communities, and I would like to honor everyone who reads this book. Replacing the ks with an x allows for every reader who has never been seen before to see themselves in here. Well capitalize Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color, and Folx of the Global Majority because I believe it is important to center the voices and lives of those who have been marginalized , silenced, and purposefully left out of our history for so long. I am building solidarity in the language I choose.

I do not use the term minority to describe Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx because we are the majority in the world. Using the language of racism can minimize our full selves. It can allow us to forget our deepest roots and ancestors; it allows us to create a history that, while in our own voices, has been shaped by the oppressor.

Because race and our social identities are constructed by people (and often those with the privilege of having academia to back them up), we are still often caught in the trap of labeling ourselves in ways that center whiteness and those in the dominant culture. I ask you, when possible, please use the names and language that honor you, your family, and your history. Please use the names and language that honor those who are continually silenced and ignored, those who are renamed and have been stripped of their histories. Reclaim the language and names that were stolen and lost over decades.

To all of you,

I wrote this book for you. Its for everyone. The words on these pages are for our ancestors and those who should not yet be our ancestors, but who passed on too soon. I wrote this for you out of a love for liberation and our humanity.

This is the book I wish Id had when I was younger. And its the book I will share with my own children. It contains information I never learned when I was younger and you will probably not be taught in school.

I wrote these words for you while carrying a heavy heart. It aches for Emmett Till, Tamir Rice, Korryn Gaines, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Bobby Hutton, Antwon Rose Jr., Stephon Clark, Rekia Boyd, Stephen Lawrence, Charleena Lyles, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, and Trayvon Martin, and for all those who we honor with hashtags, our tears, our frustration and rage, our exhaustion and the fire to move on.

My optimism has brought me to action and to sharing these words with you because I believe you will help to dismantle and work toward ending racism. We need justice. No ones names should be memorialized in hashtags.

My hope is you will use this book as a way to start your journey in the big work of anti-racism. You are resisting racism and oppression just by opening these pages. You are entering into a consciousness that wakes you up and allows you to see the world in a whole new way.

Some may tell you youre too young to talk about race. People may tell you that you should stop talking about skin color and see everyone as a global citizen. You may have been told racism isnt a problem any more and that calling it out or bringing it up in conversation is wrong. Some people may have given you the impression that you are wrong and stirring up trouble. You are not! Racism is a problem, a very serious problem, and it needs to be talked about because it isnt going away if we do nothing. It is okay for you to continue on with this book and I am so proud of you for picking this up and opening these pages.

Please know you are not alone on this journey. I am here with you. There are many, many folx who are here with you, who came before you, and who will come long after us. I hope you will share this book with your friends and families because fighting racism really isnt something you can do all on your own. Make sure to look up underlined words in the glossary if you need help understanding.

There are many moments to pause in this book so you can check in with yourself and grow into your activism. You will learn more about yourself, our history, how racism came to be, and why were still so deep within it. We will work together, in solidarity, to disrupt racism and become anti-racist accomplices. This book is meant to be read in order. Each chapter builds on the previous chapter and you will gain a deeper understanding of becoming your anti-racist self. And you will probably want to read and reread this. This is a start. Anti-racism is lifelong work.

In solidarity,

Tiffany

An ANTI-RACIST person is someone who is opposed to racism.

Anti-racism is actively working against racism. It is making a commitment to resisting unjust laws, policies, and racist attitudes. Anti-racism is how we get free from centuries of living in a racialized society that keeps us separate and oppressed.

UNDERSTANDING AND GROWING INTO MY IDENTITIES

IN THIS SECTION:

W ho are you?

You are you .

You are the only you there is. Theres so much that makes you who you are. Your identity is what makes you, YOU : its all the parts that make you unique.

You are made up of your family, your friends, your neighborhood, your school, what you see on social media and read in books, what you hear and listen to, what you eat, what you wear, what you feel, your dreams, the stories you cannot wait to share and those you dont want to tell and everything in between and all around.

YOU ARE EVERYTHING WITHIN YOU AND EVERYTHING THAT SURROUNDS YOU .

You are all the ancestors who came before you: those youve never known, never heard of, never seenand those youve passed on the street, sat next to, and snuggled near.

Im sure youve asked, WHO AM I? and others have asked, WHO ARE YOU?

How do you answer? How much of yourself do you share with othersif anything? This is who I was at 14

IM
TIFFANY.
IM 14 YEARS OLD.

I LIVE IN A SMALL HOUSE IN NEW YORK STATE. I LIVE WITH MY MOM AND MY TWIN SISTER. IM A BLACK BIRACIAL CISGENDER FEMALE WHO HAS BROWN EYES AND A LOT OF FRECKLES. I HAVE CURLY HAIR AND HAVE GROWN TO LOVE IT, SLOWLY, OVER TIME. I LOVE TO READ AND BAKE. I LOVE TO DANCE WITH MY FRIENDS AND I WRITE TERRIBLE POETRY THAT ONLY I WILL EVER READ. ALL OF THAT IS WHO I AM

AND IM SO MUCH MORE.

YOU get to decide which identities you will share with the world and how youll do so. You get to choose how to name your identities.