Quick Read - Summary of How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Summary of How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Written by Lea Schullery

A guide in recognizing the racism that exists in todays society and learning how to adopt an equality mindset and ultimately become an antiracist.

Introduction

W ith a recent surge in crime against African-Americans, including the 2015 shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, and an increase in violence against African-Americans by police officers, it is apparent that racism is still very much alive today. While society has improved leaps and bounds in the past few hundred years, racism is still an issue today. With a divide in politics that only continues to increase, it can sometimes feel as if racial inequality and hatred will become constant throughout society.

However, Ibram X. Kendi is here to spell it all out for you. Hes here to teach you how to change your thinking and begin your journey to an antiracist mindset. From topics like segregation, biological racism, and colorism, the ideas in this book will help you abandon your traditional way of thinking to help you see racism clearly for the first time. Through sociology, politics, and personal memoirs, Ibram X. Kendi offers his insights to teach those who wish to change their thinking and make the world a better, more equal place.

Racial Inequality in Politics

I ts one thing to experience racism while growing up in school. While still demeaning and wrong, people like to believe that racism stays there. That racism is only found in the small-town USA, but the reality is that racism permeates our society at every level. Its, unfortunately, a reality that will follow you at every stage of your life. Additionally, its even more upsetting when we see racism in the highest-ranking position in America. We hold our leaders to a higher standard, and we expect them to be good in the face of adversity. However, in 2019, a time in which we expect racism to be improving, it seems as if it is only regressing.

Laziness is a trait in Blacks. Mexicans immigrants are rapists and criminals. Who made these claims? Americas President, Donald Trump. So, in a time where racism is not only accepted but is also taught to society by the leader of the free world, it is important to ask yourself one question. Are you a racist or an antiracist? To answer this question, you will need to know the definition of the two.

With the idea that there are racist policies, racist society, and even racist ideas, all three go hand in hand. First and foremost, a racist is someone who communicates racist ideas or supports racist policies, they can support these either actively or by being apathetic, the latter being just as dangerous to society. So, whats a racist idea? A racist idea is one that considers one racial group to be superior or inferior based on cultural or biological differences. One such example of a racist idea is when Thomas Jefferson stated that African-Americans were inferior to the whites in the endowments of both body and mind.

In fact, the very concept of race didnt even exist until the 15th century when Portugal began enslaving Africans and trading them for a profit. The Portuguese proclaimed that Africans were both lazy and savage and they needed to be saved and the Portuguese were going to be the ones to save them. Thus a racist policy was formed, a policy that would benefit only one group of people while simultaneously oppressing another. But, they needed to be saved, right? So, a racist idea is formed to justify their actions.

How does this relate to todays policies? Typically, in a racist society, racist policies come first to benefit policymakers. Then, the racist ideas come afterward to justify the racial inequality that becomes a result of the implemented policy. What the Portuguese introduced in the 15th century is still implemented and used as a model for todays 21st century.

But what is an antiracist policy? An antiracist policy is one that promotes equality among all racial groups. An antiracist policy not only promotes equality, but it may also positively discriminate to achieve greater justice and fairness. This type of policy is not racist, it positively discriminates which may sound like an oxymoron, but youre about to see why its not. For example, there have been several policies introduced in the US in the 1960s that have been labeled as racist. Affirmative action programs that favor African-American job applicants are sometimes seen as unfair since they promote one racial group over another. However, programs like these promote racial equality, to bring one race up to par with another, making the job market an equal opportunity among all races. So these policies cannot, in fact, be racist.

Now that you know the difference between racist and antiracist ideas and policies, it is up to you to decide which one you choose to become.

Inferior Black Culture

R emember when Christopher Colombus discovered America? When he came and found that Native Americans were living on the land and because he believed he was superior and had the means to take over, he did. But, even after infiltrating their territory and building colonies, the white people still felt the need to help the Native American culture. How were they going to do this? Through assimilation. Native Americans were going to be taught the ways of the white culture, how to dress, talk, and be like the white people while abandoning their own culture and heritage. Is this giving Native Americans an equal opportunity? Or is this a subtle form of racism?

In 1985, Eleanor Holmes Norton, a celebrated politician, stated that improving the lives of African-Americans would need to go further than providing just goods and opportunities. Instead, society needed to set about changing the ghetto culture and that Black people would need to be taught how to assimilate to white culture through learning to have a better work ethic, and how to respect the value of education and their own families. Similar to Christopher Columbus setting out to help the Native Americans, Eleanor applied the same idea to help the African-Americans.