Abstract
In his memoir, How To Be An Antiracist, American University professor Ibram X. Kendi explains that when it comes to the subject of racism, a notable contrast exists. Kendi advances the following argument: the contrast exists between racist and antiracist rather than racist and “not racist.” Kendi argues that over the course of history, individuals have asserted that they are not racist while enacting and supporting racist policies and ideas. Further, Kendi calls the term not racistone of denial, noting that “denial is the heartbeat of racism, beating across ideologies, races, and nations” (p. 9). Supporting a racist policy or idea through action or inaction makes a racist, while an antiracist attempts to disassemble a racist policy or idea. So, Kendi argues if society wants to combat racism, then it must strive to be antiracist. We must strive to go further than saying we are “not racist.” We must enact antiracist policy and idea change.
To explore racism and antiracism, Kendi allows his life experiences to serve as a backdrop. Readers can quickly gather that Kendi asserts that everyone, himself included, is capable of asserting racism. In fact, Kendi says that he has been a lifelong racist by accepting racist ideas. In the introduction fittingly titled “My Racist Introduction”, Kendi talks about how he began to internalize societal racism at a young age and how these internalizations equated to a high school oratorical contest speech full of racist ideas about the black community. Upon his reflection on touting ideas such as black youth devalue education and climb “the high tree of pregnancy” (p. 7), Kendi notes that such internalized racism is “the real black on black crime.” With this story, Kendi highlights a controversial idea: black people can be racist because black people have power. Kendi says, “I did not realize that to say something inferior about a racial group is to say a racist idea. I thought I was serving my people, when in fact I was serving up racist ideas about my people to my people” (p. 7).
Through his mostly one-word title chapters (with names such as “power”, “culture”, “ethnicity,” and “success”), Kendi delves further into his personal racism. He recalls using racist language in eighth grade toward a refugee student. During his teenage years, he explains that he went through a phase of wanting to be black, but not wanting to look black, a phase implemented by way of sporting honey colored contacts and preference for light skinned black women. By the time he reached his university years, Kendi explains that he had developed numerous antiblack racist ideas, a realization that sparked the idea to pick up a second college major in African American studies. Kendi notes that one of his most definitive race lessons include realizing that racism is built out of patriarchy and capitalism.
With this information, Kendi concludes that in order to fight racism, we must act in an antiracist fashion. This is especially important since Kendi compares the current state of racism to his stage 4 metastatic colon cancer diagnosis. Kendi says the world is “suffering from metastatic cancer. Stage 4. Racism has spread to nearly every part of the body politic” (p. 235). However, society can survive metastatic racism. Kendi notes that society needs to “treat” racism as if it were cancer by engaging in actions such as removing racist policies (compared to removing a tumor) and exercising antiracist ideas while consuming “healthy food for thought” (compared to bodily exercise and a healthy diet). Lastly, Kendi says society needs to “detect and treat a recurrence early, before it can grow and threaten the body politic” (p. 238) because racism is fast spreading. Before society can act, we must believe in the possibilities of antiracism.
How To Be An Antiracist succeeds at fitting into many genres including autobiography, memoir, and even how-to guide. This work even has textbook qualities by way of key definitions presented at the beginning of most chapters. While these definitions prove useful, they may deter some readers because of the textbook association definitions tend to have. One of Kendi’s primary arguments is that black people can be racist towards white people by harboring racist views. This argument may raise a few eyebrows among those who defend the belief that while black people can be prejudice toward white people, they cannot be racist toward them since white people are not susceptible to systemic power structures working against them.
The way Kendi presents cultural concepts through the lens of his life is commendable. Kendi is sure to explain how racism and antiracism work alongside other interconnected elements of identity such as gender and sexuality. Although Kendi uses his life experiences to highlight his argument, clearly the call for antiracist work is a call to many. This work is versatile and can be presented in numerous settings including general audiences, critical/cultural scholars, upper-level undergraduates, and graduate students. Whichever audience finds Kendi’s How To Be An Antiracist in its hands, is sure to have the floodgates of intense discussion open up.
