Ibram X. KendiBesprekingen

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.

While this book is EXCELLENT, it took me a long time to get through it because it is very dense with information. I'd listen for a while and then I'd have to listen to something else as like a "palate cleanser" and let my subconscious parse out the information and absorb it. Then I'd go back for a while and then I'd have to have a break. Consequently, 19 hours of listening took me almost 6 months!

While very dense, the information is illuminating. I learned so much from this book. A lot of history of racism in general and in specifics. We're literally trying to undo over 400 years of racist beliefs. Obviously, that's not going to take just a day to get rid of.

If you read it or listen to it and find yourself spacing out with it, put it down for a bit! Read something else and come back. The information is worth coming back for. Just as it's worth taking breaks from it in order to process what you've been reading/listening.

While this book is EXCELLENT, it took me a long time to get through it because it is very dense with information. I'd listen for a while and then I'd have to listen to something else as like a "palate cleanser" and let my subconscious parse out the information and absorb it. Then I'd go back for a while and then I'd have to have a break. Consequently, 19 hours of listening took me almost 6 months!

While very dense, the information is illuminating. I learned so much from this book. A lot of history of racism in general and in specifics. We're literally trying to undo over 400 years of racist beliefs. Obviously, that's not going to take just a day to get rid of.

If you read it or listen to it and find yourself spacing out with it, put it down for a bit! Read something else and come back. The information is worth coming back for. Just as it's worth taking breaks from it in order to process what you've been reading/listening.

Exhilarating and epic.

I usually end up rolling my eyes at "everything you thought you knew was wrong" style books, because - no matter how well-intentioned - there comes a point when it's hard to believe that out of every human on earth, we've all been going the wrong way and only the Messiah-like author can save us. But this is actually not Kendi's aim. Instead he draws on a rich vein of historical sources and some impeccable research to explain the points-of-view of those who already knew what we should be doing, contrasting it with his own development as a young dark-skinned black man growing up in the USA, filled with his own biases, bigotries, and fears. We emerge from the final chapter not, perhaps, with an answer on what we need to do to solve the impacts of racism in our society, but certainly with an awareness of innovative, powerful, and practical tools at our disposal.

One caveat for international readers like myself: this book is not a "beginner's guide" in any sense - to the problems of racism, to sociology, to history. It was written by a highly-educated, intellectual, deeply progressive American who writes for The Atlantic and he assumes his audience are highly-educated, intellectual, deeply progressive Americans who probably read The Atlantic. As a result, I got a bit lost occasionally when American history and slang played major roles in some chapters, or when the discussion veered off into modern academic theories on race and discrimination. (Kendi himself acknowledges that he doesn't use some of these phrases when talking to laypeople!) That's not a complaint - after all, this is an American book for Americans; I'm the problem child for reading it in my far-flung corner of the earth.

Yet I don't say that to put you off the book. It still has a lot to say on how we process our individual biases, instilled in us over a lifetime, and I will be reflecting upon it for a long time to come.

Gr 7 Up—Although billed as "NOT a history book," this timely and accessible work examines the history of anti-Black
racism and U.S. policies that have been used to justify slavery, genocide, and oppression. This reimagining of
Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning teaches readers to think critically about race and investigates the ideologies of
significant segregationists, assimilationists, and antiracists

An accomplished history of racist thought and practice in the United States from the Puritans to the present.

Anyone who thought that the 2008 election of President Barack Obama marked the emergence of post-racial America has been sorely disillusioned in the subsequent years with seemingly daily reminders of the schism wrought by racism and white supremacy. And yet anyone with even a cursory understanding of this country’s tortured history with race should have known better. In this tour de force, Kendi (African-American History/Univ. of Florida; The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education, 1965-1972, 2012) explores the history of racist ideas—and their connection with racist practices—across American history. The author uses five main individuals as “tour guides” to investigate the development of racist ideas throughout the history of the U.S.: the preacher and intellectual Cotton Mather, Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, ardent abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, and activist Angela Davis. Kendi also poses three broad schools of thought regarding racial matters throughout American history: segregationist, assimilationist, and anti-racist. Although this trio can be reductionist, it provides a solid framework for understanding the interplay between racist ideas, anti-racism, and the attempts to synthesize them—“assimilationism,” which the author ultimately identifies as simply another form of racism, even when advocated by African-Americans. The subtitle of the book promises a “definitive history,” but despite the book’s more than 500 pages of text, its structure and its viewing of racial ideas through the lens of five individuals means that it is almost necessarily episodic. Although it is a fine history, the narrative may best be read as an extended, sophisticated, and sometimes (justifiably) angry essay.

Racism is the enduring scar on the American consciousness. In this ambitious, magisterial book, Kendi reveals just how deep that scar cuts and why it endures, its barely subcutaneous pain still able to flare.

-Kirkus Review

Gr 4–8—The dark history of racism is made accessible here by Cherry-Paul, an educator who has distilled the work
of Kendi and collaborator Reynolds for middle grade readers, giving young antiracists the tools needed to question
and dismantle racial inequity. The urgency of the writing compels readers to purposeful action.

This chunky, 500-page book has a lot to say about the history of racism in the US. Kendi talks about the disputes between early settlers over whether slaves were human at all, and how this shifted from looking to Noah’s story in the Bible for justification to “scientific” theories of racial hierarchy. He discusses ideas held by anti-slavery activists about whether African societies had always been primitive and if black people had something to learn from “Anglo-Saxon culture”. Kendi explains about how ideas of race interact with those of class and gender, using intersectional terminology.

The book comes right up to date, discussing current arguments over whether being “colourblind” is the same as being anti-racist — it isn’t — consider the All Lives Matter slogan. However, Stamped From the Beginning falls short of being a definitive history for a couple of reasons.

It starts from ideas and then links them to the struggle. He says that actions come before justifications, but that is not the way he writes. This makes the book weak on how ideas change through struggle. So it is least able to cope with the most dynamic periods, when ideas and actions change in rapid and complex ways, like the civil war. Kendi is fascinating on the Enlightenment arguments that were key to developing racism, but also argues — wrongly in my opinion — that racism predated this. The emphasis on ideas makes it hard to explain why President Barack Obama, who understood all the subtle nuances of race, did so little for poor black people while in office.

Kendi divides ideas on race into three categories: racist, assimilationist and anti-racist. Assimilationist ideas are those that say that while black people aren’t inherently inferior, the way to end racism is for black people to accommodate with white society. But many anti-racist activists have held ideas that could be described as assimilationist or even racist.

So he criticises the great anti-slavery and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth for taking a somewhat confused position on whether black men should get the vote before white women, saying, “After wielding racist ideas against coloured women, the 80 year old legend turned her racist ideas onto coloured men.” But describing her argument like this hardly clarifies our understanding of the issues or the dispute.

The book tries to fit the entire history of racist ideas into five sections, based around the lives of five people. These are racist puritan witch-hunter Cotton Mather, US president Thomas Jefferson (the slave owner who drafted the declaration of independence), anti-slavery newspaper editor William Lloyd Garrison, historian and activist WEB Du Bois and Black Power communist Angela Davis.

Each is important, but using them to sum up the period each lived in is constricting. For instance, Du Bois was politically active until his death in 1963, aged 95. His anti-racism moved from elitist gradualism, through Marxism to a sort of black nationalism. It is hard to cover all these subtleties, while making him representative of a period. Stamped From the Beginning is full of fascinating facts, but for a history of ideas could do with being clearer.

Ken Olende
Socialist Review 426 (July 2017)
https://socialistworker.co.uk/socialist-review-archive/stamped-beginning/

I think this is more of book for academics. Hard to read as a white person, but a very important book to read as a white person.

A fine book, engagingly written, took a huge amount of research. The title is a little misleading: although racism against native Americans is touched on, the book deals mostly with racism against black folks. I thought the treatment of the period ending with Reconstruction was stronger than the rest of the book, but I enjoyed all of it nonetheless. Was shocked to learn that civil war-era abolitionists did not want to end slavery to allow freed slaves to join society, but rather so that they could be deported to Liberia or the Dominican Republic. Hardly anyone, including Lincoln, thought that blacks could successfully become equal citizens. Was also surprised to learn about the disparaging comments FDR made about blacks as a college student, and how fervently LBJ pursued the Equal Rights Amendment.

I read this book shortly after reading Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. Together they are very much challenging me to re-think how I feel about my country's history.

Everyone needs to read this book! Kendi provides profound insight into racism through the lens of his lived experience. Shows us how racism is a cancer that has infected the human spirit and that if we aren't attentive we may be sick too. This book is very approachable and meets you where you are if you are willing to learn.

I'm buying one for every newborn from here on out!

Excellent book. It takes time to read. It is packed with information that has not been widely shared in our education system. We all, in the US, harbor many racist ideas because racism is everywhere in our culture. There is no escaping it. But one can become aware and strive to overcome one's racism.

In my opinion, this is one of the most important books that exist. I also love how it's written.

I guarantee that if you read this book, there will be something you disagree with. But I strongly believe that if you read the whole thing, walk the intellectual path Kendi lays out, then you will find much you agree with and much to ponder. He will challenge your assumptions. But he will not attack you as a person. So do not be afraid to pick up this book and perhaps see the world in a different light.
[Audiobook note: Kendi reads this book himself. This was not wise. Far too often, his delivery is too rhythmically choppy to be a good listen. You should probably stick to the print version.]

Absolutely an essential an accessible text for youth ans adults.

This book is SO good. I can't recommend it enough. Racism is a highly charged topic and Kendi could easily (and rightfully) have put white people on blast. It's what I expected when I started reading, but I want to learn how to do better so I dived in. What I got instead was Kendi's journey through his own racism and antiracism beliefs along with the knowledge to help me move myself further along the antiracism spectrum. I also highly recommend Stamped from the Beginning.

I can't rate this book. It's important. I love that it exists. There are some great parts. At the same time, I have so many issues with it. Many of these issues arise from me being the parent of a 5-year-old who asks a lot of questions. We've read a lot of books about race and racism over the years, so this topic was not new to her. Of all the books about racism we've read, this one gave her the most trouble. So at least some of my issues can be chalked up to this book not being written for kindergarteners. Still, here they are:

1. You really have to read Kendi's books for adults to fully understand what he's saying in this board book. "Point at policies as the problem, not people" makes it sounds like Kendi's saying interpersonal racism isn't a problem. He's actually saying that POC are not to blame for inequality, but it can easily be read the other way. Ditto for "There's nothing wrong with the people!" My kid was like, "But there's something wrong with racist people!" I had to explain the author meant there's nothing wrong with the people who are negatively affected by racism.

2. The word choice was sometimes questionable. For example, the book uses the word "groups" over and over when I think it would be clearer to say "cultures" or "kinds of people." The text says, "Antiracist Baby welcomes all groups voicing their unique views." But there are many groups we do not welcome (racist groups, obviously). Ditto "Antiracist Baby doesn't see certain groups as 'better' or 'worse.'"

3. Some of the visual metaphors didn't work. Particularly "Knock down the stack of cultural blocks." I think the book is trying to say all cultures are equal, especially that white culture should not be the default or the standard. But the illustration is of a baby knocking down building blocks. The blocks have a sun, a lightning bolt, a bee, and a tree on them, so there are no visual clues that the blocks represent different cultures, nor do kids assume that stacking blocks mean ranking them. My 5yo was deeply confused by this. Why can't we stack blocks? I tried to explain the metaphor, but in the end, she just needed to be told that no culture is better than another culture. I wish the text said this plainly.

3b. The illustration that affected my daughter the most was the ladder metaphor. In step 2 we see a white woman climbing a ladder and grabbing an award while a brown woman is climbing a broken ladder. On the last page, we see the brown woman has reached the top of the ladder and it appears the white woman has repaired the ladder (she's holding a hammer). Does this imply white saviorism? I think it does. My kid sees in this ladder metaphor the story of a good white person fixing the broken system. I offered an alternative explanation, "Maybe the brown woman fixed the ladder and the white woman is just testing it."

3c. The butterfly in a net illustration was also tricky for my 5yo. The net is catching blue butterflies but not the pink butterfly. I said to my kid, "The net is the problem, not the butterflies." But she said back, "What about the white person holding the net?!" (I'm actually proud of her on this one.)

4. I think sacrifices in meaning were made in order to make it rhyme. The text says, "No one will see racism if we only stay silent," in order to rhyme with "violent" in the next line. I had to read and re-read that sentence to make sure I read it right. If we stay silent about racism, no one will see it? Really? Won't the people affected by racism see it whether we talk about it or not? I know the message of this step is that it's crucial to name racism and talk about it. But how weird to say neglecting to talk about it will make it invisible.

Okay, I want to end with what I love about this book. Step 8 "Grow to be an antiracist" is so important and conveyed in a way that really worked. We are always learning and changing. We will never know everything. And the final step about believing in a better future is the perfect way to end the book -- on a hopeful note.

Despite the rough time I had reading this to my kid, I'll still recommend it and share it widely with the caveat that grown-ups need ought to put in the prep work before talking about it with children.

Edited to add: The picture book version will have an added letter from Kendi to parents and caregivers "outlining questions and discussion starters to encourage conversations about race and racism with young children." So that will be a big improvement on the board book!

I keep thinking about this story I heard on NPR yesterday about Nigerians approving of Donald Trump (https://www.npr.org/2020/02/11/804941367/nigeria-may-be-part-of-trumps-travel-ban-but-nigerians-tend-to-trust-trump).

When the story began, it made no sense to me. He called African nations shitholes and they like him? Then the reporter in Nigeria said, "President Trump is saying the things we know everybody is thinking." So her explanation is 6 out of 10 of Nigerians like him because he is openly racist.

I went on to read the reporter's longer story in the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-trashes-nigeria-and-bans-its-immigrants-nigerians-love-him-for-it/2020/02/07/ed985a4c-4853-11ea-ab15-b5df3261b710_story.html). This is what she says:

"Perhaps that is another reason Nigerians love Trump: With all the outlandishness his presidency has unleashed, he has shown that America isn’t some ideal place where leaders and the media and the opposition always conduct themselves with decorum. He has exposed the 'African' in all of you."

What. The. Hell.

Anyway, please read this book. Please make antiracist choices and support antiracist policies.

This is a crucial read, though I feel like it's the sort of book to be gifted or loaned to people who need it that otherwise wouldn't pick it up. Part autobiographical (as it helps to identify your own history of thought and trace what influenced your development, especially being raised in an inherently biased system), part framework to identify the ways racist policies influence our ideas, Kendi stresses that being "not-racist" is not enough, that the only opposition to racism is anti-racism. Otherwise, we tacitly endorse racist policies by supporting the status quo, typically because it's convenient for us.

Kendi also goes over how yes, people of color can be racist as well, because again, it's easy to fall into the idea of supporting your 'team' without noticing that policies disproportionately affect us not only along racial lines but also class and gender, and how assimilation codifies power into a specific group to the detriment of others. Really worthwhile read, especially to challenge and check your own viewpoint.

EducatingParents.org rating: Caution - Read With Care
Book is filled with CRT ideologies. Text is far more complex than the target audience (ages 1-5).
Children at such a young age do not worry about the color of skin, nor do they understand race. They determine friendships based on kindness, love, and other content of character. Are the other kids on the playground fun to play with? Are they nice? Do they share? This book is not meant for babies but parents who want to indoctrinate their children with woke content.

Jason Reynolds has written an effective, timely and accessible manifesto regarding racism, antiracism, and what it has to do with all of us here in the US. Essentially, Stamped is a remix of Ibram X. Kendi's important work on the history of racism (Stamped From The Beginning) written for young people. This not-a-history-book-history-book-about-race is told with passion, humor, and honesty. Jason Reynolds takes Dr. Kendi's break down of history and makes it easy to understand. Highly recommended for teens (and adults!). I learned many things a bout the history of racism from this book and was challenged by what I read. A trans formative read.

Independent Reading Level: Grade 4-5
New York Times Bestseller

A striking graphic novel edition of the National Book Award-winning history of how racist ideas have shaped American life—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist.

Racism has persisted throughout history—but so have antiracist efforts to dismantle it. Through deep research and a gripping narrative that illuminates the lives of five key American figures, preeminent historian Ibram X. Kendi reveals how understanding and improving the world cannot happen without identifying and facing the racist forces that shape it.

In collaboration with award-winning historian and comic artist Joel Christian Gill, this stunningly illustrated graphic-novel adaptation of Dr. Kendi’s groundbreaking Stamped from the Beginning explores, with vivid clarity and dimensionality, the living history of America, and how we can learn from the past to work toward a more equitable, antiracist future.

-Amazon description

I loved this book and can’t wait to get my students to read it.