How to Be an Antiracist
by Ibram X. Kendi · first published 2019
9% recommend71% neutral20% critical
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
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African immigrants can have racist beliefs about black Americans just as much as anyone. (Including black Americans.) Kendi's "How to be an Antiracist" gets into this in a way I found to be eye-opening.
on “Children of immigrants have higher rates of upward mobility than US-born” ↗…address. Does this sound ok to your ears? If this was a white supremacist, we would all correctly be shouting about how it's a dog whistle and not an acceptable response. I wish more people would read 'How to Be an Antiracist.' I believe he's absolute right in that the only way forward is to call out racist beliefs from everyone, not selectively. Selectively excusing racist beliefs from "our side" will only open the door…
on “U.S. insurrectionists received $500k in bitcoins from French donor” ↗…unless you mean "in another 400 years after we've made radical policy changes" Edit again: I can't reply bc posting speed limits and the balance of racism/antiracism in HN threads, so please go read e.g. "How to be an Antiracist" and you'll see where I'm coming from.
…issues failed. All it did was make us blind to the continuing harms of racism and there for unable to change those systems and solve those problems. Kendi expands on it in great detail in his book "How to Be an Antiracist" Here's a TED talk version of the explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCxbl5QgFZw
on “Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces” ↗If you cherry-pick data, you can advance a narrative even if there are lots of counter-examples. Coleman Hughes argues that Kendi cherry-picks data quite a lot: https://www.city-journal.org/how-to-be-an-antiracist
on “America’s Largest Health Insurer Is Giving Apartments to Homeless People” ↗…partially answer my question: > There is what we could think of as a triple-Testament tome, consisting of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility, and Ibram Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist. A box set of the three would take its place on coffeetables and mantlepieces nationwide.
on “Medium sees employee exits after CEO publishes ‘culture memo’” ↗But the SPSP requirement went a step further, dropping "diversity" in favor of "anti-racism," a term frequently associated with Boston University's Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist and other works. Among the book's passages is a widely shared one highlighted by Haidt: "The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination…
There is a similar system in the US, based on skin color. The article's title references the book How To Be An Antiracist. It's very much on people's minds today, and the article was written to see what lessons the US can learn from the situation in India (including Indians in the US, where caste-ism remains a problem).…
on “How To Be An Anti-Casteist” ↗Have you read critiques of Kendi's works? Here's Coleman Hughes review of one book: https://www.city-journal.org/how-to-be-an-antiracist
Why is this guy being downvoted for quoting Ibram X Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist?
on “A generation of American men give up on college” ↗…is bad", they're going to think I mean "racism is good", and they're not going to believe me when I clarify that I'm referring to specific policy ideas promoted in books such as Ibram X. Kendi's famous How to Be an Antiracist. Unless you're talking to people who are so politically engaged you can name-drop specific authors to start with, I'm not sure what term other than "woke" you could use.
on “Is everything falling apart?” ↗When you say "books like _How To Be An Antiracist_", you mean... bad books, right? Why would you expect bad-faith actors like Kendi to do better?
on “Mandated diversity statement drives Jonathan Haidt to quit academic society” ↗…can't hit the link --- getting a 503 -- but I'd add a few. Rebecca Solnit (Men Explain Things To Me, widely awarded) Ta-Nehisi Coates (Between the World and Me, MacArthur Fellow) Ibrahim X. Kendi (How to Be an Antiracist, MacArthur Fellow)
on “The Death of a Public Intellectual” ↗…until ~60 years ago and the compounded nature of wealth is EXACTLY the sort of thing actual social theorists mean when they say "structural racism". Ironically Ibram X. Kendi uses this exact example in "How to Be an Antiracist."
on “‘Culture wars’ are fought by tiny minority – UK study” ↗…is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity. If discrimination is creating equity, then it is antiracist. If discrimination is creating inequity, then it is racist.” ― Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist
on “Stripe bans Trump campaign” ↗