How to Be an Antiracist

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How To Be An Antiracist Cover Book by Ibram X. Kendi

How to Be an Antiracist is nonfiction book by Ibram X. Kendi. It was published on August 13  2019 by Random House. This book has 320 pages and discusses the concept of racism and Kendi's proposal for anti-racist individual action and systemic changes.

In June 2020, following protests following Floyd's murder, sales of How to Be an Antiracist has soared. The book listed eighth and fifth on Publishers Weekly's hardcover nonfiction list on May 30 and June 6. The book is listed at number three on the USA Today's June 10 Bestseller List. The book topped the New York Times Bestseller List on hardcover nonfiction list for sale in the week ending June 6. This book has spent a total of 18 weeks on the list, on the 19 July edition of the list.[1]

Summary

In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi uses her life story to guide her own and the reader's alleged path from racism to antiracism, arguing that antiracism is the only way to combat racism. Each chapter focuses on different elements of racism and weaves the story, chronologically, from Kendi's childhood to the present. In the introduction, Kendi explains how, as a young man, he held racist ideas to himself, thinking that black people were responsible for many of their own problems.

In "Definitions," Kendi tells the story of his parents’ meeting and defines terms such as «racial inequities,» «racist policies,» and «racist ideas.» He provides statistics showing how racist power means that people of color, especially Black people, often face more deleterious conditions in most aspects of life in America.

In "Power," Kendi explores the creation of racist ideas to support selfish policies, particularly related to the beginnings of the slave trade.

In "Culture," Kendi looks at how white people scoff at black culture but steal from it, how black people themselves can also attach value to certain aspects of the culture and thus marginalize one another, and how antiracism means to say that all cultures are different to each other. the same level.

In "White," Kendi describes how he came to demonize the white race as a young man; now, he knows that it's also racism and doesn't help black people.

In “Black,” Kendi finally starts to overcome some of the racist ideas towards Black people that he’d been holding onto. He shows how some Black people look down upon poorer Blacks who live in inner-city neighborhoods and how this is just as racist as the way Whites look down on all Black people.

And there are more focuses on different elements of racism. At the end of this chapter, he concludes his journey to antiracism, which is never finished, and sets out the steps he wants to follow.[2]

Reception

Positive Reviews

When it was released, How to Be an Antiracist received very positive reviews. NPR enthusiastically, “Ibram X. Kendi's new book, How to Be an Antiracist, could not have come at a better time. Kendi has given us a book that is not only an important instruction manual but also a memoir of the writer's own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to anti-racism. How to Be an Antiracist gives us a clear and compelling way of approaching, as Kendi says in his introduction, 'the basic struggle we all face, the struggle to be fully human and to see that other people are completely human”[3]

Another positive review from The Guardian, saying that the book is brilliantly simple. Ideas, actions, or policies of racist, to contribute to the history that regard and treat the different races as inherently unequal - or antiracist, because trying to dismantle history. Either racist or antiracist, there is nothing in between, people of all races and backgrounds can fit into any of the categories depending on the ideas, actions, or policies they support.[4]

Negative Review

How to Be an Antiracist also got criticized by Coleman Hughes, saying that Kendi's argument is difficult to interpret, whether as a factual claim subject to empirical examination or as a diary entry to be accepted as personal truth. He is also claimed that Kendi’s book had factual errors and sloppy researched.[5]

References

  1. How to Be an Antiracist. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 15 2021.
  2. How to Be an Antiracist Summary. GradeSaver July 13 2020. Retrieved January 15 2021.
  3. How to Be an Antiracist Study Guide. GradeSaver July 13 2020. Retrieved January 15 2021.
  4. How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi review – a brilliantly simple argument. The Guardian October 11 2019. Retrieved January 15 2021.
  5. How to Be an Anti-Intellectual. City Journal October 27 2019. Retrieved January 15 2021.