A review by ajdotcom
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

challenging reflective medium-paced

2.5

(PLEASE SEE REVIEW END)
Every sentence in this book is a new piece of wisdom. Don't go into it thinking it will mirror other antiracism books you may have read before; Kendi has quite a different viewpoint in some places, which made me face my own stubbornness and conviction that my views on the problem are "right". Chapters are split into half memoir, half historical/legal/etc. context. The memoir parts are really touching and it's inspiring to see Kendi's own journey from racism to antiracism; hearing how he's changed over years and through the help of others gives me hope that I and others can do the same. I sometimes found the factual context sections a little intellectually overwhelming; there are a lot of legal cases, dates, facts and figures mentioned, so I don't feel like I took it all in, but the parts I did absorb added much-needed context to the memoir sections and the antiracism struggle in general. This book is absolutely rammed with much-needed information and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.
EDIT: Since writing this review, I have been signposted to the That's Not How That Works podcast's episode about this book, which you can listen to here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/129eEvOkro4MQO0hRRJK44?si=EUs9Ocg2QUiApdCL9dJOiw&utm_source=copy-link. I did not have the required critical thinking skills to see what lens this book was written through, and my positive review was reflective of that. Please listen to Trudi and Weeze's podcast; I have changed my rating to a 2.5 so I don't have an impact on the book's overall rating on the StoryGraph. I have a lot more to learn, and I'm sorry that I contributed to harm through lack of critical thought.
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