Scan barcode
A review by kelly_inthe419
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
5.0
“What’s the problem with being ‘not racist?’ It is a claim that signifies neutrality: ‘I am not racist, but neither am I aggressively against racism.’ But there is not neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of racist isn’t not racist. It is antiracist.”
This book was not like anything I expected. This is not a prescriptive outline for achieving self-improvement. Rather it’s a personal story of Kendi’s evolution to understanding racism in all of it forms and how he grew to adjust his own way of thinking. Most of us think about white racist attitudes toward people of color, but Kendi doesn’t shy away from Black racism toward other Blacks, racism toward immigrants from non-western European countries, and more. He compares events and experiences from his own youth through college and graduate school and how he grew exponentially each time his thinking was challenged by new ideas. It was a refreshing perspective that grew out of Kendi’s original and very popular book a few years earlier titled Stamped from the Beginning.
I read this on audiobook and enjoyed it, but I rather wish I had a physical copy so I could go back and reread certain stories or pieces of information. I highly recommend this read for anyone interested in such a personal perspective.
This book was not like anything I expected. This is not a prescriptive outline for achieving self-improvement. Rather it’s a personal story of Kendi’s evolution to understanding racism in all of it forms and how he grew to adjust his own way of thinking. Most of us think about white racist attitudes toward people of color, but Kendi doesn’t shy away from Black racism toward other Blacks, racism toward immigrants from non-western European countries, and more. He compares events and experiences from his own youth through college and graduate school and how he grew exponentially each time his thinking was challenged by new ideas. It was a refreshing perspective that grew out of Kendi’s original and very popular book a few years earlier titled Stamped from the Beginning.
I read this on audiobook and enjoyed it, but I rather wish I had a physical copy so I could go back and reread certain stories or pieces of information. I highly recommend this read for anyone interested in such a personal perspective.