By Ibram X. Kendi | Amazon.com | 320 pages
Published in August of 2019
SUMMARY: How to be an Antiracist is all about reprogramming our minds. In the author’s opinion, there is no such thing as a non-racist. You are either racist or antiracist. The difference between a non-racist and an antiracist is the antiracist recognizes that racism exists, and does something about it, especially in the antiracist’s mindset.
The book can be a slog to read and it can be difficult to see the how-to. Here’s my biggest takeaway — no group/ethnicity/gender/etc. is better than another so assimilation by one group into another is not the answer. The answer is having the mindset that all groups are equal and the work we do should be to level the playing field so all groups have the same opportunities to succeed.
KEY QUOTE: “The good news is that racist and antiracist are not fixed identities. We can be a racist one minute and an antiracist the next. What we say about race, what we do about race, in each moment, determines what — not who — we are.”
BONUS: If you don’t have time to read the book, but are interested in what Kendi has to say, listen to his interview with Brene Brown on the Unlocking Us podcast.
MORE GOOD READS: Sunday to Saturday has a Good Reads page where we post all of the books we have read – even the ones that didn’t make the cut.
DID YOU KNOW? We have distilled the media we have curated into five guided learning paths to help you learn about racism in your preferred learning style.
More curated books on racism:
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When a major cultural event, such as George Floyd’s murder, shifts the focus of a country, it is easy to assume that critiques of the American church and racism are a recent phenomenon. Oftentimes we are simply unaware of prophetic voices from the the past such as Howard Thurman and his quintessential Jesus and the…
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BOOK: The Color of Compromise
To this day church services across the nation are some of the most segregated times of the week. Is this by random chance or was this intentional? Author Jemar Tisby details the sordid history of the American church and its complicity with racism in the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller…
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BOOK: Worse Than Slavery
A history of another brutal part of America’s past that is glossed over Worse Than Slavery tells the story of convict leasing, a thinly veiled system of slavery, through the songs of convicts, court documents, and local newspapers.
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Sunday to Saturday 