In Kendi's own words, this is a "chronological personal narrative interspersed with a series of connected chapter themes that build on each other like a stepladder to antiracism." It's like nothing I've read before, and it will take me at least another reading or two before I feel like I've gotten my head around all of it. To be clear — it's not particularly complicated and the writing is excellent. But it's laying out important premises, focusing on policy, and coming at things from I direction I haven't encountered before. I think it might be…brilliant? Anyway, I'm parking it at a 5-star rating until I decide otherwise. I'm planning to read Stamped from the Beginning and then return to this.

"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."

"We know how to be racist. We know how to pretend to be not racist. Now let’s know how to be antiracist."