“Denial is the heartbeat of racism, beating across ideologies, race, and nations.” 

 

A #bookreview of How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X Kendi. 

 

Ibram X Kendi mixes his personal experiences along with historical anecdotes and statistics to discuss (un)learning antiracist work. It is not enough to claim that you are not racist, we must express the willingness to practice “persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination”. We must be antiracist. Even within our limited capacity, have the power to uphold racist and prejudice perspectives. We must look beyond racist individuals and challenge racist policies and institutions and those with power to enact change. We must see the deficiencies of policies not people. 

 

One of my favorite chapters was when he examined the need to be conscious with our definitions of racist occurrence. It is not microaggression, it is racial abuse. The contemporary meaning behind microaggression has become diluted and we need to reset our perimeters and claim meaning behind the words we use. 

 

To be antiracist is to be antihomophobic, anti-transphobic, antisexist, and anti-capitalist. 

 

Lastly, I’m ending this review with two main takeaways that impacted me profoundly in the book: 

 

1. “Changing minds is not a movement. Critiquing racism is not activism. Changing minds is not activism. An activist produces power and policy change, not mental change.” 

 

2. “What if strategies and policy solutions stemmed not from ideologies but from problems?”