“How to Be an Antiracist” came first, but don’t overlook its sequel! If you only have time to read one, I suggest reading “How to Raise an Antiracist.” It summarizes the main takeaways of its predecessor in simpler terms, and offers actionable advice you can practice with children. What’s effective for kindergartners, is effective for adults. This is more than a book for caretakers—it’s for everybody striving to educate their community and themselves about racial justice.
Some of Ibram X. Kendi’s central teachings include:
1. There is no such thing as not racist, only racist (upholding racism), and antiracist (challenging racism):
“To do nothing in a society of injustice is to uphold racism. To do nothing in the face of racism is to be racist.” (xix)
2. The color of your skin does not imply inherent superiority or inferiority:
“There’s nothing right about me because of the color of my skin…There’s nothing wrong with me because of the color of my skin.” (xxi-xxii)
3. Racist and antiracist are descriptive, not pejorative:
“Racist and antiracist are descriptive terms, not fixed categories, not identities, not reflections of what’s in anyone’s bones or heart.” (5)
4. Racist is an isolated adjective, racism is a systemic noun:
“Racist and antiracist describe individuality—an individual idea or policy or institution or nation or person—while racism and antiracism describe connectivity or what’s systematic, structural, and institutional.” (6)
Methods for raising an antiracist include:
1. Cultural socialization.
“In order for cultural socialization to be antiracist…it has to unfold in three crucial steps. The first is to raise a child to comprehend and appreciate what is distinct about their own culture and history. Next, we have to raise a child to comprehend and appreciate what’s distinct about other cultures and histories. And finally, we must raise the child to comprehend and appreciate what’s the same about their own and the other cultural groups. In the words of the classic Sesame Street picture book, we have to teach kids that We’re Different, We’re the Same.“(8)
2. Engage in social justice work.
“Because ultimately protecting the individual child requires that we also address the dangers in the society they will grow up in.” (11)
3. Resist ‘color blindness’ / Don’t make racism a taboo subject
“Color-blind caregivers think they can stop their kids—or themselves—from seeing race. But they are only stopping kids from seeing racism.” (14)
Also,
“The first lesson children receive from their caregivers about race can no longer be that it’s unmentionable.” (180)
4. Teach that race is NOT a biological reality.
“It is possible to impart to our children: Skin colors are like book covers; they don’t tell us what’s inside…But some people think they do. Some people think darker people have less because they don’t work as hard. But that’s not true. What’s true is our leaders don’t work hard enough at instituting rules that are fair. Our rules are the problem, not darker people.” (18)
5. Admit shortcomings.
“Sometimes we won’t be able to teach. But we should admit to our child when we don’t know. We can research the answers with children and discover them together and apply them together…just as powerfully, to be antiracist is to admit the times we are being racist.” (88)
6. Teach racialized history.
“We can strive to teach the basic elements of slavery, of sharecropping, of Jim Crow segregation, of redlining, of standardized testing, of mass incarceration, of tax laws, of predatory lending—and how these structures have contributed to the racial wealth gap.” (115)
Also,
“Their fearful assumption that White children would see White people as only villains erases the long history of White people being antiracist across time and space. To teach about the history of slavery is to teach about the history of White abolitionists…” (178)
7. Instill humble self-confidence.
“The journey to being antiracist is the journey of coming down from the ladder of conceit or coming up the burial of insecurity to the solid ground of humble self-confidence.” (162)
Children’s books mentioned by the author:
1. We are the Water Protectors, Carole Lindstrom
2. The Proudest Blue, Ibtihaj Muhammad and S.K. Ali
3. Fry Bread, Kevin Noble Maillard
4. Festival of Colors, Kabir Sehgal and Surishtha Sehgal
5. Julián Is a Mermaid, Jessica Love
6. A is for Activist, Innosanto Nagara
7. Feminist Baby, Loryn Brantz
8. Homemade Love, bell hooks
9. Bowwow Powwow, Brenda J. Child
10. What the Road Said, Cleo Wade
11. Drawn Together, Minh Lê
12. Watercress, Andrea Wang
13. The Bench, Meghan Markle
14. Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, Joanna Ho
15. Hair Love, Matthew A. Cherry
16. I Am Enough, Grace Byers
17. I Am Human, Susan Verde
18. The Day You Begin, Jacqueline Woodson
19. The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas
20. All American Boys, Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely