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How To Be an Antiracist: THE GLOBAL MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER Kindle Edition

by Ibram X. Kendi (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 27,427 ratings
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Not being racist is not enough. We have to be antiracist.

*THE GLOBAL MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER - NOW REVISED AND UPDATED*

In HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST Ibram X. Kendi, one of the world's most influential scholars on racism, demolishes the idea of a post-racial society, punctures the myths and taboos that cloud our understanding of racism and presents a radically new approach to tackling it.

He shows how everyone is, at times, complicit in maintaining the structure of racism though we rarely realise it, and gives us the tools to identify and change those behaviours.

Uncompromising but essential, HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST sparked a new conversation about being antiracist around the world, showing that until we become part of the solution, we can only be part of the problem.

'Transformative and revolutionary' ROBIN DIANGELO, author of White Fragility
'So vital' IJEOMA OLUO, author of So You Want to Talk About Race
'It feels like a light switch being flicked on' OWEN JONES

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  1. Print length
    378 pages
  2. Language
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  3. Publisher
    Vintage Digital
  4. Publication date
    15 August 2019
  5. File size
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  1. Racist ideas make people of color think less of themselves, which makes them more vulnerable to racist ideas. Racist ideas make White people think more of themselves, which further attracts them to racist ideas.
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  2. Racism is a marriage of racist policies and racist ideas that produces and normalizes racial inequities.
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How To Be an Antiracist How To Raise an Antiracist
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Vital... Whether you're an institution ... or an individual in moral paralysis, dumbfounded by the febrile emotions now at large ... you are not alone; hope is on its way -- Colin Grant ― Observer

Could hardly be more relevant ... it feels like a light switch being flicked on -- Owen Jones

Shocking and provocative … he uses his personal story to make his arguments so skilfully that the book is both a memoir and a strident call to arms ― Irish Times

One of the US's most respected scholars of race and history... Kendi's argument is brilliantly simple ... His honesty ... is one of the most powerful elements in this compelling book -- Afua Hirsch ― Guardian

Lucid, accessible, unyielding. Kendi’s most important insight might help rethink anti-racist activism -- Sadiah Qureshi (on Stamped from the Beginning) ― New Statesman

Gives us the tools to make changes in our own lives and society at large. A must-read -- June Sarpong, author of Diversify

An electrifying combination of ethics, history, law and science, bringing it all together with an engaging personal narrative … an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond an awareness of racism to the next step ― The Voice

Everyone should have a copy of this important, poignant and timely book -- Christofere Fila ― Amnest International UK

Transformative and revolutionary ... offers us a necessary and critical way forward -- Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility

Groundbreaking, brilliant, fearless -- David Olusoga (on Stamped from the Beginning) ― Observer

A work of immense moral authority, brilliantly told, it's deeply humane, revolutionary, essential -- Thomas Penn ― History Today

One of the pre-eminent intellectuals on race -- Owen Jones

So vital. As a society, we need to start treating antiracism as action, not emotion - and Kendi is helping us do that -- Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want to Talk About Race

The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind ― New York Times

Makes clear how we all must engage in the essential soul-searching to understand our own racism and the personal action required to become antiracist -- Lord Herman Ouseley, former Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality and of Kick It Out

An incredible book -- Gina Rubel ― Techregister

This is no guidebook to getting woke ... Never wavering, Kendi methodically examines racism through numerous lenses: power, biology, ethnicity, body, culture, and so forth. This unsparing honesty helps readers, both white and people of colour, navigate this difficult intellectual territory. Essential ― Kirkus

You should read it for its arguments about what racism is. Nor should you dodge it on the basis that you knew all this already – like me, you almost certainly didn't -- David Aaronovitch (on Stamped from the Beginning) ― The Times

No less than a road map for social change through a remarkable, personal and deeply touching journey. If you take the business of fighting oppression seriously and want to make a difference, this is something you need to read -- Leslie Thomas, QC

About the Author

Ibram X. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is the author of many books including Stamped from the Beginning- The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and three #1 New York Times bestsellers, How to Be an Antiracist, which was also a Sunday Times bestseller; Stamped- Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored with Jason Reynolds; and Antiracist Baby, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky. In 2020, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07MDZKB9F
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage Digital; 1st edition (15 August 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2822 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 378 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 27,427 ratings

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Ibram X. Kendi

Ibram X. Kendi

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Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and the author of many highly acclaimed books including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, making him the youngest-ever winner of that award. He has also authored five #1 New York Times bestsellers, including How to Be an Antiracist, Antiracist Baby, and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored by Jason Reynolds. Time magazine named Dr. Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant.

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Top reviews from Australia

  • Chrissie Peterson
    5.0 out of 5 stars The book I never knew I needed
    Reviewed in Australia on 25 August 2022
    I bought this book so I could better speak to those around me. I didn’t realise the first person I needed to speak to was myself. Thank you for making me a better person and making visible the invisible barriers that divide us.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Kyle Balen
    2.0 out of 5 stars Read some Thomas Sowell instead
    Reviewed in Australia on 10 September 2020
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    The issue of differential outcomes between racial groups can be picked apart from a variety of viewpoints -conservatives tend to see differences as a result of personal and cultural differences, progressives tend to see differences as originating from factors external to the individual or group. There are also those rare individuals, interested primarily in truth, who can weave together a nuanced view by looking comprehensively at an issue. Unfortunately Kendi is not one of those rare individuals - he stands exclusively in the progressive camp, and comes to some pretty absurd conclusions.

    On culture Kendi writes "To be antiracist is to see all cultures in all their differences as on the same level, as equals." Really? Does Kendi actually believe an openly racist antebellum southern culture is on par with a modern culture that abhors racism? Is a culture that practices female genital mutilation on par with a culture that sees this practice as barbaric? He doesn't, of course, but he fails to see the inconsistency in his own reasoning.

    Trapped in an exclusively postmodern worldview, Kendi repeatedly attributes all differences between racial groups as a result of racist policies. Strangely he never points out what any of these policies are, only that they must be resisted in the name of antiracism. Disparate outcomes are never seen as the result of complex factors both internal and external to any particular group.

    This book isn't entirely terrible, Kendi does bring up some biases that exist in the culture at large which are worth exploring. He is also a half decent writer. Hopefully he will spend some time out of the postmodern echo chamber that is presently engulfing academia, and develop an understanding of himself and of racial issues that can actually bring positive change to the culture at large.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Belinda Moore
    1.0 out of 5 stars How To be an Antiracist... Hint: Don't read this book
    Reviewed in Australia on 5 October 2021
    This book is the most racist thing I've ever read in my entire life. What it basically implies is that all white people are inherently racist (but not black people) and that if you're not actively AGAINST (Kendi's perception of) "racism" you, yourself are racist. That is a huge generalization, which probably covers 95% of the entire western world. All this book does is sow more division within our current political climate, within western society. It doesn't solve anything or help anyone. Kendi's definition of racism, isn't ACTUAL racism either, it's basically everything that effects PoC... High drug rates within the black community? That's racism. High crime rates? That's Racism. High imprisonment statistics? That's Racism. Their version of racism is absolutely absurd and deluded. They don't actually take into account an individuals personal choices and only look at someone's skin colour to determine whether his/her were justified. If you violently rob someone at gun point but are black, just from the basis of skin colour, you're now more innocent than a white person who commits the same crime. Basically just because someone has more "privilege" than some others, Kendi would like for them to be discriminated against. Kendi's book should not be sold, let alone READ by or to anyone. Stray as far from this book as possible, you will not regret it.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Kim
    1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the money
    Reviewed in Australia on 9 November 2020
    Sounds like someone found themselves being racist and had to virtue signal by writing a book.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Beukema D.
    5.0 out of 5 stars super rapide
    Reviewed in France on 28 May 2023
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    Super
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  • M. Pereira
    5.0 out of 5 stars Leitura obrigatória!
    Reviewed in Brazil on 1 September 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Como muita gente por aí, li esse livro depois de ver diversas recomendações nas mídias sociais durante os protestos que ocorreram esse ano. Antes de pegar ele, eu me achava informada até. Descobri que não sou nem um pouco. Dificuldades "básicas" que os negros sofrem desde a nascença são coisas que nunca pensei sobre e nem ouvi ninguém falando sobre, a minha vida inteira. E que erro imenso é esse que estamos cometendo como sociedade!
    Entendo hoje que não sei nada mesmo, e que por ser uma mulher cis branca, conto com privilégios que eu nem sabia serem privilégios - como saber de onde a minha família vêm no mundo. O mínimo que posso fazer é me educar.
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  • Devin Hogg
    5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book and very timely!
    Reviewed in Canada on 7 June 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I highly recommend giving this book a read. The author shares his own journey into antiracism and in so doing holds up a mirror to all of us to choose again and again the antiracist in us. The book is filled with definitions and stories which bring clarity and help toward understanding and several chapters are devoted towards the importance of intersectionality. Everybody should give this book a read, especially in light of recent times. Everybody will benefit from doing so.
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  • Adam Shields
    5.0 out of 5 stars A personal, memoir informed, look at the difference between being ’not racist’ and an antiracist.
    Reviewed in the United States on 23 August 2019
    Verified Purchase
    I picked up How to Be an Antiracist almost immediately after I finished <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stamped-Beginning-Definitive-History-America-ebook/dp/B017QL8WV4/">Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America</a>. They are very different in approach. Stamped from the beginning is more academic, much longer, and more historical. How to be an Antiracist is much shorter, more personal and, in a helpful way, not academic.

    Despite it being shorter and less academic, I think this is a book I am going to need to read again, while I doubt I will re-read Stamped from the Beginning. How to be an Antiracist is making subtle changes to the recent Critical Race Theory informed definitions of racism. And while I think I mostly agree with Kendi’s critiques, I also think I need to both re-read this book to be sure I understand what he is doing, and read some others responding to him to make sure I am not missing some of the implications of his critiques.

    At the most basic, Kendi is rejecting the prejudice plus power definition of racism. At the same time, he is rejecting racist as a descriptor of a person. He wants racist to be the descriptor of the idea or action. “A racist idea is any idea that suggests one racial group is inferior or superior to another racial group in any way.” Similarly, “A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups.” In another place, "What is racism? Racism is a marriage of racist policies and racist ideas that produces and normalizes racial inequities…Racial inequity is when two or more racial groups are not standing on approximately equal footing."

    Kendi uses the metaphor of racism not as an identity (or tattoo), you either are or are not racist, but a sticky name tag that you put on and take off. He is unequivocal that anyone can express racist ideas or perform racist actions. And he is not at all rejecting the concept of racism as a systemic reality. He does not like the term systemic racism (because it is too vague). He wants to concentrate on ‘racist policies.’
    <blockquote>A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups. An antiracist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial equity between racial groups. By policy, I mean written and unwritten laws, rules, procedures, processes, regulations, and guidelines that govern people. There is no such thing as a nonracist or race-neutral policy. Every policy in every institution in every community in every nation is producing or sustaining either racial inequity or equity between racial groups.</blockquote>
    There will, I think, be several White people that are opposed to the Critical Race Theory line of thinking about racism that wants to embrace a part of Kendi’s point. They will like that anyone can express racist ideas or actions. But will not understand Kendi’s more significant point that the movement to antiracism is rooted in the empowerment of Black and other minorities. Kendi’s position is not that Blacks can be racist against Whites, but that Blacks can be racist against other Black people. Kendi is not empowering the idea of ‘reverse racism’ but expanding racism to included Black people being racist against other Black people or other minorities.

    Throughout How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi talks about three approaches. In general, people are or have been, segregationists, assimilationists, or antiracists. Segregationists want to maintain separate racial hierarchies. Assimilationists wish to break down legal segregation, but also do not go far enough in breaking down the internal understanding of racial superiority. Assimilationists want acceptance and often are willing to have either partial approval or behavior-based acceptance of some, as opposed to all. In Kendi’s approach, segregationists and assimilationists are both forms of racism. It is only antiracists that are focused not just on legal segregation and discrimination, but also on internal feelings of superiority or inferiority that move society beyond racism.

    Antiracism, like feminism in its ideals, is not about reversing the patriarchy or racial hierarchy, but about equality. To be antiracist in Kendi’s ideal means to not only be opposed to racism and for racial equality, but also to be against division based on, "gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, skin color, nationality, and culture, among a series of other identifiers.” To be antiracist means that you are also an antisexist, against religious discrimination, against xenophobia, etc.

    Kendi is also not interested in suasion.
    <blockquote>The original problem of racism has not been solved by suasion. Knowledge is only power if knowledge is put to the struggle for power. 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. If a person has no record of power or policy change, then that person is not an activist.</blockquote>
    When I say this book is personal, I mean that. Kendi uses his own life primarily as an example of moving from racism to antiracism. He talks about how he, at one point, had adopted the racist ideas against other Black people that were common at the time and won a speech competition by reciting them. He talks about anger and hatred against White people for both the historical harm and the continued indifference to racism. He talks about his own internalized sexism and homophobia. In each of these areas and more, he came to realized that a sense of superiority or alienation, no matter how large or small, perpetuates differences and violates the antiracist ideal.

    The end of the book is the most personal. Kendi recounts how soon after they were married, his wife developed breast cancer. Together they walked through that cancer and instead of being newlyweds and she starting her medical career after 12 years of preparation to become a doctor, she became a cancer patient. And then not long after his wife was cancer-free, he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

    Cancer becomes the metaphor for racism at the end. Racism has embedded itself in our society. It is spreading and distorting culture and if it is not rooted out, not just in the racial aspects, but the sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, etc., it will continue to metastasize and transform. According to an interview on NPR I heard last week, his cancer is in remission for now, but he has a very high likelihood of reoccurrence, and he is not fooling around because he is not sure how long he will be alive to oppose racism.
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  • Mamadou Bobo Diallo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr gutes Buch
    Reviewed in Germany on 7 October 2020
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    Das ist eins der besten Bücher über Rassismus.
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