In this extract of his latest book, How to Be an Antiracist, Ibrahim X. Kendi explains the difference between racism and antiracism.

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Extracts

Ibram X. Kendi defines what it means to be an antiracist

THE GLOBAL MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER

How To Be an Antiracist

The global million-copy bestseller that transformed the world's understanding of racism and helped mobilise a global movement.

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

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

Transformative and revolutionary ... offers us a necessary and critical way forward

Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility

The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind

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

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

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

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

Gives us the tools to make changes in our own lives and society at large. A must-read

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

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

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

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

One of the pre-eminent intellectuals on race

Groundbreaking, brilliant, fearless

David Olusoga (on Stamped from the Beginning)

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)

Lucid, accessible, unyielding. Kendi’s most important insight might help rethink anti-racist activism

Sadiah Qureshi (on Stamped from the Beginning)

Everyone should have a copy of this important, poignant and timely book

A work of immense moral authority, brilliantly told, it's deeply humane, revolutionary, essential

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.

In this rousing and deeply empathetic book, Ibram X. Kendi, one of the world's most influential scholars of racism, shows that neutrality is not an option: until we become part of the solution, we can only be part of the problem. 
 
Using his extraordinary gifts as a teacher and story-teller, Kendi helps us recognise that everyone is, at times, complicit in racism whether they realise it or not, and by describing with moving humility his own journey from racism to antiracism, he shows us how instead to be a force for good. Along the way, Kendi punctures all the myths and taboos that so often cloud our understanding, from arguments about what race is and whether racial differences exist to the complications that arise when race intersects with ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality. 
 
In the process he demolishes the myth of the post-racial society and builds from the ground up a vital new understanding of racism - what it is, where it is hidden, how to identify it and what to do about it.

A Community History of African America 1619-2019

Four Hundred Souls

An impressive and illuminating collection that rejects Blackness in America as a singular experience and instead illustrates the range of Black experiences and voices

A polyphonic work that unites writers, historians, lawyers, poets and activists ... From Morgan Parker's poem Before Revolution to writer Bernice L McFadden's soaring exploration of Zora Neale Hurston's genre-defining writing, it's something quite incredible

Highly readable and far more compelling than a mere historical digest would have been ... This collection teaches us that nothing about the latest crisis is new ... a vital addition to that curriculum on race in America and should serve as a gateway to the solo works of all the voices in Kendi and Blain's impressive choir

A provocative, stirring anthology . . . Four Hundred Souls weaves a tapestry of unspeakable suffering and unexpected transcendence

O: The Oprah Magazine, 20 of the Best Books of February 2021 to Fall in Love With

Ibram X. Kendi (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. 
 
Keisha N. Blain (Author) 
 Keisha N. Blain is an award-winning historian, professor and writer. She is currently an associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, the president of the African American Intellectual History Society, and an editor for the Washington Post's 'Made by History' section. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Guardian, Politico and Time. She is the author of Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom and Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America.

*THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* 
 
Four Hundred Souls is an epoch-defining history of African America, the first to appear in a generation, told by ninety leading Black voices -- co-curated by Ibram X. Kendi, author of the million-copy bestseller How To Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire. 
 
In chronological chapters, each by a different author and spanning five years, the book charts the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans to the present - a journey defined by inhuman oppression, visionary struggles and stunning achievements. 
 
Contributors include some of today's leading writers, historians, journalists, lawyers, poets and activists. Together - through essays and short stories, personal vignettes and fiery polemics - they redefine America and the way its history can be told. 
 
'A vital addition to the curriculum on race in America... Compelling' Washington Post 
 
'A resounding history...that challenges the myths of America's past... Fresh and engaging' Colin Grant, Guardian

Antiracist Baby

This is the #1 New York Times bestselling introduction to racism from award-winning author and academic, Ibram X. Kendi. Take your first steps with Antiracist Baby! Or, rather, follow Antiracist Baby's nine easy steps for building a more equitable world. 
 
With bold illustrations and thoughtful, yet playful, text, Antiracist Baby introduces the youngest readers and the grown ups in their lives to the concept and power of antiracism. Providing the language necessary to begin critical conversations at the earliest age, Antiracist Baby is the perfect gift for readers of all ages dedicated to forming a just society. 
 
This edition includes additional discussion prompts to help readers recognise and reflect on bias in their daily lives.

Take your first steps with Antiracist Baby! Or, rather, follow Antiracist Baby's nine easy steps for building a more equitable world. 
 
With bold illustrations and thoughtful, yet playful, text, Antiracist Baby introduces the youngest readers and the grown ups in their lives to the concept and power of antiracism. Providing the language necessary to begin critical conversations at the earliest age, Antiracist Baby is the perfect gift for readers of all ages dedicated to forming a just society. 
 
This edition includes additional discussion prompts to help readers recognise and reflect on bias in their daily lives.

A Journal for Awareness, Reflection and Action

Be Antiracist

Being antiracist is not something you are. It is something we do. 
 
 In his global, game-changing bestseller How To Be An Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Centre for Antiracist Research at Boston University, showed that when it comes to racism, neutrality is not an option: until we become part of the solution, we can only be part of the problem. Crucially, it requires 'persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism and regular self-examination'. 
 
 In this workbook he uses his extraordinary gifts as a teacher to provide the reader with a series of activities, exercises and reflections to help them do this vital work, to cultivate an instinctive awareness of racism in all its forms and to take the action necessary to promote racial equity in the world around them. 
 
 He asks us to reflect on our thinking around race through prompts including 'Describe the most racist moment of your life,', 'Have you ever been hesitant to use the R-word? Why?' and 'What does resistance mean to you?' helping us understand that the heartbeat of anti-racism is confession. It is self-reflection. 
 
 The heart of racism is denial. It is refusing to self-reflect. 
 
 'Transformative and revolutionary' Robin DiAngelo, bestselling author of White Fragility 
 
 'Gives us the tools to make changes in our own life and society' June Sarpong

One of the US's most respected scholars of race and history... Kendi's argument is brilliantly simple

Transformative and revolutionary ... offers us a necessary and critical way forward

Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility (on How To Be an Antiracist)

June Sarpong, author of Diversify (on How To Be an Antiracist)

Vital and hopeful ... 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

Lord Herman Ouseley, former Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality and of Kick It Out (on How To Be an Antiracist)

Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want to Talk About Race (on How To Be an Antiracist)

Leslie Thomas, QC (on How To Be an Antiracist)

In this interactive workbook, one of the world's leading experts in antiracism, Ibram X. Kendi, author of the global bestseller How To Be an Antiracist, provides a series of questions, written exercises, quotes and provocations to help us absorb the key principles of antiracist behaviour and to embed them in our daily thoughts and actions. Kendi's powerful voice and gifts as a teacher combine with arresting graphic design to provide a vital tool for anyone who takes the necessity of being antiracist seriously. The journal can be used in groups as a teaching aid but is also ideal as a resource for individuals.

The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America: NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM

Stamped from the Beginning

Winner of the National Book Award; a gripping, comprehensive and game-changing reappraisal of the causes and extent of anti-Black racism

**NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM** 
 
Stamped from the Beginning is a redefining history of anti-Black racist ideas that dramatically changes our understanding of the causes and extent of racist thinking itself. 
 
Its deeply researched and fast-moving narrative chronicles the journey of racist ideas from fifteenth-century Europe to present-day America through the lives of five major intellectuals - Puritan minister Cotton Mather, President Thomas Jefferson, fiery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, brilliant scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary anti-prison activist Angela Davis - showing how these ideas were developed, disseminated and eventually enshrined in American society. 
 
Contrary to popular conception, it reveals that racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. Instead, they were devised and honed by some of the most brilliant minds of each era, including anti-slavery and pro-civil rights advocates, who used their gifts and intelligence wittingly or otherwise to rationalize and justify existing racial disparities in everything from wealth to health. 
Seen in this piercing new light, racist ideas are shown to be the result, not the cause, of inequalities that stretch back over centuries, brought about ultimately through economic, political, and cultural self-interest. 
 
In forcing us to reconsider our most basic assumptions about racism and also about ourselves, Stamped from the Beginning leads us to a true understanding on which to build a real foundation for change. 
 
**INCLUDED IN BARACK OBAMA'S BLACK HISTORY MONTH READING LIST**

Unusually original and groundbreaking ... Ibram X Kendi's brilliant book  ... has disturbed some readers because of the author's fearless reappraisal of the words, actions and philosophies of some of the more revered heroes of American abolitionism and civil rights -- including African American heroes ... Kendi remains awake to nuance and complexity [yet] this is not a historian fearful of upsetting orthodoxies or questioning fixed reputations. He goes where the evidence takes him, which is not to where we or we might want it to go ... a compelling if discomfiting thesis ... persuasive and powerful

Absorbing… This is a powerful, thought-provoking book that features a dizzying array of characters, deftly navigates complex intellectual terrain and draws on a wealth of evidence

A deep (and often disturbing) chronicling of how anti-black thinking has entrenched itself in the fabric of American society

Upends many commonly held beliefs about how racism works

You should read it for its arguments about what racism is, even if in the end you are not obliged to agree with all of them. Nor should you dodge it on the basis that you knew all this already -- like me, you almost certainly didn't ... It is remarkable how economic interest spawned a semi-millennium's worth of cod theorising, pseudo-science and vulgar abuse masquerading as fact

Stamped from the Beginning provides a lucid, accessible survey of how “the people” were racialised over 500 years… Kendi confidently re-evaluates the writings of many celebrated abolitionists and African-American heroes and concludes that racism often underpinned their strategies… Kendi’s most important insight might help rethink anti-racist activism… Stamped from the Beginning is an unyielding narrative of racist ideas, violence and harm

I can’t say whether Ibram X Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning will offend most white people (though I’m willing to bet it will offend some), but he damn sure names white supremacy for what it is… His research is exhaustive and his conclusions will surprise many

Stamped from the Beginning is a redefining history of anti-Black racist ideas that dramatically changes our understanding of the causes and extent of racist thinking itself. 
 
** Winner of the US National Book Award** 
 
Its deeply researched and fast-moving narrative chronicles the journey of racist ideas from fifteenth-century Europe to present-day America through the lives of five major intellectuals - Puritan minister Cotton Mather, President Thomas Jefferson, fiery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, brilliant scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary anti-prison activist Angela Davis - showing how these ideas were developed, disseminated and eventually enshrined in American society. 
 
Contrary to popular conception, it reveals that racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. Instead, they were devised and honed by some of the most brilliant minds of each era, including anti-slavery and pro-civil rights advocates, who used their gifts and intelligence wittingly or otherwise to rationalize and justify existing racial disparities in everything from wealth to health. Seen in this piercing new light, racist ideas are shown to be the result, not the cause, of inequalities that stretch back over centuries, brought about ultimately through economic, political and cultural self-interest. 
 
Stamped from the Beginning offers compelling new answers to some of the most troubling questions of our time. In forcing us to reconsider our most basic assumptions about racism and also about ourselves, it leads us to a true understanding on which to build a real foundation for change. 
 
**INCLUDED IN BARACK OBAMA'S BLACK HISTORY MONTH READING LIST**

Ibram X. Kendi

One of the US's most respected scholars of race and history

Our most trusted voice on antiracism reveals the critical role of parents, caregivers, and teachers in fostering either racist or antiracist attitudes in all children. Rendered intimate with stories from his own childhood and his parenting journey, Ibram X. Kendi once again lights the way. This book is as compassionate as it is cogent and timely

Julie Lythcott-Haims, New York Times bestselling author of How to Raise an Adult

Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility, on How To Be an Antiracist

Combines Kendi's personal experience as a parent with his scholarly expertise in showing how racism affects every step of a child's life ... Like all his books, this one is accessible to everyone regardless of race or class. Read it."

LA Times, “10 books to add to your reading list in June”

The New York Times on How To Be an Antiracist

June Sarpong, author of Diversify, on How To Be an Antiracist

Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want to Talk About Race, on How To Be an Antiracist

Kendi lays out an antiracism plan for caregivers in this knockout combination of memoir and parenting guide... Kendi succeeds marvelously in connecting the personal to the systemic, showing how structural inequalities have personal costs-"Who knows how much potential racism has buried?" This will be an invaluable resource for any parent or teacher who want to set kids on the path to antiracism early

The National Book Award-winning author uses his own life to illustrate the need for anti-racist policy and practices in American schools and homes...The author's vulnerability about his own parenting mistakes and schooling mishaps clarify racist structures with empathy, clarity, and hope for change... an excellent introduction to how racism impacts children across the life span. A useful anti-racist memoir about how anti-racism can make the world safer for all children

Both memoir and call to action, Kendi's insightful book rightly encourages the critical thinking all adults need to engage the children they love in the most essential conversations about racism. Don't fool yourself, silence is not a helpful strategy! If you want to raise empowered, antiracist children, read this book, take a deep breath, and start talking!

Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations About Race

The littlest human being can learn to be an antiracist. Antiracist parenting is imperative, as white supremacists are recruiting on the internet daily; parents need to be proactive by developing the skills and language to understand the parenting journey of antiracism. With love and vulnerability, and the remarkable brilliance we have now come to expect in his books, Kendi walks us through this journey. No matter where you are as an antiracist parent or the age of your child, this book is for you

Bettina Love, author of We Want to do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom

FROM THE GLOBAL MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

How do we talk to our children about racism? 
 
How do we teach children to be antiracist? How are kids at different ages experiencing race? How are racist structures impacting children? How can we inspire our children to avoid our mistakes, to be better, to make the world better? 
 
These are the questions Ibram X. Kendi found himself avoiding as he anticipated the birth of his first child. Like most parents or parents-to-be, he felt the reflex to not talk to his child about racism, which he feared would stain her innocence and steal away her joy. But research into the scientific literature, his experiences as a father and reflections on his own difficult experiences as a student ultimately changed his mind. 
 
In How to Raise an Antiracist Kendi shows that we must all participate in the effort to raise young people as antiracists.

Ibram X. Kendi

Praise for How To Raise an Antiracist

One of the US's most respected scholars of race and history

Our most trusted voice on antiracism reveals the critical role of parents, caregivers, and teachers in fostering either racist or antiracist attitudes in all children. Rendered intimate with stories from h ...

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

One of the US's most respected scholars of race and history

Our most trusted voice on antiracism reveals the critical role of parents, caregivers, and teachers in fostering either racist or antiracist attitudes in all children. Rendered intimate with stories from h ...

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

One of the US's most respected scholars of race and history

Our most trusted voice on antiracism reveals the critical role of parents, caregivers, and teachers in fostering either racist or antiracist attitudes in all children. Rendered intimate with stories from h ...

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

Books by Ibram X. Kendi

Series by Ibram X. Kendi

How To Be An Antiracist

Articles featuring Ibram X. Kendi

Ibram X. Kendi defines what it means to be an antiracist

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