After my work book club's first selection for a discussion about diversity, equity, and inclusion was a book by a white man that was not at all about diversity, equity, and inclusion, they gave it another shot. I was honestly – pleasantly – surprised that How to Be an Antiracist was chosen and I'm very curious to see how our discussion goes tomorrow.
I was an African-American/Africana Studies major in college, studying first at Oberlin in 1994-95; then at Syracuse in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1996; and finally at Rutgers, where I earned my degree, in 2003-2004. I mention this to say that I've read a lot of literature on this topic, but also that my reading in this area is at least a little outdated.
It probably shouldn't have been, but the concept of structural racism was eye-opening to me when I read Black Power as an 19-year-old. I've long believed that structural racism is the central problem in the U.S., and if anything my belief has only gotten firmer in recent years. Relatedly, I also tend to think it's not that useful to label individual people as racists (it's not that I think it's a taboo word, but that I don't think it's very productive). In saying that I believe using the term "racist" isn't productive, it's not that I give credence to the racists and accept that calling someone racist is a step too far, it's that I've generally thought it's not individual people who needed to be fixed; but rather it's the structures that perpetrate and perpetuate racism that need to be repaired.
I will admit: this book changed my thinking. Kendi's ideas aren't a radical departure from the ideas of structural racism, but he deliberately chooses to use different words and – critically – he implicates the people behind those structures for the racist policies they uphold. Kendi's focus on changing policies first and trusting that racist beliefs will fall away later strikes me as absolutely the only answer. And honestly, the idea that change needs to come before everyone is ready for it first isn't exactly new (something in this book put the line, "You keep on saying 'Go slow'" from Nina Simon's "Mississippi Goddam" in my mind), but Kendi's understanding of the role of power – and who has it – was very new to me. He says, "The most effective protests create and environment whereby changing the racist policy becomes in power's self-interest."
It was in the second half of the chapter called "Black," about halfway through the book, that I really felt I started to understand the definition of racism that Kendi was using. In this chapter, he addresses the idea that Black people can't be racist. This formulation, he suggests, says that Black people have no power; that no Black people have power. But some Black people (and plenty of non-Black people) do have power – some have a small degree of power, and some have a great degree – and choose to use it in ways that perpetuate racism rather than equity. He goes into his reassessment of structural racism at even greater length in the second from the last chapter, "Success," and those two sections really made the book for me.
The other thing that this book does that is new is the way it defines racism and antiracism as, essentially, situational. They are action-related I don't feel the need to expand on this, because it's the thing that's mentioned in basically every review and I recalled it from when I heard Kendi interviewed on Morning Edition when the book was released, but I will say it's a good frame. It puts us on the hook for our actions and our words, but also big chunks of this book are personal anecdotes where Kendi shares his own wrong, sometimes racist, thinking. The reader who is probably occasionally cringing at their own past thinking, actions, and words, may feel a sense of empathy from the author.
There are a couple things I didn't love about this book, but I don't think they're worth dwelling on. I honestly don't think I would have read this if it hadn't been selected for my office book club, so I'm very glad they chose it and put me in the position of feeling like I had to read it.
