Book Review - How To Be An Antiracist
Since the tragic, and completely avoidable murder of George Floyd at the hands of (or more specifically the knee of) a police officer in America, there has been a renewed focus on systemic racism, inequality, and police brutality in the public consciousness. This led to an increase in the visibility of public protests around the world and in the UK. A question which has come up more and more, particularly from white people who may have been somehow unaware of the injustices BAME people face every day, has been how or where can I educate myself on this subject? One good starting point would be the 2019 book ‘How To Be An Antiracist’ by Ibram X. Kendi.
How To Be An Antiracist is part memoir, part examination of the origins of racism as it exists today, and part call to action on combating it. Kendi traces the birth of racism going into some deep dives in history, and while it is largely done from an American perspective, at its core the book presents arguments that are equally applicable to the UK. He uses his examination of history to show that race as a concept, and racism as we know it today, is only around 600 years old. He says the ordering of people into a hierarchy of racism has no real basis in any genetic difference or superiority or inferiority of any race. Kendi argues throughout the book that racism is a power construct, showing it first emerging as a defence of the slave trade as it first developed, and grew into the economic backbone of the American South in particular. Kendi describes the way this concept grew and spread to cover the world as akin to a cancer growing and spreading throughout the body, using his own experience with stage 4 colon cancer. Importantly, Kendi also believes it’s a cancer which can be treated and removed with effective antiracist action and policy.
The central argument of the book is that we need to redefine what is and is not racist. To Kendi “racist” is not a pejorative term as many consider it, but is merely a descriptor. A person, action, or policy is either racist or antiracist. There is no such thing as being “not a racist” as many people have and continue to argue, particularly when being called out for their own racism. A person, action, or policy is either actively antiracist, or they are racist with no in between. He eschews terms like unconscious bias, or colourblindness with the argument being that racism is so widespread and deeply rooted in society that living in it without pushing back or turning a blind eye is an act of racism itself, as it is tacitly allowing racism to continue unchallenged. To let the cancer of racism, as Kendi puts it, continue to spread unchecked is effectively to enable it. This is in opposition to the more widespread definition of racism that exists where in order for someone to be racist there needs to be a kind of malicious feeling or hate within them. This more nebulous definition of racism has allowed a kind of get out of racism loophole where people can claim “I’m not racist I have black friends”, or “I’m not racist. I have an Asian partner” to give but a couple of examples while in the same breath doing or saying racist things. It’s how Donald Trump can claim he isn’t racist while calling Latino people rapists, or supporting birth conspiracies around Barack Obama. Feelings, or what is in a person’s heart doesn’t matter, what matters is what a person does and doesn’t do and the affect that has on people and on society.
When Kendi writes about his past and his life, he doesn’t let himself off the hook in this regard. He has clearly undergone a lot of self-reflection and is open and honest about how he himself has been racist. He opens the book writing about how in his youth in particular he believed and espoused anti-black ideas along the lines of respectability politics. He writes about how as a teenager he gave a speech in a competition which was filled with rhetoric about how young black people need to work harder in order to succeed, with the implication being that he isn’t one of those lazy, responsibility shirking young black people. To the young Kendi the injustices black people face in society are the fault of a black youth who need to buckle down and pull themself up by their bootstraps. The older Kendi writing this book clearly considers the fact that he thought this way, and that he gave this speech was a source of shame and embarrassment. As the book continues, he talks about how as a college student after the 2000 election and the contentious (to put it mildly) election of George W. Bush, he harboured hate and racist ideas around white people. Again the present day Kendi shows disapproval and shame at how he previously thought. The implication here is that in order to be truly antiracist we who are reading, also need to do the work of real and deep introspection. We need to take a critical eye towards ourselves, to our own pasts, and an honest look at our thoughts and feelings regarding race and how it intersects with the many aspects of society. Holding ourselves under the microscope like this can be an uncomfortable process, particularly for those of us who had convinced ourselves that we weren’t racist.
According to Kendi, this is equally the case for BAME people as it is for white people. He outright rejects the idea that black people can’t be racist due to a lack of structural, and institutional power. He argues that while black people specifically don’t have anywhere near as much power as white people, they are not completely powerless. He points to America’s 11 black billionaires, and 380,000 black millionaire families, as well as black judges, academics, police officers, and elected officials to give but a few examples. The argument that if you aren’t actively antiracist you are racist is extended to all equally here. If they aren’t actively using their power to push for antiracist policies, then they are part of the problem.
If there is a drawback to this racist/antiracist binary it can be seen here. It doesn’t seem to take into account the pressures that exist for individuals to conform to the white supremacist status quo. Colin Kapernick would be a high profile example of the risk a person can take here. His non-violent protest against police brutality was met with wilful ignorance, and outright hostility from certain sections of the public, and resulted in his being excluded from the NFL. While he decided that was a risk he was willing to take others may not, or may not be in a position where they can weather that storm.
To conclude this piece, Kendi moves systematically through different aspects of society showing how racism impacts on and intersects with each. He includes chapters focused on power, ethnicity, culture, colour, class, space, gender, and sexuality to give a few examples. While there is too much to cover in the span of a mere review without it turning into a book report he takes each aspect in turn using the one two punch of historical perspective, and his own lived in experience as a black man growing up and living in America. He does an effective job showing how the cancer of racism is far reaching, self-perpetuating, and destructive to everyone in society no matter what demographic a person may fall into. Speaking as a white man writing this review I can say this book has made for uncomfortable reading at times, and has made me reflect on myself as I have felt its uncompromising gaze fall upon me. Ultimately that is the strength of this book, while educating and illuminating the reader it also actively pushes us to look inwards, as well as outwards and if we don’t like what we see, challenges us to do what we can about it.