Ibram X. Kendi founded the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, whose stated mission “is to convene and team up varied specialists to figure out novel and practical ways to understand, explain, and solve seemingly intractable problems of racial inequity and injustice.” Kendi’s new book, How to Be an Antiracist (One World, $27), is a continuation of both this project and his first book. While Stamped from the Beginning followed the lives of four historical individuals, Kendi here turns to autobiography to illustrate the unconscious pitfalls of racist thought, outlining a “how to” for gaining self-awareness of one’s own racist attitudes and thinking. Deploying history and political theory along with memoir, Kendi has devised a powerful tool for exploring the racism/antiracism dichotomy through multiple social dimensions, exposing the notion of a middle ground between them as an illusion. Whether you agree or disagree, Kendi’s ideas are bold and fresh, and sure to provoke discussion and self-reflection.
