How to Be an Antiracist

If I had to write about something, I would like least to write about tornadoes because I believe the research for that would be terrifying. But second up on that list would certainly be race in America. Not that I've read many on the subject, but Kendi does something I've never seen in a book about race in America. He writes not as if his readers are already grad students studying African American studies, nor does he write as if the reader is an active lawn cross arsonist. He writes as though the reader tries to be a good person in life but may not totally grasp the scale or complexities of racist policies. This tone is immediately refreshing. Additionally he takes the time to fully define terms we may even overuse, like “racist”. It's an extremely important maneuver because Kendi discusses policy solutions requiring racial equity rather than racial equality, in turn requiring definitions based on equality to be re-defined for equity. While the equity preference is not unique among racial scholars, or even liberal-arts students, the argument posited in the books is the best and only one adequately explaining why equality of opportunity is not enough and why, under Kendi's definitions, those are racist.

To be frank, the book did not flip my stance on what is right for black people and other minorities in America. Going to the same university as where professor Kendi teaches already introduced me to similar ideas. But those ideas are held up by mountains of source and support in quotes, statistics, studies, and even anecdotes. And although there are small gaps in that argument, Dr. Kendi does the best job I can imagine given the topic he grapples with.