Commentary: How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
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“Definitions anchor us in principles. This is not a light point: If we don’t do the basic work of defining the kind of people we want to be in language that is stable and consistent, we can’t work towards stable, consistent goals.”
I finally had the chance to read Ibram X. Kendi's celebrated work How to Be An Antiracist this month as the very first book for the Decolonize This Book Club that I facilitate here in Bend.
In each sentence of Kendi's exploration of race and racism, I found multiple opportunities to dive deeper into discussion with others. In moments of Kendi's own vulnerability, there unfolded moments for me to be vulnerable too-- to speak to experiences I am now ashamed of and to more deeply understand why I did it in the first place and why I should be ashamed. In moments of Kendi's own anger, there arose moments for me to feel my own anger too, however, for very different reasons. In moments of Kendi's self-questioning, there came moments for me to question myself. The questions that bubbled forth from the page and into my lap weren't attacks, rather, they were like talking to a close friend, the kind of friend who tells it like it is no matter what, but it's okay because you know it's true too, and that there is room to be better. A ceaseless give-and-take, this book offers a sustainable environment for continuous reflection, growth, and change.
This text sustains you if you let it.
I found Kendi's work to be one of the most nourishing texts I have read in a while; it fed me with each page turn. But there also came a moment when I was too full-- near bursting-- to absorb any more. And that's when the Decolonize This Book Club group became so important. We could digest together.
I could go on and on about all I learned from this book-- from the birth of capitalism and racism (conjoined twins, as Kendi calls them) to the simplicity of the racist-antiracist "peelable nametag" that we each wear and switch between every moment of every day without even realizing it. Kendi takes a notoriously complicated, hidden, and propagandistic historical web and turns it into something so clear. The quote at the top of this post reflects one of the things I loved about this book: Kendi's insistence on definitions.
At times, Kendi's continuous repetition of definitions could be misinterpreted as pedantic or academic, but, to me, it didn't feel like either of those things-- it felt magical like I was suddenly granted the power to understand the root of things, despite living within systems that actively seek to hide, censor, or destroy those roots. By seeking definitions that ground us in our principles and our values, Kendi revealed a shockingly invisible layer of racism-- shocking in that it seems so simple; how could we miss it? He revealed that few of us actually know the definitions of the words we use in conversations about race and oppression. Yet, without those definitions, we drift above the surface of the thing: we reach for understanding and for solutions without even recognizing that we will never reach them, as we orbit understanding like a satellite. With Kendi's help, we are grounded. Only then can we have even the slightest chance of touching upon something real.