Introduction
In the 2019 nonfiction book, “How to Be an Antiracist,” Kendi, an American author and historian, incorporates social criticism and narrative. The book deliberates Kendi’s ideas for antiracist specific acts and institutional changes. He recounts his growing notion of racial prejudice over his life proceedings, stirring on experiences and observations as an infant, young adult, pupil, and lecturer, from courses he trained via current proceedings (Kendi 10). Kendi demonstrates how racism manifests itself in various ways, including scientific racism and colorism (Adams 201). These manifestations are linked to other demographics such as class, gender, and sexuality, implying that prejudice is entrenched in class and status. Instead of being the exception, Kendi claims that antiracism is the antithesis of racism. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to combating racism; one must either actively combat or allow racial inequity to exist by action or inaction.
Kendi used to hold stereotypes around black individuals, including that black adolescents place a low value on education and avoid “appearing black” by wearing colored contact lenses. Kendi concludes by proposing antiracist individual and collective (policy) action strategies. He gives an example of racial prejudice as an illness to argue for societal-wide “therapies” such as stopping racist rules (as if it were a tumor). Other Kendi’s examples include “trying to exercise” antiracist suggestions, intense “good food for thought,” and being watchful against racism “until it can develop and endanger the political class” (Adams 200). Rather than providing a how-to manual, Kendi utilizes his experience to show how to shift one’s focus from the individual to the structural when dealing with racial issues. Antiracism is vital since it necessitates ongoing self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination.
Creating an Antiracist Society
An antiracist promotes antiracist strategies by their activities or expressing an antiracist thought. Antiracism means becoming aware of and acknowledging inequity and disparities that provide white persons or other racial groups with material rewards over individuals of color (Ruiz). Positive discrimination in college entrance fees, for example, is antiracist since it attempts to remedy previous racial prejudice. Racist policies are promoted by racists “through their movements or omissions, or by articulating a racist viewpoint. Once individuals have observed racial unfairness, they should consider whether their attitudes, beliefs, or voting patterns have justified it. For instance, an individual who avoids sending a child to a predominantly black school affects the views on discipline and charter schools intertwined with race and racism. Anyone, irrespective of nationality, can be chauvinistic when they make dangerous assumptions about total populations based on what he considers to be racism throughout his life.
People can confront the odds, reconcile the civilization of discrimination, and generate an antiracist culture by avoiding implicit bias, understanding racist definitions, stopping saying “I’m not racist,” identifying racial disparities and inequities, confronting racist ideas, championing antiracist opinions, and understanding how antiracism requires being intersectional. Conversations regarding racism frequently deteriorate because participants are unable to define the term. Kendi describes racists as individuals who support racist guidelines through their acts or omissions or express racist concepts, encouraging the reader to take responsibility for their thoughts and actions (Ruiz). “I am not racist” is not enough because it is usually a self-serving declaration. According to Kendi, instinctively identifying oneself as not chauvinistic or beyond prejudice’s grip makes it unbearable to understand how their opinions, attitudes, and behaviors could be prejudiced.
Being an antiracist requires accepting and articulating antiracist perspectives and attitudes beyond the “not racist” defense. So, a person is a white liberal who claims to be an “antiracist” but refuses to send their child to local public schools because most of the students are black; they have made a discriminatory decision. The antiracist approach entails enrolling children in school and comprehending inequities and injustices that affect that school to battle the disparities and inequities that affect that school (Ruiz). Racism causes racial unfairness and inequality in every element of life, both private and public, which can be seen in politics, universal healthcare, criminology, schooling, money, work, and homeownership, to name a few.
Because race is linked to many features of people’s individualities, including sexuality, gender, and ethnicity, an intersectional approach to antiracism is necessary. One cannot endeavor to be an antiracist without taking accomplishments (Ruiz). According to Kendi, one means to take action is to support local administrations that fight laws that cause racial injustice. People can assist these organizations by volunteering or making a financial donation. Kendi encourages people to utilize their power or seek influence to change discriminatory rules in any location where they occur, such as school, government, and work to obligate to taking action to help change discriminatory policies.
Insults, biases, or negative words or acts are frequently used in these ostentatious displays of racism. Institutionalized racism happens within a company and is discriminatory racial practices, unfair regulations, or biased procedures that lead to inequitable results for whites and persons of color that go far beyond hatred. These institutional practices aim to create advantages, yet they rarely specify racial groups. The overall system of racial bias in organizations and society is known as structural racism. These systems provide white people advantages, putting people of color at a disadvantage. Nobody is naturally an antiracist or a racist; prejudice and radical egalitarianism result from human choices (Ruiz). Racial separatism results from a continuous commitment to making equitable, fair, and high quality. These choices need ongoing self-awareness and contemplation to create an antiracist community as people go through existence.
Importance of Hope to Kendi’s Antiracist Movement
Hope is central to the antiracist movement Kendi envisions since it ensures individuals wish for positive outcomes that will advance their lives by making antiracists more acceptable. In the long run, hope can improve people’s lives because visualizing a happier tomorrow motivates them to find the necessary steps to achieve this result. Because people have wish lists, optimism is a component of everyone’s existence (“Why Is Hope So Important? | Understand the Deeper Meaning of Hope”). It is an aspect of the personality of people’s beings that goes through people’s thoughts, and it assists them in figuring out whatever they want for their destiny. Even though race does not exist biologically, how people relate to it has a significant impact on their lives. In a culture that prioritizes white people, racist ideas are acknowledged as the norm in the media, culture, welfare structures, and organizations (“Why Is Hope So Important? | Understand the Deeper Meaning of Hope”). Racist philosophies have historically rationalized the exploitation and suppression of racial minorities, such as enslavement, internment, and segregation.
Hope enables people to believe eliminating individual insolences and actions can play vital roles in subsidizing societal division. While individual movements can be damaging, racist proposed policies can have vast effects by endangering the integrity of the organizations and structures. Hope motivates everyone to agree to make appropriate choices and be antiracists to achieve an equitable community (“Why Is Hope So Important? | Understand the Deeper Meaning of Hope”). Being an antiracist entails fighting racism, which comes in numerous forms and can be typically applied in unification with each other manifestation to preserve racist beliefs, behaviors, and strategies. Racism can be classified into the following categories: individual and institutionalized racism. Individual racism focuses on individuals’ ideas, attitudes, and behaviors who actively or passively support or propagate racism. The sociocultural context of racism in America emphasizes unfair discrimination rather than institutional racism.
Conclusion
When persons do not adopt antiracist decisions, they (un)consciously perpetuate characteristics of white predominance, white culture governance, and unequal institutions and civilization. Whether a person is biased is what they do and not who they represent. Antiracism is a radical choice in the face of history that necessitates a dramatic shift in consciousness. People become more conscious of racial issues in their daily lives and calculate efforts to rectify racial unfairness when people prefer to remain antiracists. Becoming an antiracist is acknowledging that racism exists and affects everybody because humans have the potential to address it. Antiracism for white individuals is not the same as antiracism for racial minorities. Becoming an antiracist entails acknowledging how individuals of color have internalized racial issues. Racial minorities can take action by confronting ingrained white superiority and interrupting bias against other races. It is a continuous practice and practice for everyone.
Works Cited
“Why Is Hope So Important? | Understand the Deeper Meaning of Hope”. Hope Grows, 2022, Web.
Adams, Tessa L. “How to Be an Antiracist. By Ibram X. Kendi.” (2021): 199-201.
Kendi, Ibram X. How to be an antiracist. One world, 2019.
Ruiz, Rebecca. “6 Ways to Be Antiracist, Because Being ‘Not Racist’ Isn’t Enough”. Mashable, 2020, Web.