A moving, powerful book that combines a precise theory of racism and antiracism with Mr. Kendi's personal life and evolution. Written with urgency and passion, the books peels the many layers of racist policies, ideas, and behaviors and how those make their ways into our lives.

I was expecting to read this book in Jan but it took a long time to become available. Reading it now couldn't be more timely. I really enjoyed the personal info Kendi intertwined w/ all the terms and factual information. This really is an excellent primer on how to be an Antiracist. Kendi grew up learning all the info he offers up. Could/should be considered required reading for everyone, has the potential to make our world more equal. It's not enough to be an antiracist individual. We all have to work to change the power, rules, laws that result in racism. That is the challenge.

How to Be an Antiracist is outstanding. I believe it to be required reading for any discussion of racism and white supremacy.
This book is incredibly authentic. There are the requisite facts and figures, and then there are the feelings that Kendi is not afraid to share. He is careful and considerate in the way he approaches each and every type of racist and segregationist policy, practice, and notion he confronts. He is brave and vulnerable enough to share his own past thoughts and experiences with societal conditioning. He does not shy away from confronting people and institutions that are perpetuating racism; nor does he let anyone off the hook. Kendi writes that being antiracist is something that we have to continue to do; it is not an identity that we arrive at or something that we achieve in a single moment. I really appreciate the forward motion of the book even as Kendi draws on successes and failures in the past. This is one book in a long line of excellent works that demonstrate how to be antiracist. I highly, highly recommend this book. 

Mr. Kendi previously wrote Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. While Stamped From the Beginning is long and comprehensive, How to Be an Antiracist is short and powerful. It could indeed be a textbook for a course in How to Be an Antiracist, and it is a very helpful resource for any individuals who want to understand what racism is and how to change it.

How to Be an Antiracist is also a personal story of the author’s journey and the evolution of his understanding about what racism is and what it is not. Readers of Stamped From the Beginning will recognize some of the lessons the author explained in that book. He does not flinch from criticizing his own earlier understandings (many of which were unknowingly racist), and it is clear that his own understanding of racism, and how to be an antiracist, is continuing to evolve.

Here is one insight that resonated with me:

A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups. An antiracist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial equity between racial groups.

Mr. Kendi notes, “There is no such thing as a nonracist or race-neutral policy. Every policy in every institution in every nation is either producing or sustaining either racial inequity or equity between racial groups.”

An intellectual history of racism coupled with Kendi's personal evolution on the topic. The book is a great way to learn more about racism and stretch your understanding about racism as a power construct. I wish he would have offered more on specific policies that should be addressed.

A useful and important survey of thinking about race and racism...as well as a memoir of Dr. Kendi's thought evolution on the topic. The idea that the useful opposite of racism is active antiracism and rather than the neutral, do-nothing not-a-racist is really useful and an important distinction in how we use language to discuss and create policy around issues related to race.

This book builds on the theory of racist ideas and racism that Kendi lays out in Stamped from the Beginning--that racist policies beget racist ideas to support them, not the other way around--in an exceedingly clear, thorough, and persuasive manner. Kendi also expounds on the three categories of racist, assimilationist, and anti-racist established in his earlier book, and incorporates the story of his own intellectual development as a person who unthinkingly accepted and promoted racist ideas, to someone who has struggled over time to rethink those ideas and arrive at an expansive understanding of anti-racism. Kendi also offers a clear-eyed prescription for anti-racist change, and makes a strong case for what constitutes effective protest and activism. It's concise, too. I get the sense that Kendi has put a lot of effort into presenting his ideas in as clear, direct, and boiled-down form as possible. Highly recommend this book.

A good look at how different systems intersect, and the different kinds of racism.

A good look at how systems intersect and the different kind of racism that can emerge. A good primer for solidarity.