“In a
racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist,
we must be
anti-racist.”
-- Angela
Y. Davis, American political activist and academic
Being an anti-racist
involves the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by
changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices
and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably.
“Anti-racism” is defined as the practice of
identifying, challenging, and changing the values, structures and
behaviors that perpetuate systemic racism.
Ibram X. Kendi, founding
director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center and professor
of history and international relations at American University,
explains the difference in response to racism by a “non-racist”
and an “antiracist”:
“The term non-racist,
has really historically been a term of denial. Meaning, it’s
someone who is expressing racist ideas, or supporting racist
policies, and when charged with being racist, they typically say,
'No, I’m not racist.'
“While antiracist
has a very clear conception of what it is – meaning if racist ideas
suggest racial hierarchy, antiracist ideas suggest racial equality.
And if racist policies lead to racial inequity, antiracist policy
leads to racial equity.”
(Zenobia Jeffries
Warfield. “How to Be an Antiracist: A Conversation With Ibram X.
Kendi.” Yes Solutions Journalism. 25, 2019.)
Note: Keni is one
of America’s foremost historians and leading anti-racist voices. He
is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and the Founding Director
of The Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University
in Washington, DC.
A professor of history and
international relations, Kendi is a contributor at The Atlantic and
CBS News. He is the author of The Black Campus Movement,
which won the W.E.B. Du Bois Book Prize, and Stamped From the
Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas In America,
which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2016. At 34 years
old, Kendi was the youngest ever winner of the NBA for Nonfiction. He
grew up dreaming about playing in the NBA (National Basketball
Association), and ironically he ended up joining the other NBA.
Kendi had become ever more
convinced that racism,
not race,
was the central force in American history. He reached back to 1635 to
show how malleable racism could be. He wrote: “The preachers who
justified slavery used racist arguments, but so did many of the
abolitionists – the ubiquity of racism meant that no one was immune
to its seductive power, including black people.”
Kendi found statements as
reflections of a persistent but delusional idea that something is
wrong with black people. The only thing wrong, he maintained, was
racism, and the country’s failure to confront and defeat it. Kelefa
Sanneh of The New Yorker
explains …
“Kendi is convinced
that racism can be objectively identified, and therefore fought, and
one day vanquished. He argues that we should stop thinking of
'racist' as a pejorative, and start thinking of it as a simple
description, so that we can join him in the difficult work of
becoming antiracists.
“'One either endorses
the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist or racial equality as an
antiracist,' Kendi writes, adding that it isn’t possible to be
simply 'not racist.' He thinks that all of us must choose a side; in
fact, he thinks that we are already choosing, all the time.”
(Kelefa
Sanneh. The Fight to Redefine Racism. The New Yorker. August
19, 2019.)
Kendi points to the fact
that racist has a dictionary definition, one that should be applied
evenly to anyone, of any
race, who expresses racist ideas or who supports racist policies.
He contends that white
supremacists have won the rhetorical battle by successfully
positioning the term “racist” as a personal attack, that being
racist makes you a bad person. Kendi says …
“We should not be
saying this is who a person is. We should
be saying this is what a person is doing
in the moment. And the reason that’s critical
is because when you study the history of racist ideas and antiracist
ideas, you find the same person saying both racist and antiracist
ideas in the same book, in the same speech, in the same article. So
then, how would you define that person in a general sense?”
Racist power and policy
are the problems, not a group of people. Kendi says …
“It boils down to
this: If one thinks the fundamental racist problem in society is
'those bad people,' then one can essentially do nothing. But if
racism is bad policies, then you need a collective effort to change
those policies.
“Once we get over our
denial, and once we admit the ways in which we’ve consumed racist
ideas, then we next try to adopt antiracist ideas. There’s nothing
wrong with any racial groups."
(Katrina Schwartz. “How
Ibram X. Kendi's Definition of Antiracism Applies to Schools.”
KQED, PBS. December 18, 2019.)
By eliminating the space
between racist and antiracist, Kendi is calling on everyone who
considers themselves to be antiracist to back up those ideas with
actions that change policy. Of course, confronting racism can be very
difficult. Many people do not even want to consider how racism plays
out in their lives. "Americans want to heal America of racism
without pain. That’s impossible," Kendi said. There is no
middle ground for an antiracist.
Can white people really
give up their privilege and be okay with it? Giving it up means
whites would have to admit they have power and privilege by the mere
fact that their skin is pale.
Giving it up will make white
people truly sensitive to the issues of racism, classism, sexism, and
homophobia; however, most whites have not even acknowledged their
privilege.
And, God forbid a person
of color says or does anything to make white activists feel
uncomfortable. Many a white supporter has drawn lines of resistance
at the first signs of sacrifice. These people assume they know what
is good for people of color, and they want to be the deciders of any
change or reform. In short, they – the white majority – want to
be the doorkeepers who can close the necessary portals to equality
and justice at will.
On the other hand, guilt
can also allow whites to maintain the status quo. Guilt creates
paralysis, and then guilt transfers the responsibility for change to
people of color. Guilt continues the aspect of racism wherein white
people put people of color in a situation of taking care of them.
For white people learning
to become antiracists requires a re‐education process. Whites must
unlearn their thorough racist conditioning to re‐educate and
re‐condition themselves as antiracists. This is unfamiliar
territory for whites who are used to traditional roles. Part of
re‐tooling is replacing discarded patterns with new behaviors. This
often requires repeated attempts – whites must commit to a process
that requires self-sacrifice.
“I'm colorblind”
negates cultural values, norms, and expectations of people of color.
Saying you don't “see color” is also denying you “see” your
own whiteness. Saying so is a defense – it stifles progress. Why
would people mind that you notice they are black, brown, white, or
yellow? Color consciousness does not equal racism. We should respect
each color of the fabric that binds our nationality. As we do this,
we must also call out racist behaviors … of all people.
"To
be antiracist is to think nothing is behaviorally wrong or right –
inferior or superior – with any of the racial groups. Whenever the
antiracist sees individuals behaving positively or negatively, the
antiracist sees exactly that: individuals behaving positively or
negatively, not representatives of whole races. To be antiracist is
to deracialize behavior, to remove the tattooed stereotype from every
racialized body. Behavior is something humans do, not races do."
– Ibram
X. Kendi
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