How to Be an Antiracist

Summary, part 2

Chapters 5–8

Chapter 5: Ethnicity

Ethnic racism: A powerful collection of racist policies that lead to inequality between racialized ethnic groups and are substantiated by racist ideas about racialized ethnic groups

Ethnic antiracism: A powerful collection of antiracist policies that lead to equity between racialized ethnic groups and are substantiated by antiracist ideas about racialized ethnic groups

Kendi recalls fond memories of how his majority Black classmates in elementary school would joke around and pick on each other. For Kwame, a popular kid, jokes directed at him were largely about his Ghanian ethnicity. Ethnic racism began with slave traders preferring certain Africans to others, which in Kendi's peer group manifested with jokes about how Africans sold their ancestors down the river.

This memory, however, is anachronistic because, at the time, Africans did not think racially. The U.S. government also practices ethnic racism with their preference for white immigrants (see President Donald Trump referring to certain countries as "shithole countries”).

Chapter 6: Body

Bodily racist: One who perceives certain racialized bodies as more animal-like and violent than others

Bodily antiracist: One who perceives  bodies in a humanizing, deracializing, and individualizing nonviolent and violent behavior

Racists see the Black body as one with a proclivity for violence, one that is more harmful, one that requires extra force when being handled. By having a Black body, you are armed even if you are unarmed.

Unarmed Black bodies are twice as likely to be killed than unarmed white bodies. Racist policies like the 1994 Crime Bill, ideas of 'law and order' and 'welfare criminals' targeted Black people, particularly Black men like Kendi and a kid named Smurf.

Kendi recounts incidents of Smurf on a bus, who would threaten people with the gun he had in his pocket. Kendi was afraid of Smurf but would say nothing; he was scared of the Black body, and the White body was scared of him. Kendi taught himself how to keep safe and keep racist cops from getting nervous around him. In doing so, this made him internalize racist fear and racist ideas of the Black body.

Chapter 7: Culture

Cultural racist: One who is creating a cultural standard and imposing a cultural hierarchy among racial groups

Cultural antiracist: One who is rejecting cultural standards and equalizing cultural differences among racial groups

The Holocaust marginalized biological racism and put cultural racism at the forefront. Whoever makes the cultural standard makes the cultural hierarchy.

Examples of cultural racism include the expectation that Black students would perform worse in school and the freshness in Black culture – which Kendi exemplifies with how meticulously Black urban youth take care of sneakers and sneaker culture – was seen as symbols of delinquency and thuggery. An example of cultural antiracism includes the acknowledgment of Ebonics (i.e., African-American Vernacular English) as a second language in Oakland schools.

Although Kendi was himself a believer in multiculturalism who opposed racist ideas that belittled the cultures of urban Black people, he also ridiculed non-urban Blacks. In doing so, he racialized another group’s culture as inferior and articulated cultural racism.

Chapter 8: Behavior

Behavioral racist: One who is making individuals responsible for the perceived behavior of racial groups and making racial groups responsible for the behavior of individuals

Behavioral antiracist: One who is making racial group behavior fictional and individual behavior real

Behavioral racism makes the actions of individuals define the racial group and vice versa. For example, Black students feel the need to perform exceptionally to do their racial group justice, but White students do not have to do the same. Antiracism separates ideas about culture (i.e., group tradition) from ideas about behavior (i.e., traits of individuals who happen to belong in a group).

Examples of behavioral racism include the oppression-inferiority thesis, which is the idea that oppression degrades the behavior of the oppressed. This manifested with post-traumatic slave syndrome, but Kendi says there is a thin line between saying Black people are individuals who have faced trauma versus saying Blacks are a traumatized peoples. Another example of behavioral racism is the perceived academic achievement gap. 

The idea that Black students perform poorly because of Black behavior does not recognize how academic success is often determined not by ability or intelligence, but by access to resources such as tutors and quality education.