How to Be an Antiracist

Introduction: Choosing to Be Antiracist

Growing up as a preacher’s son in Northern Virginia, Ibram X. Kendi often felt the weight of expectations he could not quite meet. He struggled with a low grade point average and modest test scores, feeling intellectually inferior to his high-achieving peers. This personal sense of inadequacy eventually bled into his view of his own community. He began to believe that if he was struggling, and if other Black youth were struggling, the problem must lie within the people themselves. This cycle of thinking is a common trap where racist ideas lead people of color to think less of themselves, which in turn makes them more susceptible to believing those very same ideas.

This internal struggle reached a climax during a high school oratorical contest held in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Standing before a large audience, Kendi delivered a speech that he now recalls with deep shame. He used the platform to lecture Black youth, accusing them of not valuing education and of being responsible for their own hardships. At the time, he thought he was being a leader, but he later realized he was merely repeating harmful stereotypes. He did not yet understand that claiming something is wrong with a specific racial group is the very definition of a racist idea.

The tendency to blame people rather than the policies that shape their lives is the core function of racism. Many people claim to be not racist as a way to signal neutrality, but in the struggle for equality, there is no middle ground. A racist either endorses the idea of a racial hierarchy or allows racial inequities to continue through inaction. An antiracist, by contrast, views all racial groups as equals and actively works to identify and dismantle the policies that create inequality.

In the winter of 1970, a transformative event took place at a student conference that would eventually shape the lives of Kendi’s parents. A preacher named Tom Skinner challenged the audience to rethink their understanding of Christianity, arguing that any religious message ignoring poverty and systemic injustice was not a true gospel. This message of Black liberation theology provided a new lens for Kendi’s parents, who embraced a mission of liberation rather than trying to fix Black people. This redefined their core identity, illustrating that to change the world, we must first clearly define the terms of our existence and the goals we are working toward.

To navigate the complexities of race, we must use precise definitions rather than vague concepts. Racism is the marriage of policies and ideas that create and normalize racial inequity. Equity exists when different racial groups stand on relatively equal footing in society, such as having similar rates of homeownership or health outcomes. A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains this inequality, while an antiracist policy actively creates or maintains equality.

Choosing to be an antiracist is not a one-time decision or a permanent label. It is a continuous process of self-examination and action that changes based on what we are doing in any given moment. Because we have been conditioned to see human differences through a lens of fear or hierarchy, choosing to see and treat all groups as equals requires a radical reorientation of how we think and act. It is a persistent commitment to identifying and dismantling the policies that keep us apart.