How to be an antiracist, by Ibram Kendi

A critique

In his influential How to be an antiracist, Ibram Kendi begins with a series of definitions. A racist is “one who supports racist policy through their actions or inaction or who expresses a racist idea.”  Policy refers to “written and unwritten laws, procedures, processes, regulations, and guidelines”.  “Racist policy and racist policymakers” are the central agents of racism.  They constitute “racist power.”  “A racist idea is any idea that suggests one racial group is inferior or superior to another racial group in any way.”  Racism “is a marriage of racist policies and racist ideas that produces and normalizes racial inequities.”   Racial inequity “is when two or more racial groups are not standing on approximately equal footing,” exemplified by the fact that 71% of white families are homeowners, as against 41% of black families.  In contrast, racial equity is standing on relatively equal footing. 

     With these definitions, Kendi establishes a situation in which it is very diffic…