Stamped From the Beginning, Ibram X. Kendi

Stamped From the Beginning:  The definitive history or racist ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi was on an anti-racist list (Dr. Clint Smith on Pod Save The People) provided in response to the George Floyd protests.

Started: 6/28/2020

Completed: 7/4/2020

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

Recommended By: Dr. Clint Smith

Review:

This book uses the mechanism of following several individuals over time in order to bring the experience of those individuals  and provide a personal feeling to the history.  I think that this is very important in order for people to view events of a time from those who lived at that time.  The weakest of these is Angela Davis who ties the Birmingham Church bombing to President Obama.  Unlike Mather, Jefferson, or Du Bois, Davis is not at the heart of anti-racism, she seems to be in the mix, but not, herself, a leader.  It is probably too difficult to pick a single individual in the time frame to try and characterize the moment or provide a foil through which to view it.

White supremacy is clearly identified.  I think it is more important, however, that Kendi spells out what an Anti-Racist is.  He realistically argues and demonstrates that these labels are fluid and no one person embodies all of the characteristics all the time.  This realistic point of view is very different from my history classes where someone was a certain label.  The label was undermined when even a casual look at the individual revealed pieces inconsistent with the label (Hitler loved his dogs and had a mistress whom he seemed to love--this flies in the face of him being evil incarnate  unless you realize that Hitler can be evil even though he may have done some good things).  Kendi offers a more nuanced look at racists and forces everyone to consider how to turn their own racism into anti-racism.

Personally, I found uplift suasion compelling for a long time.  As I met more and more Black people who were exceedingly capable and in many cases much smarter then I, I lost the idea that Black was different by virtue of being black.  I thought that if this was the way I thought, then surely it was the way others thought, so uplift suasion would be compelling (White people just needed to go meet some Black people).  I never, ever thought that if it would be compelling, it would have already worked.  White people have had many generations to be persuaded and have not been--I should have known that since I didn't walk in the door seeing all people as equal, my parents and society did not.  Racism is nurtured, not nature.  We need immediate equality.

Freedom is not a constrained resource.  In that way, it is like love.  If society doles out freedom to all, freedom does not become less available when someone else gets some.  Freedom does not deplete when it is shared.  Like love, a society which enhances freedom becomes better.  A society that diminishes freedom becomes worse.