I just finished Dr. Kendi’s phenomenal book, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. In the book, Kendi makes three distinct schools of thought regarding race obvious: segregation, assimilation, and antiracist. Segregationists seek to separate the races. Assimilationists seek to force non-white races to take on white culture as their own. Antiracists see that race is a false construct bolstered by racism and bad science. Antiracists seek to eliminate the disparities between racial groups to create an egalitarian society.

Dr. Kendi explores the ideas of segmentation, assimilation, and antiracism throughout American history through five individuals: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis.

Kendi concludes by discussing the antiracist goal of eliminating disparities between racial groups. Historically, antiracists have sought to use moral suasion, uplift, and education to encourage Americans to pursue the elimination of racial disparities. These strategies have failed. As in his other work, Kendi concludes that Antiracist political power must be used to eliminate racist policies and create antiracist policies in the interest of creating a more egalitarian society.

I wish I knew how to build antiracist power.