I finally just finished @DrIbram's book. It's an extraordinary brilliant work of scholarship and literature presenting nearly 400 years of history, illuminating multiple sides to many moments and movements in US history beyond the "written by the victors" side we learn in school
I particularly appreciated the clear framework he provides through the concepts of segregationists vs assimilationists vs antiracists, showing the nuance and complexity of how many historical figures oscillated between these different ideas over time.
Another important point he emphasizes is that history is not a pendulum nor a two-steps-forward-one-step-back between antiracism and racism, but simultaneous progress of both antiracist ideas/policies and racist ideas/policies jockeying for power
In response to 'given how bad things were, isn't it how amazing how far we've come,' Dr. Kendi reminds us that this "purposefully sidesteps the present reality of racism." We can't take the easy ways out of looking only backward and forward but not addressing the present moment
Another striking concept is that racist ideas were not "started out of ignorance, so why would they go away out of knowledge?" ...An important reminder to ask ourselves what purpose does education serve if not to prepare us for educated action?
Despite the tragic, devastating history that @DrIbram recounts, he ends on a hopeful note seeming to presage our current moment of protest and hope for change, setting up the reader for How to be an Antiracistβa roadmap for how to go from awareness/education to action/impact.
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