In this episode of ‘What Cha Readin?’ Dr. Anica gives her three takeaways from “Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America” by Ibram X. Kendi!
In this meticulously researched and fast-paced book, Kendi explores the full history of anti-Black racist ideologies and their astounding influence throughout American history. Stamped from the Beginning provides a window into the heated debates between assimilationists and segregationists as well as between racists and anti-racists through the lives of five significant American intellectuals.
As Kendi explains, racism did not develop out of ignorance or malice. In an effort to defend long-standing discriminatory laws and to explain away the country's racial disparities in everything from wealth to health, racist beliefs were developed and spread. While it is simple to create and accept racist ideas, they can also be refuted. This book provides tools to uncover racist notions and, in the process, offers reasons to be hopeful by revealing much-needed light on the obscure history of those beliefs.