How to be an Antiracist

02Follow the Power and the Policies

We often get the timeline of history entirely backward when trying to understand why human beings treat each other so poorly. A common assumption is that ignorance and fear naturally lead to hatred, which then results in the creation of discriminatory laws and systems. This narrative makes sense on the surface, but Ibram X. Kendi flips this historical script entirely upside down. He argues that racism did not begin with a misunderstanding or a spontaneous hatred of the unknown. It began with cold, calculated self-interest. To truly become an antiracist, we must stop chasing the symptoms of the disease and start following the money, the power, and the policies that created the disease in the first place. Kendi takes us on a fascinating historical journey back to the 15th century, introducing us to a man named Gomes Eanes de Zurara. Zurara was a Portuguese writer tasked with documenting the exploits of Prince Henry the Navigator, who had begun sponsoring expeditions to the western coast of Africa. During these expeditions, the Portuguese began kidnapping African people and bringing them back to Europe to be sold as slaves. Prince Henry needed a way to justify this brutal, lucrative new enterprise to the church and the public. He needed a brilliant public relations campaign. Zurara provided exactly that. In his chronicles, Zurara did not describe the kidnapped Africans as equal human beings; he described them as savage, animalistic, and entirely in need of Christian salvation. This is the exact moment, Kendi argues, that racist ideas were truly birthed. The ideas did not create the slave trade; the slave trade created the ideas. The sequence of events is incredibly important to understand. First comes the desire for extreme economic gain and power. Second comes the creation of a policy to secure that power—in this case, the transatlantic slave trade. Third, to justify the horrific policy, powerful people invent racist ideas to convince themselves and the public that the exploitation is righteous and necessary. Finally, the general public consumes these ideas, leading to widespread ignorance and hatred. Understanding this sequence is an absolute game-changer for anyone trying to fight inequality today. For decades, well-meaning activists have focused nearly all their energy on education and empathy. We host diversity workshops, we encourage people to read broad literature, and we try to change the hearts and minds of individuals. We operate under the belief that if we can just cure the ignorance, the unjust policies will naturally disappear. Kendi bluntly tells us that this strategy is doomed to fail. If powerful people are benefiting financially and politically from a discriminatory policy, no amount of empathy training will convince them to give up their power. We must attack the policies directly. What exactly does Kendi mean by a "policy"? He is not just talking about massive federal laws passed by Congress. A policy is any written or unwritten rule, procedure, or guideline that governs how a community, a workplace, or an institution operates. An antiracist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial equity between racial groups. A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity. It is a simple, profound, and mathematical definition. Intentions do not matter in the slightest. You can draft a policy with the purest, most loving intentions in the world, but if the outcome of that policy disproportionately harms a specific racial group, it is a racist policy. Consider the way public schools are funded in many parts of the United States. Schools are largely funded by local property taxes. This means that wealthy neighborhoods with expensive homes generate massive amounts of tax revenue, leading to incredibly well-funded schools with modern technology, highly paid teachers, and extensive extracurricular programs. Conversely, poorer neighborhoods with lower property values generate much less revenue, resulting in underfunded schools with crumbling infrastructure and fewer resources. Because of historical housing discrimination, marginalized groups are disproportionately concentrated in these lower-income areas. The property tax funding model is a policy. It is not written with explicit racial slurs, nor does it explicitly state that it wishes to harm marginalized children. Yet, the undeniable outcome of this policy is massive racial inequity in education. Therefore, according to Kendi's framework, funding schools primarily through local property taxes is a racist policy. To become an antiracist, we must train our brains to look past the smiling faces and the friendly mission statements of our institutions, and look directly at their outcomes. We have to start asking difficult, structural questions: Who benefits from this rule? Look deeply at the leadership boards, the hiring practices, and the promotion rates within your own workplace. Who is harmed by this procedure? Examine the disciplinary rates in local schools or the arrest rates in your city. Are we focused on intent or impact? When a policy is criticized, do the creators defend their good intentions, or do they immediately work to fix the harmful impact? Where is the money flowing? Follow the budget. A society or an organization's true priorities are never found in their press releases; they are found in their budgets. Kendi’s emphasis on policy is actually incredibly empowering. Trying to change the hidden prejudices in the hearts of eight billion people is an impossible, exhausting task. But analyzing a local housing ordinance, noticing that it creates inequity, and organizing with your neighbors to vote it out—that is tangible. That is actionable. By shifting our focus from the emotional realm of personal hatred to the concrete realm of structural policy, we move from being passive observers of human nature to active architects of a fairer world.

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