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Author and historian Ibram X. Kendi discussed the difference between being non-racist and anti-racist during a virtual webinar co-hosted by Syracuse University on Wednesday night.

Kendi, whose book, “How To Be An Antiracist,” is a New York Times No. 1 bestseller, spoke about the significance of racial terminology and structural racism in the United States. The lecture was hosted by SU and the Friends of the Central Library, a group that raises funds for the Onondaga Public Library. 

Being anti-racist goes farther than simply not being racist, said Kendi, who is also the founder of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. Anti-racists take an active stance against racism, pushing back against the systems that perpetuate it. 

“One of the things I’ve been urging Americans to realize is that, oftentimes when people are saying, ‘I’m not racist,’ they’re connecting to those slaveholders, to even white supremacists who are engaged in domestic terror today, who claim that they’re not racist,” Kendi said. “The opposite of racist is anti-racist.”

It is often more accurate to say someone is being racist rather than that they are a racist person, Kendi said. An individual may not view themselves as a racist, but they can still say something that is racist or participate in racist systems, he said. 

“I do not think, for instance, anyone — whether they are a Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, or if they consider themselves to be moderate — I don’t think anyone is inherently racist or anti-racist,” Kendi said.

Racist policies still exist in the U.S. today, Kendi said.  

Media coverage of protests this summer perpetuated similar racist ideas, emphasizing violent demonstrations when the majority of protests were peaceful, Kendi said. 

“The problems of our society are policies, are racist policies, are racist power. And that’s what needs to change,” Kendi said. “To be anti-racist is to recognize that clearly — that when you have a racial disparity, it’s the result of bad policies, not bad people.”

Published on October 22, 2020 at 12:23 am

Contact Kailey: kmnorusi@syr.edu