In his New York Times #1 bestseller How to Be an Antiracist (2019), Ibram X. Kendi defines a racist as anyone ‘supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea’ (p.13). He then explains that a racist policy ‘is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups’. Such inequity occurs ‘when two or more racial groups are not standing on approximately equal footing’ (p.18). A racist idea, in turn, is ‘any idea that suggests one racial group is inferior or superior to another racial group in any way’ (p.20). From these definitions, it follows that there are three types of racists: (a) Racists supporting policies that produce or sustain unequal footing between racial groups; (b) Racists expressing that a racial group is inferior or superior to another racial group in any way; and (c) Racists doing both.
Kendi has talked about these ideas to audiences around the world. He’s also been interviewed by the BBC, the major US news outlets, Al Jazeera, and elsewhere. People find his views forceful, provocative, and controversial. Most commentators concentrate on (a) and its focus on policy. However, even sympathetic listeners sometimes have trouble with the fact that, based on his definitions, someone may not intend to be or even know that they’re being racist, and yet still be racist.
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The Two Dennises
Hannah Mortimer observes a close encounter of the same kind.
Heraclitus (c.500 BC)
Harry Keith lets flow a stream of ideas about permanence and change.
Does the Cosmos Have a Purpose?
Raymond Tallis argues intently against universal intention.
Is Driving Fossil-Fuelled Cars Immoral?
Rufus Duits asks when we can justify driving our carbon contributors.
Abelard & Carneades Yes & No
Frank Breslin says 'yes and no' to presenting both sides of an argument.
Frankl & Sartre in Search of Meaning
Georgia Arkell compares logotherapy and atheistic existentialism.
Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray, now ninety-two years old, was, among many other things, one of the most impactful feminists of the 1970s liberation movements - before she was marginalised, then ostracised, from the francophone intellectual sphere.
Significance
Ruben David Azevedo tells us why, in a limitless universe, we’re not insignificant.
The Present Is Not All There Is To Happiness
Rob Glacier says don’t just live in the now.
Philosophers Exploring The Good Life
Jim Mepham quests with philosophers to discover what makes a life good.