How to Be an Antiracist
Ibram X. Kendi
Bodly Head (2019). 320 pp.
Book Review
Should a Christian be antiracist? Before Ibram X Kendi’s book came out, most Christians I know would have seen the answer as an obvious “yes,” akin to asking “Should a Christian be loving, kind, or self-sacrificial?” However, after reading How to be an Antiracist, given the definition of “antiracism,” I’m not so sure. The scriptures speak clearly against the sin of partiality (racism being one form) and call Christians to examine their hearts and repent of any elements of racism found. For Kendi, however, racism is the default status of the world—there is no non-racist stance—so the only two options are either be a “racist” or “antiracist.” Therefore, early on in How to be an Antiracist, the reader is confronted with a decision. One must either agree or disagree with the following assertion: “The opposite of ‘racist’ isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is antiracist.’ . . . There is no in between safe-space of ‘not racist.’ The claim of ‘not racist’ neutrality is a mask for racism.”(9) If one agrees, then the book will unfold itself quite nicely, as it is well written, comprehensive, and full of anecdotes that give us insight into Kendi the person. However, if one disagrees, as I do, then the experience is that of being introduced to a completely alternative way of seeing the world. By the end of the book, Kendi has articulated an entire counter-narrative to the Christian worldview, and fundamental Christian assertions about human agency, dignity, and individual responsibility have been replaced with a racialized view of human existence that runs counter to the Gospel at almost every point.
That many professing Christians have claimed to have been helped by this book indicates that they have missed the fundamental implications of what Kendi is proposing. For instance, in the chapter entitled, “Culture” he opens with two definitions:
‘Cultural Racist’: one who is creating a cultural standard and imposing a cultural hierarchy among racial groups. ‘Cultural-Antiracist’: one who is rejecting cultural standards and equalizing cultural differences among racial groups” (81).
Here we see a central tenet of “antiracism,” namely, that it is racist to insinuate or imply that any culture is to be preferred or considered superior to any other. Now, at a very base level, one can agree with this assertion when it comes to relatively superficial definitions of culture, like dress or custom; however, that’s not the implication here. For Kendi, it’s racist to argue for the superiority or desirability of any “cultural standard” over another. So, when a Christian argues for certain “cultural standards” with respect to the way the family is defined, the limits of and shape to moral behavior, the prohibitions on idolatry, etc., they’re guilty. When he gets to the chapters on sexuality and gender we see this fully articulated as “racist” becomes a synonym for “homophobia,” (and any other non-celebratory LGBTQ+ stance) and we observe how people are divided in Kendi’s world: oppressors and the oppressed, victims and victimizers, racists and antiracists. He explains, “Racist (and homophobic) power distinguishes race-sexualities, racial (or sexuality) groups at the intersection of race and sexuality.”(193) And thus we see an indication of how all-encompassing this narrative can be. Drawing from tenets of intersectionality and critical theory, “Race,” used in this way, is a cypher for any self-chosen primary identity and viewed through an oppressor/oppressed lens. This is the reason why “racism,” according to Kendi, can be a problem for people of all colors, because it’s a fundamental acceptance of the reality of hierarchies among people, a perpetuation of what he calls “inequity.”
For Kendi, every existence of “inequity” among groups of people is an indication of a “racist” policy or system. He repeats this throughout the book and states it as a matter of fact, when the actual realities of inequity among individual people are much more difficult to explain. For counter arguments to Kendi on these points one may want to read Thomas Sowell’s Discrimination and Disparities, or Wilfred Reilly’s Taboo: 10 Facts You Can’t Talk About, but at any rate, we’ve uncovered here a peculiar blind-spot to antiracist thinking. According to Kendi, it is “racist” to generalize about people groups on account of race, while at the same time it’s OK to utilize these racial generalities when talking about inequality among the races. For example, in the chapter entitled “Behavior,” a “racist” is one who sees individual people as representative of their “race” generally speaking, whereas an “antiracist,” is someone who, “is making racial group behavior fictional and individual behavior real.”(92) So what is it? Are the oft-cited “inequities” between white people and “people of color” to be viewed as indicative of systemic racism amongst groups, or should we be anti-racists and emphasize individual behaviors as at least as important as any perceived systemic partiality? Christians should be concerned about gross inequality of outcomes and work to secure equal opportunity and access to everyone regardless of race, but we also deal with people as people, not as concepts or ideas.
Despite its many flaws, How to Be an Anti-Racist is an incredibly important book for understanding the language being used in our contemporary culture surrounding race and racism, and for that it should be commended. However, just as the “anti-racism” movement requires a language and vocabulary all its own to describe the world, so has Christianity equipped the church with a language and vocabulary about God, ourselves, and the world that narrates a far more profound, more transcendent, and ultimately more redemptive reality than one based in the vicissitudes of race, sex, and power.
This resource is part of the series More than Imago Dei: Theological Explorations on Race. Click here to explore more resources from this series.
John D. Koch is the Associate Rector at Christ Church Anglican in Mount Pleasant, SC. He earned his Doctorate in Systematic Theology at the University of Humboldt in Berlin, Germany in 2014. In addition to various articles and lectures, he is the author of The Distinction Between Law and Gospel as the Basis and Boundary of Theological Reflection, which was published in 2016 (Mohr/Siebeck) and explores the interrelationship between the doctrine of justification by faith alone and the preaching and teaching ministry of the church. He is a member of the St. Augustine Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
