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Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
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22 Jun, 7 tweets, 3 min read
Over the last few months, more and more people have been saying this nation is "not-racist." Let's add some context. “America is not a racist nation” is the new “America is a postracial nation.” We're witnessing the birth of the new postracial project. 1/7
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
The postracial myth is a distraction. Because the signposts of racism are staring back at us in big, bold racial inequities. But many Americans ignore the signposts and believe the nation is post-racial; that systemic racism doesn’t exist. 2/7
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
These believers in the postracial myth are saying racial inequity and injustice and violence aren’t the racial problem. To them, critical race theorists, Black Lives Matter activists, and the 1619 Project are the problem. 3/7
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
To these believers, antiracism is anti-White, a belief that echoes the mantra coined by a longtime White supremacist. They’ve created the world of make believe, making myths out of reality to keep the American people out of reality. 4/7
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
In 2008, the original postracial myth was embedded so deeply into the American consciousness that when Trump ran a racist campaign and won eight years later, countless people were shocked. 5/7
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
The myth of a postracial America died with Trump’s election. It has now been resurrected, paving the conceptual way for Trump’s return and the ruin of this nation. 6/7
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Or, the American people can finally see racial inequity and injustice and violence as the signposts of racism. Or, the American people can reject the postracial myth once and for all. 7/7
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

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More from @DrIbram

Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
31 May
A century after a racist White mob devastated #BlackWallStreet in Tulsa, I keep reflecting on the vicious cycle of anti-Black racism.

Mobs of racist policies silently roaming structures stopping Black people from rising and stopping the rise of their resistance. 1/4
When racist policies failed to stop the rise, racist mobs violently knocked Black people down. When Black people were downed, racist ideas chalked up the plight of Black people to their inferior behaviors, and denied racist mobs ever knocked them down. 2/4
I can’t stop picturing this enduring history—and the antiracist resistance that battled at every rotation. I can’t stop thinking about what this all means from us today. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
11 May
Presenting #StampedforKids, an introduction to the history of racist and antiracist ideas for middle graders.

Brilliantly adapted by @SonjaCherryPaul.

Beautiful art by @thelittleanimal.

#StampedforKids is out today! Shouts @JasonReynolds83! 1/5
bookshop.org/books/stamped-…
Our kids are trying to make sense of the different skin colors and cultures they see, and the racial inequity they see. They hear verbal and non-verbal messages that some certain groups are better or worse; that certain groups have less because they are less. 2/5
These messages are harmful. We can’t protect our kids from these harmful messages by *not* talking to them about racism, by *not* telling them the truth about the nation’s past and present, by *not* actively talking to them about racial equality. 3/5
bookshop.org/books/stamped-…
Read 6 tweets
Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
3 May
So I have an announcement that I've been holding for too long! I'm jumping into podcasting!

Introducing #BeAntiracist, a new action podcast I'm launching with @pushkinpods & @iHeartMedia. 1/5

Subscribe now: podcasts.pushkin.fm/be-antiracist-…

deadline.com/2021/05/ibram-…
Working on this new podcast has been uncomfortable and challenging. But I feel a sense of criticality, a sense of urgency to embark on this new project. 2/5
podcasts.pushkin.fm/be-antiracist-…
Now, I have a forum to sit down each week with some of the boldest and bravest and clearest thinkers, writers, and activists to discuss the antiracist policies and platforms we can rally around to construct an antiracist society. 3/5
deadline.com/2021/05/ibram-…
Read 6 tweets
Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
2 May
I invite you, Bryan, to read this study @Cell_Metabolism by experts Sara N. Bleich and @drard who found “structural racism is a common root cause for COVI9-19 and/or obesity among communities of color.” 1/4
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you are misinformed, and you are not one of those propagandists trotting out the obesity argument to blame Black people for higher COVID infection and death rates. 2/4
These are propagandists who know this argument resonates in our fatphobic nation where people look upon obese people—especially obese Black people—as irresponsible, lazy and undisciplined. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
2 May
In my latest @TheAtlantic, I reflect on the year of the racial pandemic within the viral one. In sum: People of color were infected, hospitalized, impoverished, and killed at the highest rates, while receiving the fewest medical + economic protections. 1/4
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
I’ve been working on this piece for some time. I didn’t expect it to drop after a week of politicians denying the existence of structural racism. But here we are, and the racial pandemic of disparities is the product of structural racism. 2/4
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
I outline the structure of data inequality and policy inequity that have marked this pandemic—and the US. Many of the people who suffered the most did so almost completely out of the view of data, specifically the incarcerated, unhoused + undocumented. 3/4
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Read 4 tweets
Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
22 Apr
After Chadwick Boseman died from colon cancer last August, exactly 2 years after my own colon-cancer surgery, I plunged into a survivor’s guilt. I was surviving stage IV colon cancer. But I was scarred, physically and emotionally, and hiding my scars. 1/4
gq.com/story/the-scar…
We’re effectively taught to hide our scars. We’re taught that this hiding is masculine, when, in fact, it’s easy to hide. Cowardice hides. What takes courage is to be vulnerable, to bare our scars to the world. 2/4
gq.com/story/the-scar…
I decided to publicly reveal my scars. Other men were ready and willing to do the same. Thank you to these six courageous patients and survivors for their vulnerability. Thank you @GQ for sharing our stories and @DanaScruggs1 for the portraits. 3/4
gq.com/story/the-scar…
Read 4 tweets

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