Thread by @DrIbram

Each year I'm grateful. This year, despite all the adversity around us, I stand especially grateful. Accepted awards + started projects alongside people I admire. Essayed to grave moments and enduring histories. Finished #HowtoRaiseanAntiracist. Here are 21 highlights from 2021.

1) Jan. 11. After attack on the U.S. Capitol, Republicans and Democrats commonly proclaimed “this is not who we are,” which was a bald-faced denial. I wrote about the normality of this denial. “When have Americans commonly admitted who we are?”
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

2) Jan. 15. Announced 3 projects @netflix. Working w/ director @RogerRossWill + executive producer @MaraBrockAkil to adapt #StampedfromtheBeginning + #Stamped—and w/ @chrisdocnee, creator of Doc McStuffins (my daughter’s fav show) to adapt #AntiracistBaby
hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-n…

3) Feb. 2. Four Hundred Souls came out, edited by @KeishaBlain and I, featuring 10 Black poets, as well as 80 Black writers who each wrote five years of Black American history—a community writing the history of a community. #400Souls debuted at #1 @nytimes bestseller list.

4) Feb. 4. Partnered with @TIME on a Black History Month special project celebrating the power of Black creators and their artistic awakening, arguing "the Black Renaissance is stirring Black people to be themselves. Totally. Unapologetically. Freely.”
time.com/collection/ren…

5) March 16. Announced w/ @binajv resurrection of @the_emancipator, a partnership between @AntiracismCtr + @GlobeOpinion. Have since hired great Editors In Chief, @debofficially + @amberwaves who have been assembling staff + preparing to launch next year!
niemanreports.org/articles/the-e…

6) April 19. Opposed copaganda that the problem is defiance after 2 cop killings. “For Black and brown people, this is the terror of American policing. When we do not comply, we die like Daunte Wright did. When we do comply, we die like Adam Toledo did.”
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

7) April 21. After the conviction of officer Derek Chauvin for murdering George Floyd, I shared my thoughts @CBSNews in a short video essay. I asked, “Is justice convicting a police officer, or is justice convicting America?”

8) April 22. Revealed my scars from stage IV colon cancer surgery, and shared my story @GQMagazine. Six other courageous patients and survivors shared their stories too. We encouraged other men and women battling colon cancer to fight on, to be vulnerable.
gq.com/story/the-scar…

9) April 24. @AntiracismCtr held its 2nd Annual National Antiracist Book Festival, where we virtually hosted dozens of antiracist writers and thousands of readers. Our 3rd Annual National Antiracist Book Festival is coming April 30, 2022. Save the date. #AntiracistBookfest

10) May 2. Reflected on the previous year of the racial pandemic within the viral one. Substantiated the importance of data equality and policy equity in healthcare and beyond, while distinguishing between racial equality and racial equity.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

11) May 11. #StampedforKids entered the world! Brilliantly adapted by @SonjaCherryPaul. Art by @thelittleanimal. Based on #Stamped with @JasonReynolds83. This middle grade history of racist and antiracist ideas debuted #1 on the @nytimes bestseller list alongside #Stamped.

12) June 9. Dropped 1st episode of a new podcast #BeAntiracist, a convo with @RebeccaCokley about racism and ableism. During the season also spoke with Robin D. G. Kelley, @hmcghee @AriBerman @jemelehill @prisonculture @cathyparkhong @JulianCastro + more.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/be-…

13) July 1. Celebrated the 1-year-anniversary of the @AntiracismCtr with my colleagues @BU_Tweets. We’ve assembled a passionate and talented team and we’ll be unveiling a series of projects we’ve been working on soon! Thank you to all the people supporting our work.

14) July 9. "I have seldom stopped to answer the critiques of CRT or of my own work, because the more I’ve studied these critiques, the more I’ve concluded these critics aren’t arguing against" CRT or me. "These critics are arguing against themselves."
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

15) Aug. 23. Signed development deal w/ @BOATROCKER to launch a production shingle, Maroon Visions. Named after formerly enslaved peoples who formed islands of freedom in the Americas. Maroons radically imagined, freed and created anew. That’s our vision.
deadline.com/2021/08/ibram-…

16) Sept. 28. Named a 2021 @MacArthur Fellow @macfound alongside luminaries I admire. Using funds to continue years of research on a book titled, Bones of Inequity: A Narrative History of Racist Power and Policy. On how the structure of racism came to be.
nytimes.com/2021/09/28/art…

17) Oct. 14. Grieved over what has happened to MLK's body of work as people have attacked antiracism in the name of an antiracist MLK. On how after 1st assassinating MLK in 1968, the distortion of his legacy ever since has been MLK's 2nd assassination.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

18) Oct. 23. Announced my next book, How to Raise an Antiracist, which is coming out in June. Can’t wait to reveal more about this book (and other books!) in the coming weeks.
Preorder: bookshop.org/books/how-to-r…

19) Nov. 16. Contributed the second to the last chapter, “PROGRESS,” in the groundbreaking book, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story created by the one and only @nhannahjones. The book debuted at #1 @nytimes bestseller list. #1619Project

20) Nov. 30. As people framed CRT, 1619 Project, antiracism, and "wokism" as "anti-White" and "racist," I revealed the roots of this talking point. I chronicled how and why “antiracism is anti-White” is the old and explosive mantra of White supremacists.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

21) Dec. 5. Both the legend stuff and the living stuff wasn’t supposed to be in the cards for me. But I’ll take it. Thank you for the words @kcarterjackson. Thank you to Black Boston and the Boston's @MAAHMuseum.

Painful year but this honor brought healing.