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Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
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Jun 13 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Here are five tips from my experiences as a father for having challenging conversations about racism and being antiracist with our young children. These tips are drawn from my new book, #HowToRaiseAnAntiracist, and are featured in @MensHealthMag. menshealth.com/trending-news/…
1. I wait for my daughter to initiate the conversation. (And we put her in situations whereby she’ll initiate conversations).

menshealth.com/trending-news/…
2. I redirect my fear. (Instead of fearing having this conversation, I fear not having this conversation with my child).

menshealth.com/trending-news/…
3. I give her credit. (Research shows that young children can understand complex issues even if they can’t express their complex understanding verbally).

menshealth.com/trending-news/…
4. I don't overdo it. (I don’t try to explain everything about a tough topic in one sitting).

menshealth.com/trending-news/…
5. I stop when she stops. (Even if her interest spans only a minute and a half, that time is valuable. It adds up).

menshealth.com/trending-news/…

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More from @DrIbram

Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
Jun 14
Who are the most vulnerable to racism? Children. Who are we the least likely to engage about racism? Children. We must change this. The most vulnerable should be the most protected. Introducing HOW TO RAISE AN ANTIRACIST. It is out today! 1/6

penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671925/h…
Parents, teachers, and caregivers cannot protect young people from racism by ignoring what’s happening to our children, as I did at first. Kids see color. Kids see the inequities between the colors. 2/6

penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671925/h… Image
Our kids hear the belittling or elevating messages that certain groups have more or less because they *are* more or less. Our young people are the victims of racist practices. Our teens are being recruited and bullied by White supremacists online. 3/6

penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671925/h…
Read 6 tweets
Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
Jun 12
Today, June 12, 2022, marks the sixth anniversary of the shooting at Pulse, a night club catering to the LGBTQIA+ community in Orlando, Florida.

49 people were killed--the most in a single shooting in US history up to that point and the largest terrorist attack since 9/11. 1/10
The victims were overwhelmingly queer and primarily Latinx. Today, we mourn their lost lives and are reminded of the importance of standing against bigotry of all kinds. Ignoring homophobia can be deadly. 2/10

people.com/crime/orlando-…
It's important to contextualize this tragedy. It came less than a year after the SCOTUS ruling of Obergefell v. Hodges, which guaranteed marriage equality as a right protected by the 14th Amendment. 3/10
Read 10 tweets
Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
Jun 7
I am pleased to share my latest essay @TheAtlantic, adapted from chapter four in my new book, How to Raise an Antiracist, out next Tuesday, June 14. This piece is about how toys can reflect racial attitudes *and* shape them. 1/6
theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
This piece is about my family’s first known experience with the matter, when our daughter clung day after day to a White doll at daycare. My partner and I worried about what that meant, and we were unsure about whether we should even be worrying. 2/6
theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
We didn’t know whether it was a coincidence or whether it meant our daughter had already breathed in what psychologist @BDTSpelman has called the “smog” of White superiority. In the end, we figured out what happened. 3/6
theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
Read 6 tweets
Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
May 20
Racist policies kill Black people in Buffalo and then White supremacists murder the survivors. Black Americans are facing this double terror of racist policies and racist violence.

My latest @TheAtlantic. 1/7
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Racist theories deny the policy structure of racism, and “the ubiquity of racist violence. The heartbeat of being racist is denial. The deeper the denial, the more diabolical the racist theory.” 2/7

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
“The most diabolical of all racist ideas operating today—the theory reaching the very depths of denialism, the theory that replaces reality perhaps more than any other—is the ‘Great Replacement’ theory, or GRT, a white-supremacist conspiracy theory." 3/7

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Read 7 tweets
Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
May 16
"Below a democratic donkey, the Fox News graphic read anti-white mania. It flanked Tucker Carlson’s face and overtook it in size. It was unmistakable. Which was the point," I wrote to open this recent essay.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
“The question is, and this is the question we should be meditating on, day in and day out, is how do we get out of this vortex, the cycle, before it’s too late?” Carlson asked. “How do we save this country before we become Rwanda?”
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
“Americans are familiar with white-supremacists like the Klan, skinheads, neo-Nazis, and the Proud Boys,” I wrote. “But they don’t seem to recognize white-supremacist ideology—the most venomous form of racist ideology.”
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Read 5 tweets
Ibram X. Kendi Profile picture
Mar 23
One of the ultimate ways to honor a legend is to adapt her writings for a new generation. I’m thrilled to unveil MAGNOLIA FLOWER, illustrated by @LoveisWise_. This picture book is coming this fall. 1/5

bit.ly/MagnoliaFlower… MAGNOLIA FLOWER is adapted from a 1925 short story by Zora.
Many thanks to the Zora Neale Hurston Trust, @HarperChildrens, and editors Luana Horry and Tracy Sherrod for this opportunity to honor Zora. Many thanks to @reneewauthor and the @SchomburgCenter for helping us announce this project tonight in Harlem. 2/5
I’ll be adapting selections from Zora’s treasure trove into a series of six books for young readers spanning picture books, board books, and middle grade titles. MAGNOLIA FLOWER is the first book in this series. 3/5

bit.ly/MagnoliaFlower…
Read 5 tweets

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