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American racism predates the founding of the United States.
Stamped traces the origins of racist ideas back to 15th-century Europe, long before the founding of the United States. According to Reynolds, racism was originally used to justify European conquest and exploitation. Enslavement and racism made it possible to extract value from land, people, and things, concentrating wealth into the hands of European elites. Enslaved Africans supported the colonial projects of European nations, and later the United States, and their stolen labor created vast wealth and power. In addition to enriching white people, racist ideas also functioned to diminish class antagonism between wealthy and impoverished white people. Propaganda about Black inferiority propped up racial solidarity among white people of different classes and eventually became so ingrained as to seem obvious. But, as Stamped makes clear, racist ideas are carefully made and remade to protect white power and privilege. Because of racism’s long heritage, even people who believe themselves to be opposed to its precepts can find themselves tacitly accepting some of its assumptions or claims. Even Black thinkers and intellectuals are prone to accepting certain racist ideas that support the white supremacist status quo. The necessary work of recognizing and dismantling these ideas requires historical knowledge.
Rooting out racist beliefs requires honest evaluation of the past and present.
In the introduction to Stamped, Kendi admits that he once held views that he came to realize were racist. Learning how to recognize and abandon such beliefs is arguably the book’s most important aim. For this reason, then, Stamped is explicit about the shortcomings of historical figures, even those often celebrated for their work against enslavement, like Abraham Lincoln or Frederick Douglass, as well as heroes of the civil rights movement like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Although Stamped recognizes the significance of their achievements, it insists on a more nuanced understanding of the past that also acknowledges their limitations. People can be opposed to racism but not be antiracist. Similarly, they can hold assimilationist views, which prioritize white feelings or comfort over Black freedom, even as they press for change. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” for example, King offers a passionate defense of nonviolent protest but, as Stamped notes, he also criticizes the tactics of other Black groups, suggesting that they are to blame for inflaming white fears. This, Reynolds and Kendi observe, is an assimilationist view and should not be celebrated, even if “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is an important document from the civil rights era.
Learning about the past can empower people in the present.
The closing pages of Stamped turn to the rise of new activist groups, like #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName. Formed by antiracist women, these groups challenge entrenched racism, empowering young Black people to act. Their examples are presented as sources of hope and inspiration for all readers, who are encouraged to follow their lead and likewise embark on an activist antiracist path. By learning where racist ideas come from and recognizing that they were developed to consolidate political and economic power, we can acknowledge that these myths are not, and never were, facts. Quick readings of movies, like Planet of the Apes and the Rocky films, teach the book’s younger audience how to detect racism in popular culture and see it for the propaganda it is. The book’s conversational narrator also guides readers to pause from time to time, reminding them to process the complicated feelings its lessons might rouse. Although it examines historical details, Stamped is explicitly a book about the present, signaled from the “You” of its title and throughout its pages. Racist ideas that are deeply ingrained in the American consciousness will require energy and persistence to dislodge but, as Stamped makes clear, this can happen if every reader chooses the brave path of antiracism.
