I am giving this a 4.5. I found this book to be interesting as it takes thinks I already know and broadening the definition of them and also looking at policies and terms from multiple angles. One such example is we must think beyond being “Not Racist” a neutral term that lets people off because you can be not racist but support racist policies because it serves yourself interest (a point that I will bring up next) and that instead we should strive to be Anti Racist which is going beyond being not racists and instead taking a look at the policies, structures and even personal beliefs and what we are doing to challenge them. 

I think the biggest take away from the book for me was I always placed the emphasis of essentially educating the racism away but at the end of the book there was a very valid point made that I personally think should work in conjunction with the education route. It should be a two-prong approach but the point the author was making stood out and made me think and rethink my approach. “A lot of us see ignorance as the source of racist ideas and we see racist ideas as the course of racists policies and we have to change the mind, to change the person to change the policy”” but in the author’s research is showed “that racists ideas are not based out of ignorance/hate but self-interest. History shows powerful policy makers instituting racists’ policies out of self interest then producing racists ideas to defend and rationalize the racists effects of their policies while everyday people are consuming those racist ideas which bleeds into their ignorance & hate”. 

 

There are a lot of points made in this book the resonate with me and some I think I will have revisit at a later point as my knowledge expands.