English / USA
Stamped. Racism, antiracism, and you
Reynolds, Jason
(text)
Kendi, Ibram X.
(original text/introduction)
New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2020. – 320 p.
ISBN 978-0-316-45369-1
Racism | Antiracism | Race relations | History | Non-fiction
Reading age: 12+
White Ravens issue: 2020
Jason Reynolds’s remix of Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award winner, “Stamped from the Beginning”, is a compelling and convincing story for young people. In a conversational tone, Reynolds offers detailed examples to show why and how racism exists as a way of systemically depriving black people of civil liberties and rights. Historical details of dates, events, and names give credence to the premises of the book: that black people face systemic racism across the spectrum of how laws are written, implemented, and imposed, and are also denied equal opportunities. The notion of being simply “not racist” is debunked by the repercussions of complicity in an unjust society. This timely book calls for antiracists, who know that there is nothing inherently wrong with black people, to take action to identify, work against, and dismantle systemic racism. Although rooted in the details of US history, the implications are universal and are reverberating around the world. [JY]