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How to Be an Anti-Racist Book Club Guide

This guide includes the curriculum you need to run a book club based on Ibram X. Kendi's How to Be an Anti-Racist, as well as supplementary reading and videos.

Chapter 5

A downloadable copy of this guide can be found here.

Goals for Chapter 5

  • Define the difference between ethnic racism and ethnic antiracism
  • Understand the history of race and ethnicity as social constructs

Discussion Questions

Go over the group agreements, then discuss the following questions:

  • How has it been for you since the last meeting? Did anything from the book stick with you during that time?
  • What were your “aha!” moments while reading this chapter?
  • Both race and ethnicity are social constructs and are not based on genetics. How have race and ethnicity played a role in determining the value of groups in society?
  • What kinds of ethnic racism have you observed, encountered, or have been subjected to?
  • What are the origins of the types ethnic racism you are familiar with?
  • How have policies reinforced ethnic racism in the US? Have these policies impacted libraries in any way?
  • Why is the question "Where are you from?" inherently racist?

Wrap up: Depending on time, you may ask people to put these in chat

  • What is a specific action you can take in the next week that is anti-racist?
  • What worked today? What didn’t work?

Additional Materials