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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 10

Goals for Chapter 10

  • Compare and contrast Kendi's definition of racism with others
  • Identify how racist power and policy is different from racist people

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?
  • Talk about your experience with whiteness. What has that been like?
  • “Months before being assassinated, Malcolm X faced a fact many admirers of Malcom X still refuse to face: Black people can be racist toward White people.” (pg 128)
    • What do you think of this statement? Do you agree/disagree?
    • How is it different from other things you’ve read about racism?
  • Kendi’s definition of racism is different from many mainstream definitions. Where does this difference come from? What are the implications of defining racism in terms of racist power/policy rather than racist people?
  • Multiple times throughout the book, Kendi discusses incorrect ideas he has, and how he has grown out of them. Thinking over the last 10 weeks of book club, what are ideas you have grown into or out of?

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?