Hey there, welcome back to the
show as we just passed Juneteenth,
we know this is a very heavy topic,
but an important one.
How do we continue to work to end racism?
One way might be to start
talking to our kids about these
issues a little more clearly.
My executive producer,
Joseph Kettner.
He is with me because he just
recently spoke with the author of a
new book covering this very topic.
Yeah, good morning amity. That's right.
Last week I spoke with the author of the
popular book How to be an anti racist
and he's actually coming to Seattle.
Later this week for an event at Town Hall,
Dr. Ibram X Kendi is now out with
a new book called How to Raise an
antiracist and he shared with me what
he hopes parents across the country
will hopefully consider thinking about.
You have a new book out,
but your previous book,
how to be an antiracist, I think,
really resonated with a lot of readers.
So what's the next logical step?
Obviously to write how
to raise an antiracist?
So it actually wasn't I I that wasn't the
plan I actually was planning on writing a
A narrative history of of racist policies.
But the more readers of of how to be an anti
racist consumed it and reflected on it.
The more they were asking me, OK,
how do I talk to my kids about this
like I want to raise my kids to to be
anti racist and and ironically it was
a question that I was asking myself.
This is is being a father and I've
been thinking about that for years
and so it all sort of came together
with maybe I should do this this book.
So I think the term anti racist
has some nuance to it that maybe
people haven't fully thought about.
So could you just briefly describe
what does the term anti racism mean?
Well we can understand
anti racist in three ways.
As an idea, an idea of racial equality
that the racial groups is equals.
A policy, it's a,
it's an anti racist policy is
creating or meeting to equity
between groups or justice between
groups or even a person who is
expressing an anti racist idea of
equality or supporting policies
that that that are equitable
and anti racism which is more
structural is trying to create
institutions and communities that
have these policies and and ideas.
So unfortunately we have,
you know, TV time constraints and
it's an extremely complex issue,
but how would you generally say to go
about raising an antiracist child?
Of I think first we have to recognize
this as teachers and parents.
That our kids are are are seeing race.
They're seeing racial inequality.
They're trying to figure out why,
particularly brown and and and black
people are on the poor end of society.
They're hearing messages.
That dark is ugly and light is beautiful.
So I think we have the first
start there of what, literally?
Our child our children are
experiencing and disrupt that right?
Allow them to teach them that.
You know we shouldn't be attaching positive
or negative characteristics to any skin
color that the problem is bad rules,
not bad people that we should respect
differences in in colors and cultures.
So I was reading about your new book
how to raise an antiracist and I
know a lot of what you write about
came from your own lived experience.
But I was curious, did your
views on race and racism change
at all after becoming a dad?
Yes, I I am. I think the biggest.
Viewpoint that I had is a is a viewpoint
that I think many parents had and had
which is I just want to keep my daughter
as far away from this as possible.
I don't want to talk to her about
race and racism, it's toxic it.
You know I want to keep her away from it.
But then I realized that there's
no escaping it unfortunately,
and and our children especially
are the most vulnerable.
You know, to these negative and bad and
biased messages and and the way we protect
them from internalizing these messages,
is giving them the ability to
identify it and the way they identify
it is by us talking to them about
this like a white teenage boy can
identify white supremacist ideology,
so that when somebody tries to grow.
Truth him online,
he could say no,
that's not for me.
That makes a lot of sense,
I think out here in Seattle we're,
you know, pretty progressive
out here on the West Coast.
Maybe people here think racism
isn't as big of an issue as it is
in other parts of the country,
but what would you say to
someone who thinks that?
The way we determine whether the
primary way we determine whether
racism exists is whether there's
racial disparities and inequities.
And and last I checked,
there were racial disparities and inequities.
You know, in the northwest,
just as there is in progressive
Boston and the New England, right?
And and so.
I don't think we should look
away from those disparities,
because that's what's showing us racism. We
just marked Juneteenth over the weekend.
What would you hope people think
about as we mark this day?
What should people be thinking about
Juneteenth? Was was really
a celebration and you know,
for me of a time when when black
people freed themselves from slavery
with a whole host of allies and and
what the reason why that sort of
resonates with me today is because.
Everyone who is facing forms of racism
and sexism, homophobia and transphobia,
they're going to lead their own struggle.
But they're also going to need allies and
and the way we create sort of freedom
for the peoples in our communities
who are facing forms of oppression.
I support them.
And Ally with them and then collectively
work together to create a just more
equitable and free for public.
And just a reminder, Doctor Kennedy
will be in Seattle on Thursday,
June 23rd at Town Hall, Seattle.
We've got a link to tickets on our website.