Hi, my name is Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
and I love celebrating our differences
through words and actions.
I even wrote a book that teaches readers
how they can be kind to others with a few simple steps,
and I'd love, really, to share this book with you.
♪ Come on an adventure ♪
♪ What will we read today? ♪
♪ Discover all the treasures ♪
♪ On every single page ♪
♪ Stories take you places you've never been before ♪
♪ Read with me and you will see ♪
♪ New worlds, new friends, and more ♪
♪ Come on an adventure ♪
♪ What will we read today? ♪
I'm Ibram X. Kendi.
I am the author of "Antiracist Baby."
And I wrote this book because I wanted to have a book
that I can talk to my daughter about race
and about being antiracist.
And to be antiracist is to be able to see all people,
no matter their skin color, their hair texture,
their background, where they come from, as equals,
and to really appreciate just the beautiful diversity that is the human rainbow.
It doesn't matter if they're brown or white or black skin,
what matters the most is what's on the inside.
We should get treated the same way,
even if other people judge us by our skin color
or what we look like.
So y'all mind if I read this book?
- Yeah. - Yep.
"Antiracist Baby" by Ibram X. Kendi.
And I also want to mention the illustrator,
Ashley Lukashevsky, who's a great illustrator.
"Antiracist Baby is bred, not born.
Antiracist Baby is raised to make society transform."
Babies just see people as people.
"Babies are taught to be racist or antiracist. There's no neutrality.
Take these nine steps to make equity a reality."
Step what? What step is this?
All: One.
"Open your eyes to all skin colors.
Antiracist Baby learns all the colors,
not because race is true.
If you claim to be color-blind,
you deny what's right in front of you."
You have to see color. You can't just ignore color.
No one should deny what they see.
If you want to change anything, you have to see each other.
Step-- what step is this?
All: Two!
"Use your words to talk about race.
No one will see racism if we always stay silent."
- Don't stay silent. - "If we don't name racism,
it won't stop being so violent."
- What step is this? - All: Three!
"Point at policies as the problem, not people.
Some people get more while others get less,
because policies don't always grant equal access."
The problems are the policies.
I would make some policy changes to make things fair.
That's the world I want to live in.
- What step is this? - All: Four!
Four!
"Shout, 'There's nothing wrong with the people!'"
There's nothing wrong with the people.
- Shout it. - All: There's nothing wrong with the people.
"Even though all races are not treated the same,
'We are all human!' Antiracist Baby can proclaim."
We're all human and we all need to take care of each other.
You treat others like you'd want to be treated.
We're all human.
What step is this?
All: Five!
"Celebrate all our differences.
Antiracist Baby doesn't see certain groups
as better or worse.
Antiracist Baby loves a world that's truly diverse."
Diversity means that there are people from everywhere,
even from different countries.
I have a lot of friends, and they all look different.
But to me, they're just all my friends.
- What step is this? Six. - All: Six!
"Knock down the stack of cultural blocks.
Antiracist Baby appreciates how groups
speak and dance and create as they choose.
Antiracist Baby welcomes all groups
voicing their unique views."
- What step is this? - All: Seven!
"Confess when being racist.
Nothing disrupts racism more than when we confess
the racist ideas we sometimes express."
We all learn from our mistakes 'cause then next time
we might find ourselves in the same situation
and we know how to deal with it and get through it.
"Hey, it's okay that you messed up,
just here's how you would handle it next time."
And what step is this?
- Nine! - Eight!
I think it's eight. Yes, I think it's eight.
"Grow to be antiracist."
"Antiracist Baby is always learning, changing, and growing."
- One step at a time. - "Antiracist Baby stays curious
about all people and isn't all-knowing."
I go to an immersion school
that has Japanese, Spanish, and English.
And then the last step is what?
All: Nine!
"Believe we shall overcome racism.
Antiracist Baby is filled with the power to transcend, my friend,
and doesn't judge a book by its cover..."
It's never smart to judge a book by its cover.
My mom also says never judge a book by its cover.
"...but reads until..."
- All: The end! "...the end."
I liked the book because it teaches you about, uh, racism.
If they're, like, a different color,
they still should be treated the same way.
It teaches us that we need equality in all colors
because some people aren't treated fairly.
But we need to change that.
I will make one more step.
You should just get together and have dinner.
So that is "Antiracist Baby." Thank you.
So does anyone have any questions?
Your hand shot up first. What's your question?
What was your idea to make an anti-racist book?
I just think that we should be talking to young people
about all of the different ways in which we're different,
and then all of the different ways in which we're the same.
- Yes? - Why do you want people to know about racism?
Unfortunately,
we live in a society
where there's racial inequality.
Certain people, because of the color of their skin,
are mistreated, and that's wrong.
And in order for people to learn that,
we have to teach them that that's wrong.
Does that make sense? Yes.
What is "policy"?
I told y'all I have a daughter.
She doesn't like policies in our home,
and one policy she doesn't like
is her bedtime.
She's like, "Why does my bedtime have to be 7:30?"
So a rule is like a policy,
and sometimes they're policies for a single person,
like my daughter or each of you if you have bedtimes.
And then other times there's a policy
for everyone in the community.
And sometimes those policies make it harder
for people to do particular things.
So there was a time in this country
where people like me
could not go into certain restaurants
because they had "White Only" signs.
And that was, like, a policy that then barred me
from coming in and dining with other people.
Other questions? Yes.
What if I say the wrong thing?
The beauty about being anti-racist
is to say the wrong thing
and to acknowledge it and apologize.
There's nothing wrong with making a mistake,
and actually, that's what humans do.
Like, we're not perfect,
but we can strive to do things right.
But in order to do things right,
we have to recognize when we do things wrong.
You have the power to change the world,
and one of the ways you do that
is by telling the stories of the people around you.
Can you tell the stories of some of the faces you see around your community?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
( laughter)
Should we do googly eyes or beads?
Girl: Uh, googly eyes.
My story is about Mariana.
She loves helping people
and she's a really kind person to me.
We have to help each other.
That's the way the world should work.
- ( laughter ) - ( humming )
My story is about how everyone is different.
I'm gonna make a dress.
My story is about a woman that I saw at the park,
and she was wearing this beautiful outfit.
( indistinct chatter )
This one's of my dad.
I made it look like a kimono
because when my mom and dad married,
they were wearing kimonos.
Oh, look! Mine doesn't look so bad.
My story is about my mom from Mexico.
She's really, really sweet
and she loves to have a great time.
I'm really lucky to have this mom.
This is my doll.
She is a Japanese woman, just like my mom.
I created her because in my school
I saw this woman in the auditorium
and she was helping kids,
so I decided to kind of copy her and make her.
It has googly eyes, then buttons, and a heart.
My doll has a big heart.
This is my doll, and I made her to represent everyone.
( speaks Japanese )
That means, "I love this book."
( overlapping chatter )
Thank you so much for learning with me.
It was so fun to practice
how we can use our words
to talk about race.
How will you use your words
to push for fairness and equality?
I will tell stories about our differences.
About changing the world.
That words are powerful.
I'm gonna share Dr. Kendi's steps with my friends.
I will listen to everyone's words
because everyone's words matter.
Remember, speak up, speak out,
and tell your stories.