Stamped

I listened to Jason Reynold's and Ibram X. Kendi's nonfiction book called Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You. The audio book was read by Jason Reynolds. His energetic recital of the history of racism was engaging and enlightening. Although he kept repeating that this was not a history book, parts of it were history. This is not the typical history that I learned in school but I think it is the brand of history that should be taught in schools. The authors divide people into three categories. You are either racist, assimilationist, or anti-racist. People can and have moved from one category to another. Several of the early black leaders like W.E.B. DuBois and Dr. Martin Luther King started out as assimilationists but became anti-racist at the ends of their careers. Anti-racists believe that everyone is equal. No race has unique characteristics.  On the other hand assimilationists believe in differences between races are valid and that everyone should act like the people in power so we can all get along. Lastly, racists believe in differences between races and that one race is superior to another. According to the authors the idea of racism began six hundred years ago in Portugal. A man named Gomez Zurara was a scribe for the King Edward and Prince Henry of Portugal. Portugal was having trade conflicts with the traders from Africa. In order to gain the upper hand in trade Zurara wrote a document claiming that dark skinned people from the continent of Africa were inferior and heathen and in need of the salvation of slavery. Ibram Kendi has a Ph.D. and teaches college level American History and African American studies so I am sure he knows what he is talking about but part of me doubts racism didn't exist before Gomes Zurara wrote his words. In 2016 Kendi wrote Stamped From The Beginning; A Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.   This book is a remaking of those ideas into a book that is more suitable for younger readers. I wish more history books could be as engaging as this one.