How to Be an Antiracist (One World Essentials)

by Ibram X. Kendi

This definition of “prejudice plus power” does not explain how people become prejudiced, and it falsely positions power as secondary. It maintains this notion that people of all races have prejudice, but only White people have the addition—power—which is why their “prejudice results in acts of discrimination and oppression against groups or individuals.” This suggests: Racism is the result of prejudice and then power. This formulation reinforces the myth of racial prejudice (or racist ideas) as the foundation of racism. In fact, powerful self-interest is the foundation of racism, a self-interest that leads to racist policies, and those policies lead to racial inequity and injustice, which are then justified and normalized by racist ideas (or racial prejudice). The consumption of racist ideas leads to ignorance and hate—all this ignorance about racist power and policy: the actual source of pain. And this ignorance opens the door for people to blame other racial groups for their pain, thus reinforcing hate for other racial groups. Whenever there is common ignorance and mutual hate, it prevents individuals and groups from organizing together to challenge racist policies especially harming people of color and harming most White people, too, at lesser levels. I don’t think people realize that “racial prejudice” or racist ideas about any racial group do not cause racism, they conserve racism. They cause people to use their power to fight other people rather than power and policy.