Stamped From The Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi / 5 stars (ALL THE STARS)

[Meli]

Most likely the most important book I have ever read.
It makes me wish I was much more stingy with 5 stars so people would trust how absolutely serious I am when I say that. :)

As Ibram X. Kendi has stated previously, America is addicted to racist ideas.
The only way we can truly move toward a postracial, antiracist America is to admit we have a problem.
This book should be taught in schools.
Teach the YA version by Jason Reynolds from late elementary through middle school, and teach this full version in high school and college.

The most surprising part is to see history continue to repeat itself.
Not to say any of the racist ideas presented in the book are a surprise, but the shock is how little the methods and rhetoric has really changed. You think of the most deplorable aspects of racism as a thing of the distant past, and recognize that our current racist society is more discreet, but actually it's not.

This is a very thick, dense book filled with dates, names, and historical events, but it deserves our effort.

[NancyJ]

This is good to know Meli! I chose his other book to read this month, but now I'm more hungry for more specific and substantive examples. I would have liked more policy examples in the book I read, though overall it was great.

I'm still on a waiting list for the long book, but the YA version is now on hold for me. This was a great topic for a bonus tag.

[Meli]

If we look at racism as an addiction and treat it as such then Stamped is the admitting-we-have-a-problem step and How To Be An Antiracist is the action step, is how I like to describe it.

Although, you can of course read this at whatever step in the process just for a love of history and educating yourself.