Antiracist Baby

This #thankyouthursday, I am grateful for Antiracist Baby, a new book for babies (and, really, everyone who has ever been a baby) by Ibram X. Kendi.

My gratitude is twofold: 1) I am grateful to have something so worth reading to B, and 2) I am grateful to be inspired myself.

To the first point, even though B is just three months old, he is already willing and able to pay attention to books—IF they interest him. It’s surprising to me that a child so young can already show preference, but he does, so I am glad he finds the content of Antiracist Baby to be captivating. We read it multiple times a day.

As for the second point, I believe that to a large extent, we are what we read (or watch, or listen to), so it’s important to be discerning. When I repeatedly read the nine points made in Antiracist Baby—don’t be color blind; do confess racism; blame policies, not people; etc.—I am programming my own beliefs as much as I’m shaping my son’s.

I very much want B to be an antiracist baby...and an antiracist kid, tween, teen, and adult. And to achieve that goal, it helps if he has antiracist parents and can grow up in an antiracist community—something this deceptively simple book can help create.

Love > fear,
Christina

p.s. Not interested in the baby book? I am also grateful for Stamped, the impressively digestible YA "remix" of Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award–winning Stamped from the Beginning.