{"id":37789,"date":"2020-06-10T16:31:11","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T20:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=37789"},"modified":"2021-08-19T11:22:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T15:22:30","slug":"review-of-stamped-by-jason-reynolds-and-ibram-x-kendi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=37789","title":{"rendered":"Review of Stamped, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Stamped<\/p>\n

Racism, Antiracism, and You<\/em><\/p>\n

by Jason Reynolds
\nand Ibram X. Kendi
\nread by Jason Reynolds<\/p>\n

Little, Brown Young Readers, 2020. eaudiobook. 4 hours, 11 minutes.
\nReview written June 10, 2020, from a library eaudiobook.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

Wow. This book claims more than once that it is NOT a history book, it is a NOW book. All the same, I learned more about history \u2013 and how it relates to my own life in the present \u2013 in four short hours than I have learned in a long time.<\/p>\n

This book is a \u201cremix\u201d of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi\u2019s book for adults, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America<\/em>. I heard the two authors talk about it in an event sponsored by School Library Journal<\/em> last week, and they said that Jason Reynolds did the writing, in order to appeal to young people, and he used the original book as his research material. They said that Dr. Kendi was kind of like Jason\u2019s research assistant. (And then they both laughed.)<\/p>\n

The result? Yes, it\u2019s written in a way that children can understand and not be bored and will grasp the nuances. But he doesn\u2019t speak down to children, and there\u2019s absolutely nothing that would make an adult feel like it\u2019s beneath them. So I think the result is an interesting and dynamic summary of Dr. Kendi\u2019s work, presented in a way that will have you mesmerized. (Jason Reynolds reading it is especially good.) <\/p>\n

It\u2019s short \u2013 only a little over 4 hours \u2013 and packed with information. To be honest, I retain information better when I see it than when I hear it. So I\u2019m planning to read both this book and the original adult book in print form so I can refer back and better absorb all that information. But listening to it first did get my eyes opened.<\/p>\n

The authors talk about three kinds of attitudes. The first is Racism, which they say is a system, and a set of ideas, not a set of people. A person may express racist and antiracist ideas all in the same day, let alone all in the same lifetime. Therefore saying, \u201cI\u2019m not a racist.\u201d isn\u2019t helpful, because you may have both antiracist attitudes about some things and racist attitudes about other things. It\u2019s also good to be aware how much racism is baked into our culture, so it\u2019s hard to escape.<\/p>\n

Racist attitudes developed because people wanted to justify slavery. The authors even cite the first racist. Other people may have had the same attitudes before him, but he qualified as the first racist because he wrote about those ideas in a book that was widely read, making people feel good about enslaving Africans, with various justifications given to emphasize that they were inferior to whites and destined by God for slavery.<\/p>\n

The second kind of attitude is Assimilationism. The assimilationist attitude is that black people can be good and worthy \u2013 if they become like white people. These ideas are much more subtly racist. On the surface, they look like they are uplifting black people, but when you look more closely, they talk about exceptional black people who achieve success, and imply that those who do not check off the boxes are less than these others.<\/p>\n

The third attitude is the one to strive for, Antiracism. This attitude sees the inherent good in all people, and doesn\u2019t imply that black people need to change in order to be fully human and fully worthy of respect.<\/p>\n

The book shows how racist ideas are baked into our culture, and how laws have been made to reinforce those ideas. This Not-a-History Book did go through and explain ways Racism affected our laws and culture even after slavery was officially ended. When he talked about the 70s and 80s, I was shocked by how many things he cited, which I\u2019d heard from my parents, were based in racism \u2013 without openly admitting they were based in racism. And he talked about how people could run for office without openly talking about racist attitudes while at the same time playing on racist fears.<\/p>\n

Something that was striking to hear, knowing that it had been written well before current events and our current president\u2019s tweet last week \u2013 was how the phrase \u201cLaw and Order\u201d was used in campaigns to send the message that this person was going to crack down on black people \u2013 while pretending they\u2019re only going to crack down on crime.<\/p>\n

The book didn\u2019t touch Trump\u2019s presidency, stopping with the election and presidency of Barack Obama, while still pointing out the backlash from that and never implying that was by any means the end of racism. I was a little disappointed it stopped there, especially as I am seeing racist issues play out before my eyes. Maybe there is too much material?<\/p>\n

But my goodness, I was shaken and enlightened by this book. I do plan to go over it again in print form, as well as reading the adult book it\u2019s based on.<\/p>\n

I highly recommend this book to anyone. Now, on the one hand, I don\u2019t feel qualified to tell any black person what books they should read about racism. On the other hand, it was written by two black men, and it goes beyond personal experience and points out history that you won\u2019t hear about in school, so it has something to offer them as well. As for white folks like me? Well, I for one had so much to learn from this book. If you read it or listen to it, you\u2019ll be thinking these things over for a long time to come. And as a NOW book \u2013 you\u2019re going to now be able to spot racist and assimilationist ideas when they happen around you.<\/p>\n

jasonwritesbooks.com<\/a>
\nibramxkendi.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/stamped.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library eaudiobook from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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