Chapter 11 - How To Be An Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi

Chapter 11 - Black

Powerless Defense: The illusory, concealing, disempowering, and racist idea that Black people can’t be racist because Black people don’t have power. 

“When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him to stand here or go yonder. He wiki find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in it.” Carter G. Woodson

“The powerless defense shields people of color from charges of racism even when they are reproducing racist policies and justifying them with the same racist ideas as the White people they call racist.” Pg. 140

No matter what position I hold I will have the power to be an antiracist. No matter the position anyone holds, they will have the power to promote antiracist ideas and policies.

Self-Examination.
Before reading this chapter and learning how to be an antiracist, I was promoting the racist idea of the powerless effect. Now, I understand how this has been used to mask the racism of those who in their positions promoted racist ideas and policies. Carter Woodson’s quote supports the idea that Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian and Middle Eastern people could hold and express racist ideas. I have learned that history is not a conflict between White and Black but between racists and antiracists.

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