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Colonization efforts led to intergenerational trauma among several groups. Where/how are the impacts felt in today’s society? 

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Colonization efforts led to intergenerational trauma among several groups. Where/how are the impacts felt in today’s society? 

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A universal experience among African Americans would be racial stereotyping. In the article “Overcoming Racial Stereotypes”, it explains that it is in our human nature to place people into categories. When we are young, we place less value to these categories. As we age we are subject to heavy influence from our “parents, peers, and the media, [and] our tendency to label different racial groups as superior/good or inferior/bad increases…” (p. 2). In Homegoing, Effia mentioned such labels as well, “the need to call this thing ‘good’ and this thing ‘bad;’ this thing ‘white’ and this thing ‘black’, was an impulse that Effia did not understand,” (Gyasi 23). These labels push individuals to feel as if they must fit into a specific category or place in society. In some cases, they are even denied of their own identity, culture, and experiences. This was especially prevalent in Marjorie’s life in America versus when she would visit her homeland of what was once Fanteland. Ghana is a country that was created in the colonizers absence. Marjorie explains that in America “…’white’ could be the way a person talked; ‘black,’ the music a person listened to. In Ghana you could only be what you were, what your skin announced to the world,” (Gyasi 269). In school Marjorie was made fun of for being academically inclined and not talking the way other black girls around her talked. Her own teacher told her “…it doesn’t matter where you came from first to the white people running things. You’re here now, and her black is black is black,” (Gyasi 273). This is a prime example of forcing ones pain onto another. Marjorie felt she was not African American nor Ghanian, but rather “akata” meaning she had been gone too long from the mother continent Ghana to continue to call it her mother continent. Her teacher was ignorant to her own cultural background, and projected this ignorance onto Marjorie by telling her she is black and that’s all there is to it. This projection of suffering is what causes the cycle of trauma to continue. Following generation after generation, eventually transforming into subtle forms of trauma inducing behaviors/beliefs. This often times, leads to the labelled individual to perpetuate the stereotype or invalidate themselves as others do to them. Marjorie’s father and grandmother both had visible scars that showed their suffering “and because [she] had no scars that resembled those, she could never bring herself to complain of pain,” (Gyasi 266). Marjorie wouldn’t allow herself to feel all of her emotions such as pain because those emotions failed to physically display themselves. This is apparent in families all throughout America where children know of their parents and ancestors struggles. You unknowingly learn that there must be a significant event that occurred to consider something painful or traumatic when that is not the case.

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How have you personally coped with traumas/experiences through various methods? Consider others around you, how do you think you can help them heal their trauma? 

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How have you personally coped with traumas/experiences through various methods? Consider others around you, how do you think you can help them heal their trauma? 

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Characters in the novel, Homegoing, healed their traumas through various practices of spirituality, singing, physical activity like marching, storytelling, and other traditional African rituals. These methods were passed down to generation to generation, but some individuals were stripped of these methods. In my personal experience, I have been on both ends of this. I significantly related to Willie’s struggles with singing. I went through a period where I felt my voice “wasn’t heard” after years of always being heard. When Willie had finally let her voice go, “…she saw the notes float out of her mouth like little butterflies carrying some of her sadness away, and she knew finally that she would survive it,” (Gyasi 204). The sadness floating away is something I experienced myself, and it gave me the courage to continue letting my voice be heard.   In Marjorie’s chapter, she had a summer ritual with her grandmother, Akua, that consisted of walking the coast in Ghana. Akua did this to remind Marjorie “…how to come home,” (Gyasi 268). It gave both Akua and Marjorie a sense of relief to be near the water where their ancestors lay. Without context, a simple walk may seem trivial to some just as it did to me when I was younger. Though when I got older and I put meaning and intentions in the walk, it became a healing experience. In Yaw’s chapter, the demonstration of storytelling through his teaching of "true" history was prominent. Yaw felt as though “at the front of the classroom he was not himself. He was performer in the tradition of village dancers and storytellers,” (Gyasi 229).  For Yaw, teaching history was his form of healing. He "went back" to his culture using traditional practices of storytelling to educate his students. As a white person in America, I feel I am unable to say I have culture but Yaw’s statement still resonates. Learning America’s history and how it came to be the nation it is, gives me a sense of connection and hope. I’m able to learn from the past mistakes of my ancestors, and “help” those that my ancestors oppressed, heal their traumas by not repeating the same mistakes. It also gives me the ability to encourage those oppressed, to embrace their culture. In this specific instance, white people can choose to educate themselves on how to be antiracist (See article above for further detail). Now in society, several musicians use their voice to protest the treatment of African Americans in America. In the article above, Erika Taylor says "the only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it- and then dismantle it," (p. 8 Taylor). Using your voice to speak about racism is a key step to eliminating it. The history curriculum is also beginning to see some changes in policies/content in order to better educate students on oppressed groups.

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On one hand, the release of Ibram X. Kendi's new book, How To Be An Antiracist, couldn't come at a better time.

The book hits bookstores this week amid an ongoing national debate about what qualifies as racist - and who gets to decide. Its August arrival also coincides with the 400th anniversary of the first Africans documented to reach the colony of Virginia, entering involuntary bondage in what would become the United States.

This brings up the other hand: It's difficult to imagine any point in (or, truly, before) the history of this country when Kendi's guide to recognizing and dismantling racism wouldn't be profoundly useful and necessary.

Despite the nature of its title, Kendi has gifted us with a book that is not only an essential instruction manual but also a memoir of the author's own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to antiracism. Such critical self-reflection is, in fact, the responsibility of the antiracist. Kendi explains that, "like fighting an addiction, being an antiracist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination."

The National Book Award-winning author's stories about his own racist behavior models this beautifully. Arranged chronologically, the book opens with the meeting of Kendi's parents - and moves through his first memory of experiencing racism, to high school, college, grad school and the present day. At no point does Kendi fail to identify the mistakes he made along the way - such as overcompensating for colorism during his undergraduate years. Frustrated with friends who were enraptured by his light-skinned girlfriend but ignored her darker roommate, Kendi "pledged to date only Dark women." He reflects, "I hardly realized my own racist hypocrisy: I was turning the color hierarchy upside down, but the color hierarchy remained." This transparency serves as an invitation to all of us to accept and grow from our racist behavior. It is one of many components that makes How to Be an Antiracist so accessible.

The book's structure also exemplifies a commitment to clarity for the reader. Appreciating the impossibility of effectively confronting a problem that isn't understood, Kendi begins each chapter, save the final two, with definitions. As he notes "definitions anchor us to principles. This is not a light point: If we don't do the basic work of defining the kind of people we want to be in language that is stable and consistent, we can't work toward stable, consistent goals."

Clear definitions do not mean universally agreed upon ones, however. I consider myself to be well-versed in the language and concepts of antiracist theory, and I found myself resisting Kendi's perspective on more than one occasion. Yet in every case, either his unassailable reasoning, helpful historical context, illuminating data, or some combination of the above won me over.

One of Kendi's first aims, and one likely to invite argument, is to "return the word 'racist' itself back to its proper usage." The term:

"...is not the equivalent of a slur. It is descriptive, and the only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it - and then dismantle it. The attempt to turn this usefully descriptive term into an almost unusable slur is, of course, designed to do the opposite: to freeze us into inaction."

Even the central premise of the book - that there are two ways of being in the world: racist or antiracist - may be difficult to conceive for those unwilling to relinquish the "self-definition of 'not racist.'" That's because Kendi explains that "not racist" isn't really a thing. Kendi argues that "not racist" is a term that "signifies neutrality...[b]ut there is no neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of 'racist' isn't 'not racist.' It is 'antiracist.' ... One either endorses the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist or racial equality as an antiracist."

Those who commit to striving to be the latter will find ample resources in this book. Kendi examines how racism and antiracism have played out historically and continues to manifest in the realms of biology, class, culture, space, behavior, color, ethnicity, and more. He also makes clear that antiracism "means standing ready to fight racism's intersections with other bigotries," from gender to gender identity to sexuality and beyond. Along the way, he explores everything from the history of racial categories to segregationist- and assimilationist-based racism to the OJ Simpson verdict, Chris Rock, and how race impacted the presidential election in 2000.

Throughout, while Kendi makes it plain that no race is superior to any other, he does identify a supremacy among strategies, eviscerating the idea of changing hearts and minds as the primary means of eradicating racism. Paraphrasing Assata Shakur, Kendi questions whether any "group in history has gained their freedom through appealing to the moral conscience of their oppressors." He pushes us to instead focus on policy, because while other approaches may benefit individuals, "only policy change helps groups."

Kendi's book may reveal how to join him on his "lifelong mission to be antiracist," but he doesn't suggest the path is an easy one. Maintaining a commitment to seeing the intersections of racism and other bigotries, working to build antiracist power, helping develop antiracist strategies, thinking as an antiracist - all of these efforts are continuing struggles for Kendi. After all, he points out, "Racist ideas have defined our society since its beginning and can feel so natural and obvious as to be banal.... To be an antiracist is a radical choice in the face of this history, requiring radical reorientation of our consciousness."

The effort may be daunting, but it's one we must take on if we are to dismantle the policies that continue to produce racially inequitable results in every measure of health, wealth, and well-being. Thankfully, How to Be an Antiracist gives us a clear and compelling way to approach, as Kendi puts it in his introduction, "the basic struggle we're all in, the struggle to be fully human and to see that others are fully human."

Ericka Taylor is the organizing director for DC Working Families and a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in Bloom, The Millions, and Willow Springs.

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Ibram X. Kendi Says No One Is 'Not Racist.' So What Should We Do?

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On one hand, the release of Ibram X. Kendi's new book, How To Be An Antiracist, couldn't come at a better time. The book hits bookstores this week amid an ongoing national debate about what qualifies as racist - and who gets to decide.

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How can you as a student advocate for a more accurate and diverse curriculum?

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How can you as a student advocate for a more accurate and diverse curriculum?

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In elementary and middle school years of history class, we are often taught that slavery “wasn’t as bad as it seems”. This is generally taught at a young age under the assumption that younger minds cannot comprehend big concepts like colonization and racism. Alvarez quotes a fifth-grade teacher saying “[they] already have the knowledge and understanding of social justice and how society works,” (p. 14). This then raises the question as to why our curriculum fails to teach us the harsh truth of slavery. In Homegoing, Yaw states “we believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth?” (Gyasi 226). This being incredibly true, it becomes evident our curriculum was written by the white man. For me personally, it wasn’t until high school when those questions were finally asked. Legislation in several states are being pushed to “prevent educators from teaching about systemic racism and sexism in public schools and state-funded programs,” (Alvarez p. 7). This would keep the children from learning important details about how the history racial inequality in America is still experienced today. The systems set in place too censor our learning are oppressive to minority and majority groups. We must advocate and ask for ourselves the questions Yaw says to his students. Kojo’s mother, Ma Aku, explains that they have allowed this to happen. When explaining the white man’s God to Kojo she points out that he is god because “‘we let him be. We do not fight him. We do not even question him. The White man told us he was the way, and we said yes, but when has the white man ever told us something was good for us and that thing was really good?’” (Gyasi 123). Although she’s referring to religion in this instance, the question still stands. One mustn’t always listen to one side without questioning or hearing the other. Especially in the case of history, where as Yaw puts it, “‘we cannot know that which we were not there to see and hear and experience for ourselves. We must rely upon the words of others. Those who were there in the olden days…’” (Gyasi 226).

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For more than 20 years, Misty Crompton has taught middle school social studies in Derry, N.H., and she prides herself on using a variety of well researched, scholarly documents, primary sources, and other tools to help students learn the history and experiences-whether Black or White, Latino or Asian, Native or newcomer-of those living within the United States.

"imparts honesty about who we are, integrity in how we treat others, and courage to do what's right," says Becky Pringle, president of the NEA.

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We Need to Teach the Truth About Systemic Racism, Say Educators | NEA

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For more than 20 years, Misty Crompton has taught middle school social studies in Derry, N.H., and she prides herself on using a variety of well researched, scholarly documents, primary sources, and other tools to help students learn the history and experiences-whether Black or White, Latino or Asian, Native or newcomer-of those living within the United States.