By Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
This is Part 1 of a multiple series of reviews.
Reynolds, a children’s book author, and Kendi, a University of Boston professor teamed up to write a teenager version of Kendi’s college level book Stamped From the Beginning. The Stamped website states it is for ages “12 and up”. There is also a Stamped teachers guide that was part of the February 2020 Staff Academy Day Training. https://beacon4mariemontschools.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Stamped-Educator-Guide-1.pdf
This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.
Kendi & Reynolds
Although they claim it is not a history book, the entire book focuses on history, and entirely through a racial lens. There is much to unpack in their book. It will not all be done in this article. Below is a preview of future articles on Stamped, and other Ibram X. Kendi books.
“A club for smart white people, thinkers, philosophers and racists. See, in the Enlightenment era, light was seen as a metaphor for intelligence and also whiteness. And this is what Franklin was bringing to America through his club of ingenious fools.” Pages 41-42
The author here is describing The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin. It is still in existence today. Early members included: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison. The author describes the founding fathers of America as fools and racists. Not once in this chapter was there anything positive stated about this period of America. The metaphor about “light” and “whiteness” is quite the stretch, and is pretty much what this book is about, but then “This is NOT a history book.”
Kendi and Reynolds deserve immediate challenge concerning one of the book’s premises – that in the Enlightenment Period “light” inferred “intelligence” and “whiteness.” Metaphors concerning light and darkness throughout history and across cultures predominantly result from the Earth’s rotation (i.e. day and night), not levels of melanin pigmentation.
“Enlightenment” is no more “racist” than a cartoon with a “light” bulb over one’s head signifying an “idea.” Similarly, a reference to being “in the dark” is not a sign of white supremacy. We humans have difficulty seeing without light. However, to Kendi and his adherents, EVERYTHING, ALWAYS is viewed through a lens of racism, irrespective of supporting evidence or simple common sense. This view is essentially the theme of the entire book.
The next article in the Stamped series will focus on the 3 types of people in American history up to today: Racists, Assimilationists, and Antiracists.