47 pages • 1 hour read
Tiffany JewellThis Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work
Nonfiction | Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Author’s Note-Part 1, Chapter 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Waking Up: Understanding and Growing Into My Identities”
Author’s Note Summary
In the Author’s Note, Tiffany Jewell outlines some of the terminology choices she has made when writing This Book Is Anti-Racist. She uses the term “folx” instead of “folks” as “it is a gender neutral term created by activist communities” (7). She also capitalizes the words “Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color, and Folx of the Global Majority” (7) in order to “center the voices and lives who have been marginalized, silenced, and purposefully left out of our history for so long” (7). Jewell hopes to inspire young readers to learn about the history and contemporary reality of racism around the world. She directly addresses the reader and invites them on a journey toward anti-racist activism.
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Who Am I?”
In the first chapter, Jewell asks the reader to think about their identity. She defines identity as “everything within you and everything that surrounds you” (16) and argues that individuals get to decide how much of their identity they want to share with others. Jewell introduces the concept of the dominant culture, which is an “imaginary box” that includes people who are “white, upper middle class, cisgender male, educated, athletic, neurotypical, and/or” who don’t have a disability (20). The dominant culture decides what is considered “normal,” and anyone who does not fit into that box of normalcy is considered to be part of the “subordinate culture” (20).
Jewell explores how identities, which are multifaceted, can lie both within and without the “dominant culture” box and argues that “the world will try to tell you who you are, but you are the only person who gets to decide that” (21). She uses her own identities at the age of 14 as an example so that readers, especially younger readers, can see how their own identities might be similar or different.
The chapter closes with the first suggested activities: creating a list of one’s identities and creating an identity map.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “What Are My Social Identities?”
Chapter 2 explores social identities, which Jewell describes as identities that “have been created, named, framed, and defined by society for a very long time” (28). Social identities place people into categories, often against their will. Jewell challenges the reader to think critically about social identities and why they exist. Social identities include “race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, gender, age, language, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, nationality, abilities, [and] family structure” (30-31).
Jewell examines how certain social identities “hold power and privilege” while “others do not” (31). She looks at how these social identities interact with each other and introduces the idea of intersectionality, which is when different social identities intersect in complicated ways. For example, a Black woman “is marginalized because she is a woman and because she is Black” (34) while (for instance) a white woman is marginalized only because she is a woman, not on the basis of her race. The social identities of race and gender intersect to produce specific experiences of marginalization. Jewell uses some examples from her own life, noting that she holds privilege on the basis of being cisgender that transgender people do not hold.
The activity for Chapter 2 invites the reader to list their social identities and reflect on which ones give them power and which position them outside of the dominant culture.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “What Is Race? What Is Ethnicity?”
When Jewell talks about race, she is “referring to […] skin color,” as well as “hair texture, facial features, and cultural heritage” (37). She explains that the concept of race has been socially constructed over the years, starting in the mid-1700s, when European scientists created racial hierarchies that positioned white people at the top. Of course, there is “no scientific evidence that proves folx with the lightest skin are smarter, prettier, and better” (42). Despite this lack of evidence, racial hierarchies exist today.
Jewell also talks about the difference between race and ethnicity, defining ethnicity as “your family’s cultural and ancestral heritage—like language, traditions, and history” (40). Race and ethnicity are categorized differently in different countries, and many people do not fit neatly into one racial or ethnic category. This ambiguity helps to demonstrate that both race and ethnicity are fluid social constructs.
To illustrate this point, Jewell describes her own identity, including her race and ethnicity. She is “Black biracial,” while her family’s ethnic identity is “English, African American, French, Irish, and (I’ve been told) Sioux” (42). Because Jewell’s mother is white, however, her family was officially listed as white when she was in school.
The activity for Chapter 3 asks the reader to reflect on their own race and ethnicity.
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “What Is Racism (Personal)?”
Chapter 4 looks at the personal aspect of racism. Jewell offers several definitions of racism but notes that her preferred definition is two-fold; namely, it identifies racism both as personal or individual prejudices and biases and as the systemic power structures in society that marginalize people based on race. Though racism is “not just prejudice” (50), certain prejudices or biases can feed into personal racist beliefs. Beauty standards, for example, are biased toward white European features like pale skin and straight hair. Jewell used to try to conform to this beauty standard when she was younger by straightening her naturally curly hair, even though doing so was painful and expensive. Some people also use bleaching creams and whitening soaps to make their skin paler in accordance with these standards.
The activity encourages readers to expand on their identities and “speak truth about who [they] are” (52).
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary: “What Is Racism (Institutional)?”
Going beyond personal racism, Jewell looks at institutional racism. She opens by emphasizing that what we do not see or know affects our perceptions too. Narratives about the past can erase people from outside the dominant culture. She argues that “if stories of resistance and accomplishments are purposefully left out of our history books or told from the perspective of those in the dominant culture, we have no voice […]. The legacy we are left with is one that has been shaped by the oppressors” (55).
Next, in defining institutions, she simultaneously outlines how different social institutions perpetuate racism. Businesses might have dress codes that do not allow some forms of self-expression (like hairstyles) that are predominantly worn by people of color. The Grenfell Tower fire in London was an example of housing discrimination: A residential building was not fire safe, but its residents, who were mostly poor people and people of color, were ignored until a deadly fire. Government and justice systems in South Africa, for example, led by white colonialists in 1948, enacted a system of apartheid that would last until the 1990s. Education systems lack representation among teachers and often penalize Black and Brown students more harshly. Some racist stereotypes, like the idea that Black people have a higher pain tolerance than white people and therefore need less anesthesia, are still prevalent in the healthcare system.
The activity for Chapter 5 looks at power. Jewell asks readers to think about who wields power at their schools, in their communities, in the media, and in government. Readers should think about whether these people fit into the imaginary box of “dominant culture” and, if they do not, whether or not these people are nonetheless promoting ideas that fit into it.
Author’s Note-Part 1, Chapter 5 Analysis
The opening chapters of this book aim to introduce readers to some crucial concepts. First, the chapters define Racism and Systemic Injustices in contemporary society. Jewell relies on real-world examples of racism to make clear that these issues are very real and important. For some readers, especially young white readers, learning to recognize racism and learning how prevalent it can be is an important first step toward becoming an anti-racist activist. Some people’s position in society means that they have not had to think about racism before; other people do not have that luxury. Regardless, Jewell makes clear that this book is “for everyone.”
Jewell’s explanation of Identity, Privilege, and Intersectionality shows young readers how complex these concepts can be. The world is not just divided into people who hold all the privilege and people who hold none. She shows that “even within us, there are parts of us that hold some power and other parts that are oppressed” (31). Such intersections between identities mean that some people will have identities that fit partially into the dominant culture and partially outside of it. Recognizing those varied facets of people’s identities can help clarify how racism and other systemic injustices function in society.
Jewell states:
[K]nowing who we are, where we hold agency, how our identities came to be, and how they determine our roles in society helps us to understand ourselves and how we can change a system where some folx have privilege and power, and some folx are under-resourced and oppressed (34).
Throughout the book, Jewell notes that some parts of a person’s identity, like their race and their gender, will have a big impact on how they move through the world. Other parts of a person’s identity are more important on a personal level, like being a twin or having freckles.
In the book’s third chapter, Jewell lists her own family’s heritage. She says that she has been told that she has Oceti Sakowin (also called Sioux) Indigenous heritage, but she does not know for sure. On the one hand, in the present-day United States, unverified claims of Indigenous heritage can be problematic because of the history of anti-Indigenous racism in the country. There have been some high-profile scandals involving people claiming to be Indigenous when they were not. For instance, Sacheen Littlefeather (born Maria Louise Cruz) was a woman who claimed Apache and Yaqui heritage and took part in anti-racist Indigenous activism throughout her life. After her death, her sisters revealed that she had lied about her past, family, and culture, and that she did not actually have any Indigenous background. While Jewell is open about her uncertainty regarding her possible Oceti Sakowin heritage, she is making a potentially controversial decision by claiming it as part of her identity if she does not have a strong connection to the people and culture. On the other hand, this subject can be difficult because many Indigenous people have been alienated from their culture and heritage through a long history of cultural genocide and forced assimilation into white colonial culture. Like many of the issues that Jewell raises in her book, this one is complicated and requires further examination.
Through the activities at the end of each chapter, Jewell encourages readers to work toward Allyship, Activism, and Social Change. Particularly in these early chapters, readers are expected to do a lot of critical thinking and self-reflection. The ideas that Jewell presents may be unfamiliar, so readers may need time to fully integrate them into their own experiences before they can decide what to do next. This process of integration and reflection is especially important given that the target audience for this book is young readers. However, as Jewell notes, this book is “for everyone.” In the coming sections, Jewell prompts readers to continue this process even after completing the book, encouraging them to build a “toolbox” that includes a notebook for recording new observations and thoughts. She also makes the magnitude of the problem of racism clear. In short, as Jewell herself acknowledges, anti-racism is a lifelong undertaking.
Jewell makes some writing choices that do not necessarily reflect the full reality of the social issues she is aiming to tackle. For instance, she positions race as being primarily about “our skin color” (37), with other elements like “skin tone, hair texture, facial features, and cultural heritage” (37) being secondary. While people’s skin tone is a major contributing factor when it comes to racial categories, skin pigmentation (melanin) alone does not determine a person’s race. In fact, racism is about power. In some times and places, some people with lighter skin have not been considered white; likewise, some people with darker skin or non-European features have been considered white. For example, for part of the time that South Africa was under an Apartheid system, Japanese people were legally considered to be white because of the state of trade relations between Japan and South Africa. Jewell’s definition is not wrong, but it is incomplete and may serve to obscure the reality of race and racism instead of clarifying it.
Jewell also says that in South Africa, “‘Colored’ refers to bi- and multiracial folx” (41). This definition is also incomplete. In South Africa, “Colored” was a wide umbrella term for people with diverse racial backgrounds during the Apartheid regime, but today it also refers to “Cape Colored” people, who are descendants of specifically white, Khoi, San, and Xhosa African people, as well as enslaved people from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia and Malaysia). “Cape Colored” people largely speak Afrikaans, the language of the Dutch settlers in South Africa, or a dialect or sister language of Afrikaans called Afrikaaps. They are a specific group distinct from other groups with diverse racial backgrounds in South Africa, with their own distinct culture, history, and traditions (Khan, Razib. “The Cape Coloureds are a mix of everything.” Discover Magazine, 2011). Saying that “Colored” refers simply to people with diverse racial backgrounds oversimplifies and misunderstands historical and contemporary racial categories in South Africa.
All writers who are talking about issues of social justice need to make decisions regarding what terminology they will use, and Jewell is no different. At the beginning of the book, she notes that she is using “folx” instead of “folks,” both because it is gender neutral and because of its connection to activist groups. The term “folx” is somewhat contentious. Some people have pointed out that “folks” is already a gender-neutral word; changing the “ks” to an “x” is not necessary to make the word more inclusive. Some groups of people use “folx” to refer specifically or primarily to LGBTQ people, though this practice is not especially common. In addition, while Jewell does imply that her writing is inclusive of LGBTQ people, she is not foregrounding the LGBTQ community in her writing, potentially making the use of “folx” somewhat misleading.
“Folx” is sometimes preferred in activist spaces (especially in California) to refer explicitly to people who hold radical progressive politics. As Jewell uses the term to refer to everyone, her use of “folx” is again somewhat disconnected from the word’s connotations. Jewell’s choice is not disrespectful or incorrect, but it may be misleading or confusing for readers who are either unfamiliar with the term or who associate it with a specific group of people. As time goes by, the words used to describe groups of people will change, and that is normal. Terminology is necessarily inexact, but it can still be helpful to be aware of the potential for confusion brought about by certain word usage.
