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.
Part 4, Chapters 15-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 4: “Holding the Door Open: Working in Solidarity Against Racism”
Part 4, Chapter 15 Summary: “Spending That Privilege”
Chapter 15 looks at the ways that people can use their privilege to “change perceived normality” (168). It reminds readers of the intersectionality of identity and reflects that most people have some kind of privilege that they can use to support other people. Jewell gives examples from her own life: her light skin gives her some “some access to whiteness” (167), and she strives to use this “adjacency to the dominant culture” to help “people who are on the margins” (167). She encourages people to “learn from folx who are outside the box of the dominant culture” (169).
The activity for this chapter returns to the idea of the box that dominant culture calls for everyone to fit into. Inside a box, Jewell instructs readers to “write down the identities [they] hold that are a part of the dominant culture” (172). Outside the box, they should write down their marginalized identities.
Part 4, Chapter 16 Summary: “Allyship”
This chapter examines the ways that people can be better allies to one another. Jewell lists some of the ways she herself is working on being a better ally and reminds readers that “being an ally is lifelong work” (178) that requires constant reflection and effort. She also gives examples of how the reader can engage in allyship in their own lives. These examples include calling out racism, engaging with media created by and about people of color, or requesting more books written by people of color in schools. Sometimes, allyship will involve making mistakes, and that is fine.
The activity for Chapter 16 involves thinking about listening. Jewell asks the reader who listens to them, who they listen to, and when they will decide between listening and interrupting.
Part 4, Chapter 17 Summary: “Building Relationships”
Jewell talks about the importance of not doing anti-racist work alone. She reflects that the times she tried to act alone left her burnt out, frustrated, and defeated. Instead, she encourages readers to find their people, “those [they] can trust with [their] vision for justice” (181-82). She returns to the idea of privilege and notes that her “proximity to whiteness has allowed [her] to travel more freely throughout the dominant culture” (184). She reflects on some of the advantages that her privilege affords her and challenges the reader to think about their own privileges.
The activity continues the project of examining privilege. Jewell instructs the reader to think about how they can use their privilege to disrupt racism.
Part 4, Chapter 18 Summary: “Love Yourself”
Chapter 18 highlights the importance of self-love as well as loving others. Jewell states that when doing anti-racist work, it is also important to set clear boundaries and say no if necessary. She suggests some ways that the reader can take the time to celebrate themselves and take pride in what they have accomplished.
The activity asks readers to think about how they will set boundaries and celebrate themselves and those around them.
Part 4, Chapter 19 Summary: “How We Grow”
Jewell discusses the importance of continuing to learn and grow. She talks about a time when she reacted poorly to a white friend’s comment, and how she should have called him in, not out. She sees the call out as something that “stalled [their] working in solidarity with one another” and reflects that it “didn’t allow [them] to have an open conversation about power and privilege” (195). Jewell concludes that she is always learning. She also challenges the reader to think about discomfort as a place from where growth takes place and suggests some things that people can do if they make a mistake.
The activity asks the reader to acknowledge their own mistakes and reflect on what they might do differently next time.
Part 4, Chapter 20 Summary: “Our Freedom”
In the final chapter, Jewell concludes by talking about how anti-racist work will free everyone. She tells the reader that they are “ready to work in solidarity with others” (201) toward this goal. The paths that people take toward anti-racism are all different, because every person is different. Jewell admits that “it may feel uncomfortable when our different paths connect because our experiences and histories are different” (202), but that everyone has different strengths that are important when building solidarity.
Part 4, Chapters 15-20 Analysis
In the final section of the book, Jewell brings her analysis of Racism and Systemic Injustices full circle. She encourages readers to synthesize what they have learned and integrate that learning into their own lives. She argues that “racism harms us all” (174), so everyone can benefit from dismantling it. At the same time, she acknowledges that racism actually materially benefits white people and materially disadvantages people of color; it must be dismantled to create a more just and equitable society. It is possible for racism to benefit some people and still be an unjust system that should not exist.
Jewell acknowledges her own complex relationship to Identity, Privilege, and Intersectionality. As a Black biracial woman with light skin, she sometimes gets some of the benefits associated with whiteness that are not granted to other people of color; in short, her “proximity to whiteness has allowed [her] to travel more freely throughout the dominant culture” (184). She raises the idea of spending one’s privilege, which means deliberately using a position of privilege to uplift others. That might mean using one’s platform to amplify other people’s voices, using financial capital to assist anti-racist efforts, and building relationships that are based on solidarity. Identity and privilege are complicated concepts that are generally unique to individual people. For that reason, the ways that different people are able to spend their privilege will vary considerably.
The path toward Allyship, Activism, and Social Change sometimes involves making mistakes and then doing better next time. Jewell helps young readers understand that trying is better than not trying, even if the results are imperfect or messy. Young activists can work on calling people out and calling people in so that they can use those skills throughout their lives. The activities that Jewell recommends for readers may provide a starting point that could lead to more meaningful change in the future. That said, sometimes, the activities do become repetitive, including several that ask readers to list aspects of their identity and consider which ones hold privilege and which do not.
When considering her own relationship to privilege, Jewell notes that people may be more likely to listen to her because she does not “speak in African American Vernacular English (AAVE)” (167). While the book’s glossary defines AAVE as “a dialect of English that is stigmatized due to the history of racism in America” (211), this definition lacks detail. The term “AAVE” is actually somewhat outdated; AAE, or African American English, is now preferred. The use of “vernacular” implies that the dialect is casual or informal, which is not accurate (The Oxford Handbook of African American Language, edited by Sonja Lanehart, Oxford University Press, 2015). People who speak AAE use the dialect in all aspects of their daily lives, just like speakers of Standard American English do.
All dialects, including AAE, are equally complex, rule-bound, and functional modes of speech. Some dialects of English and of other languages are heavily stigmatized because they are associated with people of color (in this case, Black people) or because they are primarily spoken by people from lower socio-economic classes. People who speak AAE may experience discrimination and may be taken less seriously in certain contexts, like job interviews. Not all Black Americans speak AAE (Jewell, for instance, does not), and not all speakers of AAE are Black, though most are. Linguistic discrimination is yet another way that racism can materially disadvantage people of color and privilege white people in America and around the world.
Jewell states that if she is ever pulled over while driving, she does not “have to worry about being killed by the police officer who pulled me over like Philando Castile or taken to jail like Sandra Bland” (184). As in the third section of her book, Jewell downplays the dangers that police officers can pose. Because police officers are in a position of authority, there is no guarantee that they will treat anyone fairly during a traffic stop. People of color, especially Black people (including Jewell) do in fact have to worry about these things because of the reality of racism in the world. All women (including Jewell) also run the risk of experiencing gendered violence in situations with a large power imbalance like a traffic stop. Although Jewell discusses intersectionality several times in This Book Is Anti-Racist, she sometimes fails to apply the lens of intersectionality to her own life and experiences as a Black biracial woman.
