| The Columbus Dispatch
Jason Reynolds has co-written a book that would have been a great benefit to him as a teenager.
A book like “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” would have armed him with a comprehensive history of racist ideas. It would have helped him contextualize present-day inequalities. It would have reassured him that there was something wrong with society — not Black people.
“Ultimately, if I had this book in school, I just would have loved myself more,” the 37-year-old said.
Today, Reynolds, and co-author Ibram X. Kendi, have given those gifts to countless others, including central Ohioans. For the past two months, the Columbus Metropolitan Library — along with eight other local library systems in Franklin and Madison counties — have encouraged people to read “Stamped,” released in in 2020 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, as part of an area-wide book club.
And at 4 p.m. on Jan. 24, Reynolds will participate in a virtual author talk, hosted by the libraries. To register, go to www.columbuslibrary.org/one-book.
Read more: Central Ohio libraries launch area’s ‘largest book club’ to encourage reflection on racism
The effort was inspired by the national protests and conversations about racism following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.
“Stamped” is a young-adult adaptation of Kendi’s 2016 book, “Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.” (Both are New York Times bestsellers.)
After growing up in New York and Virginia, Kendi attended Florida A&M University with an intent to pursue sports journalism. After witnessing Black people fall victim to voter suppression in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, however, Kendi said he was inspired to change course.
“It caused me to really have a visceral recognition of the persistence and pervasiveness of racism,” he said.
He eventually obtained a doctorate in African American studies from Temple University in Philadelphia and become not only an award-winning author and historian, but also a leading scholar on antiracism.
“An antiracist is someone who is expressing an idea of racial equality or supporting policy that is leading to racial equity or justice,” said Kendi, 38, who lives in Boston and is the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. “Antiracism is a powerful collection of policies that lead to racial equity and are substantiated by ideas of racial equality.”
“Stamped” examines the centuries-old clash between racist and antiracist ideas through stories of American intellectuals, including Puritan minister Cotton Mather, President Thomas Jefferson, scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and activist Angela Davis.
Kendi said it was important to create a “remix” of his book with Reynolds for young adults so that population could learn not to devalue — or value — someone based solely on the color of their skin. A version for an even younger audience, “Stamped (For Kids),” adapted by writer Sonja Cherry-Paul and illustrator Rachelle Baker, will hit the shelves in May.
“The earlier we teach our young people about the history of racism, the earlier they’re going to understand how racism came to emerge in our society,” Kendi said. “And the more they have an understanding of racism, the more they’ll be able to be antiracist, to treat people equally … and to really try to build community that’s equitable and just.”
For Reynolds, the most challenging part of writing the book was making a complex and painful topic digestible — and even fun.
“It was all about, how can I take this really heavy thing and find some levity?” said Reynolds, of Washington, D.C., an award-winning writer who specializes in poetry and young-adult fiction. “How can I turn it into something that is entertaining so that it will actually stick? And that was tough because you don’t want to belittle or dismiss the severity of what we’re talking about. … But if irreverence is what gets the young people involved, irreverence is what it’s going to be.”
Reynolds works to strike a balance between using a conversational and humorous voice. For example, he breaks down the book’s core concepts of segregationists, assimilationists and antiracists into “haters,” superficial people who say they “like” you, and those who really “love” you just as you are.
Despite Reynolds’ approach targeting young people, he said “Stamped” has been banned from some schools.
“There are parents who feel like they want to control whatever is coming into the sphere of their kids, which I understand,” Reynolds said. “My only challenge with that is, well, what exactly are you afraid of? … We’re cheating our children from living informed and self-examined lives. We’re creating bubbles around our babies so that they will grow up and be just as arrogant as we are. And arrogant mixed with ignorance is a very dangerous thing.”
The young-adult version of “Stamped” has been eye-opening for adults in the central Ohio book club, which has hosted virtual book discussions that have featured prominent panelists — including politicians and other community leaders — and drawn hundreds of attendees, according to Ben Zenitsky, a spokesperson for the Columbus Metropolitan Library.
“The feedback we’ve received is that there was a real hunger for this kind of community dialogue, and there’s a real hunger for tangible action that comes from it,” Zenitsky said. “Just within the last month, Columbus has made national headlines with two Black men gunned down by law enforcement. You’d really have to be hiding under a rock not to see that this is a conversation we need to have, and we needed to have it yesterday.”
When it comes to understanding racism, Kendi said people have a long journey of learning ahead.
“People are systematically taught to not think about or talk about race or racism,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why some people, particularly white Americans, do not pursue learning on this topic, and we have to completely reverse that.”
In addition to reading, constant self-examination and correction is key, Reynolds added.
“The first thing you’ve got to do is look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘There’s bias in there,’” he said. “The only way that it all actually counts is if you’re willing to do the work.”
ethompson@dispatch.com
@miss_ethompson
At a Glance
The “One Book — One Community” free virtual author talk featuring Jason Reynolds will take place at 4 p.m. Jan. 24. Visit www.columbuslibrary.org/one-book to register.
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