Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Nic Stone: ‘How to Be a (Young) Antiracist’ Book Tour

From school board meetings to the halls of Congress, debates over what children should be allowed to read has become rampant. Buzz phrases such as “critical race theory” circulate on Twitter daily, and book bans are increasingly common.

Nonetheless, on Jan. 31, acclaimed authors Ibram X. Kendi and Nic Stone published “How to Be a (Young) Antiracist.” This young-adult spinoff of Kendi’s 2019 bestseller “How to Be an Antiracist” hit shelves just days after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a statewide ban on the newly developed AP African American History Course, and shortly before teachers in Manatee County Florida received a directive to shroud their bookshelves of material that could violate the parameters of Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” and thus incriminate teachers.

The same week that these headlines made their way across the country, so did Kendi and Stone, who traveled to red and blue states for their “How to Be A (Young) Antiracist” book tour. From Texas to California, the authors and their publisher, Penguin Teen, collaborated with independent bookstores to host moderated panel discussions for fans of all ages.

The tour’s final stop was right here in Cambridge, in partnership with Porter Square Books and Cambridge Public Schools. As the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and the Founding Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, Kendi remarked over the applause of local fans that he was “excited to be able to end this tour here at home.” Held at Temple Beth Shalom in Central Square, pews were packed for the entirely sold-out event, which was moderated by a Cambridge Rindge and Latin School senior.

Narrated by Nic Stone, “How to Be a (Young) Antiracist” offers a fictional retelling of Kendi’s life and experiences with racism. It creatively starts and ends with the story of Kendi’s speech for an MLK Oratorical contest in the year 2000. Written as a prophecy to an older Kendi, the book begins by criticizing his very own speech. As stated by Nic Stone during the event, young Kendi “spout[ed] a series of racist ideas… with bounding applause in the audience.” Stone then proceeds to use an array of stories from Kendi’s youth to introduce anti-racist concepts and definitions to young readers. Ultimately, the book ends with a letter to Stone from a 17-year-old Kendi, who finds “How to Be a (Young) Antiracist” on his bookshelf on the eve of his speech. He then rewrites his speech with the help of her insight, exemplifying the influence of this book.

This unique second-person, non-sequential narration was of great interest to the audience, who learned that Stone chose to start the book with the story of 17-year-old Kendi’s failure because she “wants young people to see that even a McArthur Genius… came through a period of time where even he had some racist ideas” which is meant “to set a young reader up to see that… [Kendi] is just like [you].”

Though the book was written with young readers in mind, it goes without saying that many young people choose to spend their free time scrolling rather than reading. This was not lost on the authors, who spoke at length about their vision for the project.

“When I write books,” Stone explained, “the goal for me is to break focus because it is a way to keep young eyes […] engaged on what [they're] looking at.”

Breaking the fourth wall, Stone sprinkles post-it note style “Nic’s Notes” throughout the book, which provide narrative-breaking commentary on aspects of the story.

When asked about their use, Stone remarked that “they are designed to drag readers’ eyes away from the text […] because the audience has grown up with Instagram.”

Beyond the process of writing, audience members were interested to hear about the significance of a book that details controversial material. Spurred by the high school student moderator’s question about the importance of this work, Stone shared that anti-racism rejects all ideas that place one group over another: “Seeing everything as equally valuable has opened me up to so many other people that I may or may not have started a conversation with” Stone reflected.

Yet both authors still recognized the challenge of writing about anti-racism. When asked what drives his writing, Kendi shared that he stays motivated “knowing that there are many people in this country who can’t tap out of being harmed by racism.”

As stated by Stone, “we all have the space to do hard things and live softly.” It’s this philosophy that is at the very core of “How to Be a (Young) Antiracist” — a piece of literature and movement that successfully and gently introduces topics of anti-racism to the next generation.