![His mission: changing how we think about racism](https://cdn.magzter.com/1452683603/1676558998/articles/QhwBfcYFt1676882730085/HIS-MISSION-CHANGING-HOW-WE-THINK-ABOUT-RACISM.jpg)
Initially I was wary: The title had the ring of self-help, the ideology that personal effort can fix anything. It sounded like one of those books that make the bold and arguably illogical claim that just about everything is within the individual’s control. They do not demand system change, but personal effort.
But its new companion volume, How to Be a (Young) Antiracist, co-authored by young-adult novelist Nic Stone and published on Jan. 31, illuminates just how much that’s not the case. In a format accessible to younger readers, the book explores how we are gradually drafted into the thinking and lies that can render a person unable, or at least unwilling, to challenge the systems and practices that masquerade as normal, functional, and fair. In reality, many of those systems drive inequality along with pervasive belief in group inferiority or superiority. In it, I found a book that tries to equip young people living in the midst of surround-sound injustice and almost gleeful bigotry with the language and skills to recognize they too have been enlisted. Then it calls on them to decide if, where, and how they revolt.
Kendi and Stone do this by encouraging the reader to follow Kendi through his journey from an academically insecure Black teen to a leading thinker and writer on race, a professor and director of the Boston University Center for Anti racist Research. I sat down with Kendi in January.
This story is from the February 07 - March 06, 2023 (Double Issue) edition of Time.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February 07 - March 06, 2023 (Double Issue) edition of Time.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
![maximum-security prison, In a the imagination flies free](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12427/1754864/hIUgljs-Y1720168163171/MAXIMUMSECURITY-PRISON-IN-A-THE-IMAGINATION-FLIES-FREE.jpg)
maximum-security prison, In a the imagination flies free
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND IS how most Americans probably think about incarcerated individualsuntil an acquaintance or a loved one lands in a correctional facility, after plotting a crime or perhaps just acting impulsively in a heated moment.
![WHY HUNGARY IS SO GOOD AT WATER POLO](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12427/1754864/zkJjpdxSF1720168022333/WHY-HUNGARY-IS-SO-GOOD-AT-WATER-POLO.jpg)
WHY HUNGARY IS SO GOOD AT WATER POLO
ARRIVING HOME A WORLD champion in the summer of 2023, Hungarian water-polo player Vince Vigvari got a taste of the rock-star life.
![THE HARDEST SPORTS ON THE BODY](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12427/1754864/rmAPPN-YB1720167915662/THE-HARDEST-SPORTS-ON-THE-BODY.jpg)
THE HARDEST SPORTS ON THE BODY
Athletes are competitive by nature, so when they get together for a massive sporting event like the Olympics, there's likely a bit of good-natured oneupmanship over whose event is hardest.
![THE FLASH](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12427/1754864/tTGVyEM3M1720167525066/THE-FLASH.jpg)
THE FLASH
ALREADY THE WORLD'S FASTEST MAN, NOAH LYLES IS BRINGING HIS SPEED AND SHOWMANSHIP TO THE PARIS GAMES
![A SHOW OF PEACE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12427/1754864/ccmjW-Ecg1720167088719/A-SHOW-OF-PEACE.jpg)
A SHOW OF PEACE
Andriy Yermak has been President Zelensky's closest wartime adviser. Now he's trying to find an ending.
![PLASTIC BURNOUT](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12427/1754864/dZM_ycpiB1720166471334/PLASTIC-BURNOUT.jpg)
PLASTIC BURNOUT
Fiji is ground zero for the planet's waste problem and the challenge of stopping it at the source
![On Her Own](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12427/1754864/slV_JVA6C1720165870317/ON-HER-OWN.jpg)
On Her Own
Melinda French Gates talks about her divorce, her life, and her post-Gates Foundation plan to help the world by helping women.
![The true meaning of 'give me liberty'](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12427/1754864/LmCOoLoI91720165584816/THE-TRUE-MEANING-OF-GIVE-ME-LIBERTY.jpg)
The true meaning of 'give me liberty'
ALMOST 250 YEARS AGO, FOUR weeks before the battles of Lexington and Concord, Patrick Henry rose in St. John's Church in Richmond, Va., to urge Americans to arm for a war that he saw as inevitable. He famously concluded his call to arms: \"Give me liberty, or give me death.\"
![The Putin-Kim affair](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12427/1754864/a5WvIt1tq1720165103061/THE-PUTINKIM-AFFAIR.jpg)
The Putin-Kim affair
VLADIMIR PUTIN'S recent trip to North Korea was a remarkable event for many reasons.
![CHINA'S ROVING EYE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12427/1754864/d-kki9rGB1720164894439/CHINAS-ROVING-EYE.jpg)
CHINA'S ROVING EYE
It wasn't so long ago that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his country's relationship with China \"a marriage made in heaven.\" And when President Joe Biden told reporters in March 2023 that he wasn't inviting Netanyahu to Washington given his plans to undermine Israel's independent judiciary, Netanyahu planned a visit to President Xi Jinping in China instead.