the us is post slavery, post segregation, but definitely not post racism. my guest is ibram x kendi, an influential writer and academic who argues the only way to not be racist is to be actively anti racist a message he says children must hear. is his approach bound to intensify america s internal conflict? ibram x kendi, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me on. it s a pleasure to have you here. your focus right now seems to be on children, and your contention that children, very young children even, should be told about racism, even if it s not a daily reality that they are actually living with. why? because unfortunately, studies are showing that it is a daily reality that they re living with. one study found that kids as early as three years old have what one scholar called an adult like concept of race . they re already attaching skin colour to behaviours like who s smart, who s clean, and even who s honest. and so, if we re not teaching children to not connect
an influential writer and academic who argues the only way to not be racist is to be actively anti racist a message he says children must hear. is his approach bound to intensify america s internal conflict? ibram x kendi, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me on. it s a pleasure to have you here. your focus right now seems to be on children, and your contention that children, very young children even, should be told about racism, even if it s not a daily reality that they are actually living with. why? because unfortunately, studies are showing that it is a daily reality that they re living with. one study found that kids as early as three years old have what one scholar called an adult like concept of race . they re already attaching skin colour to behaviours like who s smart, who s clean, and even who s honest. and so, if we re not teaching children to not connect skin colour to behaviour, to recognise that, you know, someone s skin colour is not a reflection of
their intentions to run. those are the headlines. now on bbc news, it s hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. the fractures in american society are widening over guns, abortion, education, and more. but the deepest, most traumatic fracture is surely over race and it impacts all of the others. the us is post slavery, post segregation, but definitely not post racism. my guest is ibram x kendi, an influential writer and academic who argues the only way to not be racist is to be actively anti racist a message he says children must hear. is his approach bound to intensify america s internal conflict? ibram x kendi, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me on. it s a pleasure to have you here. your focus right now seems to be on children, and your contention that children, very young children even, should be told about racism, even if it s not a daily reality that they are actually living with. why? because unfortunately, studies are showing that it is a daily
so, it wasn t actually what we re saying. it s what they were distorting and weaponising, you know, in the course of the political process. your notion that this is a systemic issue and it infects all different aspects of us society it seems to go into, for example, your view of the way the health care system works, your view of the way in which the roe versus wade supreme court decision is unfolding and the impact that the supreme court decision will have on different groups, communities across america. explain to me how you think ultimately these are all part of the anti racist agenda? well, let s take health care so black people are more likely to die of eight of the ten leading causes of death in the united states. there s two explanations for that. either there s something genetically or culturally, or behaviourally wrong with black people, and that s why they re dying at greater rates than white people of eight of the ten leading causes of death
is seeking to make white children feel bad which critical race theorists, let alone anti racist teachers, are certainly not seeking to do. so, it was all to really anger and inflame white voters. so, it wasn t actually what we re saying. it s what they were distorting and weaponising, you know, in the course of the political process. your notion that this is a systemic issue and it infects all different aspects of us society it seems to go into, for example, your view of the way the health care system works, your view of the way in which the roe versus wade supreme court decision is unfolding and the impact that the supreme court decision will have on different groups, communities across america. explain to me how you think ultimately these are all part of the anti racist agenda? well, let s take health care so black people are more likely to die of eight of the ten leading causes of death in the united states.