“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. “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.”įor Reynolds, the most challenging part of writing the book was making a complex and painful topic digestible - and even fun. “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. 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. 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. Du Bois, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and activist Angela Davis. “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. “Antiracism is a powerful collection of policies that lead to racial equity and are substantiated by ideas of racial equality.” “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. 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. “It caused me to really have a visceral recognition of the persistence and pervasiveness of racism,” he said.

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.

After growing up in New York and Virginia, Kendi attended Florida A&M University with an intent to pursue sports journalism.

Stamped by Jason Reynolds