How to Be an Antiracist: Chapter 3: Power Summary & Analysis

Kendi defines race as “a power construct of collected or merged difference that lives socially.”

Kendi remembers visiting an elementary school in the suburbs when he was seven. Like many American parents, his mom and dad didn’t want him to attend his neighborhood elementary school, where the students were mainly poor and Black. Kendi asked why the suburban school only had one Black teacher. He explains why: he spent his childhood reading biographies of Black political and cultural leaders and was already going through “racial puberty,” or becoming aware of how race and racism shape society.

Race is a very powerful force, but it’s also “a mirage.” When Kendi calls himself Black, he’s not saying that “Blackness, or race, is a meaningful scientific category.” Rather, race is a product of history—especially the history of racist policies. By identifying as Black, Kendi aligns himself with other Black people, marginalized groups, and struggles for justice. Meanwhile, whiteness is considered a neutral or default identity in the United States, so many white people never have to think about what it means to be white or recognize the advantages that whiteness gives them. Ultimately, all racial identities are products of power. In other words, race is a way of dividing people into groups, which allows those in power to treat these groups differently.

The construct of race first emerged in 15th-century in Portugal. Until that point, anyone could be enslaved in Europe—but Prince Henry the Navigator realized that it would be more profitable to stop dealing with middlemen and instead send ships to directly enslave people in West Africa. Prince Henry’s biographer, Gomes de Zurara, grouped all of these African people together—regardless of the color of their skin, the language they spoke, or their ethnic identities.

The word “race” came into common usage about a century later, as a way to create a ranked hierarchy of different kinds of people. But Gomes de Zurara’s hierarchy was “the first racist idea.” He compared Africans to animals who lacked reason and morality. The Spanish and Portuguese eventually applied the same logic in the Americas. They labeled all the indigenous people they encountered as “Indians” and then argued that Black people were strong—natural laborers to be enslaved—while Indians were weak—and naturally deserved extermination. The modern four-way racial hierarchy emerged in 1755, when Carl Linnaeus divided the world into “White, Yellow, Red, and Black” people and, unsurprisingly, put white Europeans on top. Next were “strict, haughty, greedy” Asians; then “ill-tempered, impassive” indigenous Americans; and finally “crafty, slow, careless” Africans.

Gomes de Zurara used the concept of race to argue that Prince Henry was civilizing African people by enslaving them, not just exploiting them for profit. This would improve Prince Henry’s reputation and defend him from criticism. Kendi explains that this is usually how racist power, policies, and ideas relate: “a racist power creates racist policies out of raw self-interest [and] the racist policies necessitate racist ideas to justify them.” Most people have it backwards—they think that hate and ignorance create racist ideas, which lead to racist policies. But, in reality, racist power’s self-interest always comes first.

Kendi returns to his memory of visiting the suburban elementary school and asking the sole Black teacher why there were no others. She replied that the school hadn’t hired any, and she didn’t know why. Kendi was confused, but his dad changed the subject. Kendi ended up in a different school.