This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work

Jewell tells a story from her childhood in which a white teacher demonstrates her overt racism toward Black and Brown children in the classroom. Jewell remembers being unable to understand why this teacher was allowed to stay at the school, and why “none of the other adults care[d] that she was so unkind and unjust towards us, nine- and ten-year olds” (71). Jewell explores how some kinds of racism are easy to recognize, like the racism of her teacher, while others are less overt. 

Microaggressions are one kind of subtle racism. Jewell defines a microaggression as an “intentional or unintentional insult, slight, or hostile, negative message to folx who do not fit into the imaginary box of dominant culture” (73). An example of a microaggression could be a white person asking a person of color where they are from on the assumption that people of color do not belong in countries like America or Britain. Microaggressions can lead to internalized racism, where a person begins to believe negative racial stereotypes about I and others. This chapter expands on the concept of personal racism and looks at how it “reinforces the power of the institutions” that “uphold prejudice with racist laws and policies” (74).