How to Be an Antiracist Characters

Ibram X. Kendi

Kendi was born to and raised by two Black activists, Christians, and intellectuals. He had a comfortable upbringing in New York and Virginia, loved reading and basketball, was not a particularly good student, was accepted to Florida A&M, and, from an early age, grappled with what it meant to be Black and what his conceptions of race, racial power, and racism meant to him and to the wider society. As he grew older, he abandoned racist ideas regarding Black behavior, culture, bodies, etc. in order to embrace antiracism. He is forthright, honest, and self-critical in this work, explaining how he also harbored homophobic and sexist views and sought/seeks to abandon them. Kendi received his doctorate from Temple University in African American Studies and has written several books besides this one. He is married to Sadiqa Kendi, and they have one child; both he and Sadiqa beat cancer. As of July 2020 (not mentioned in Antiracist), he is moving to Boston University to head up an institute on antiracism.

Larry Rogers

Kendi's father, with whom he has a good relationship. As a young man, Kendi admired but was sometimes embarrassed by his father's unequivocal Blackness. Larry was an intellectual, a would-be poet, and a Christian interested in Black liberation theology and its intersection with the Black Power movement. He settled for a career in accounting and raising his family.

Carol Rogers

Kendi's mother, with whom he has a good relationship. She is described as being very Christian and spending time as a missionary, feminist-oriented in some respects but privy to ideas of uplift suasion, a kind and strong mother, and smart and passionate about civil rights. She and Larry were part of the Black Power era, especially in its intersection with Black theology. After she married and had her sons, she settled for a career in healthcare technology. At the end of the book, Kendi reveals that she had breast cancer but survived.

Gil

A neighbor of Kendi's, Gil (along with his two brothers) was Haitian. Through Gil, Kendi learned a little Haitian culture, but he felt Gil's parents always held him at arm's length. Through his memories of Gil, Kendi explores ethnic racism.

Kwame

A peer of Kendi's in eighth grade, Kwame was "popular, funny, good-looking, athletic, and cool—yet his Ghanaian ethnicity trumped all" (57). Kendi uses the story of how he and his friends joked with Kwame to explore the issues regarding ethnic racism.

Angela

Kendi's high school classmate, who encourages him to enter the Martin Luther King Jr. oratory contest.

Clarence

Kendi's Black roommate at FAMU and a close friend of his. Clarence was handsome, driven, and patient with Kendi's epiphanies and ideas.

The White Teacher

This teacher disproportionately favored the White kids in Kendi's class; eventually, Kendi snapped, yelled at her, and became intransigent. Though she modified her behavior later, Kendi could not forget her treatment of the students of color.

Smurf

A teenage Black boy at Kendi's school. Smurf is tough and scary, showing kids his gun and beating them up on the bus. Kendi makes assumptions about Black behavior; however, he ultimately comes to realize that even though individuals like Smurf could be bad, there was no such thing as "Black behavior."

Kaila and Yaba

Two brilliant, independent, and self-assured Black women at Temple University; they helped lead the African American Studies department. Through them, Kendi learned about gender racism and queer racism. His conversations with the two women could be challenging, and he was deeply grateful for their patience with him.

Weckea

Weckea was Kendi's best friend at Temple. A few years older than Kendi, Weckea was a calm, laid-back, extremely inquisitive Black man. He was also gay, which Kendi did not know until another friend told him, at which point Kendi had to come to terms with his own homophobia.

Ama Mazama

Kendi's beloved dissertation adviser at Temple. Mazama is from Guadelupe and studied at the Sorbonne. She "loved African traditions deep in her soul" (166) and was one of the most intelligent people Kendi ever encountered. She helped him to be objective and always strive for the truth, and he respected her fearlessness and seriousness.