Understanding History Is Essential to Combating Racism

Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, explains how to be an antiracist.

Countering racism is essential to the formation of a just and equitable society — so how can we fight it? Ibram X. Kendi says to be able to recognize racism we need to define it and then understand it’s opposite: antiracism. In his new best-selling book How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi explains that racism changes the way we see and value others and ourselves. How can we recognize racism and work to oppose it? In his conversation with Jemele Hill, staff writer for The Atlantic, Kendi talks about his own battle with racism, why it’s so difficult to talk productively about racism, and why an understanding of history is essential to combating racism. Listen to the "Aspen Ideas to Go" podcast episode or watch the session video.

Progress and Struggle: Race in US Society

Race has divided our country since colonization — some call slavery America's original sin. US history, from the Civil War to Jim Crow and Black Lives Matter, is defined as conspicuously by racial strife as it is by great achievements. So what does racial progress actually mean in practice? How do you fight not just prejudicial policies, but prejudicial minds? Watch and listen to insights from our speakers.

QUOTED AT THE FESTIVAL

"I want people to change how they think about health in America. Health is about housing, it’s about jobs, education, community, and removing barriers from things like structural racism. If we keep talking about health as access to health care, we’re not going to be a healthier nation." — Richard Besser, The Influence of Housing on Health (Aspen Ideas: Health)

"There’s a sense with history sometimes that there’s a lightness to things that are absolutely awful." — John Dickerson, Correcting America’s Historical Memory

Extra! Michele Norris, who’s spoken at Aspen Ideas and runs the Race Card Project at the Aspen Institute, wrote a powerful commentary in the Washington Post this week. Read So you want to talk about lynching? Understand this first.

Festival Registration is Just Around the Corner!

Get ready for 2020 - registration for the Aspen Ideas Festival and Aspen Ideas: Health opens November 13 (members of the Society of Fellows can register November 6). Plan to register online at aspenideas.org.