Kendi: Writing Prompts, Chapters 1-5

In Chapters 1-3, Kendi narrates his parents' early relationship in 1970s New York, where they were both students and Black liberationists. After they married and settled down into their respective careers, however, they became assimilationists, meaning they believed Black people could and should integrate into White society and prove themselves equal through hard work and impeccable moral conduct.

Kendi introduces W.E.B. Du Bois' idea of the dueling (or double) consciousness, in which Black people are torn between feeling racial pride and feeling the need to conform, to be accepted by White people. Kendi notes that the concept of race was invented by the biographer of Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator in the 15th century as a means of legitimizing the earliest iteration of the slave trade. In Chapters 4-5, Kendi outlines some of the most common forms of racism, their origins, their effects, and his experiences with them. He begins with biological racism, the belief that the different races are biologically different, and that there is a resulting hierarchy in which (usually) White people are superior. Then there is ethnic racism, which is the belief that people of different ethnic origins are different from one another. Many people believe, for example, that African immigrants are more intelligent and hard-working than African Americans, though in reality they usually just have better resources. In chapter 6, he explores Bodily racism most commonly used to suggest that Black people are more physically dominant, violent, and threatening. This belief means that African Americans are much more likely to be the victims of police brutality or seen as "dangerous" super-predators. Kendi notes that even he believed this stereotype, and it caused him to feel unsafe in his neighborhood and at his high school. As you continue to read this book, notice Kendi's writing style. Notice how he uses personal stories juxtaposed with history, facts, statistics, and details that focus on his chapter headings. Once inspired, let's get to writing. WRITING PROMPTS: Ideas to explore in writing: (choose one topic...or combine them...or find a topic on your own...)

1. Choose an idea or argument that Kendi makes in chapters 1-5 that you might research and explore further. Find at least 3 other sources that you can use (along with Kendi's quote) that allows you to examine and analyze the statement. Write the quote at the top of your text as an epigraph (In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document). Introduce the other elements of your synthesis as you tell or explore a personal response to the quote using your own experiences and understanding of the topic. You might write your creative response as a field of anthropology, for example.
2. You may have noticed a pattern that Kendi uses when writing a chapter. He starts these first 5 chapters with a detailed description of his personal life. He starts with a description of an assembly of Soul Liberation at the University of Illinois where he describes his parents involvement with each other. In chapter two he continues his parent's story, flashing back and forth from their life to his. Later he discusses his own early education. Interspersed with these private, family scenes, Kendi uses the scene or moment to comment on a significant idea related to his larger purpose (the subject of his chapter). Use this pattern in your own essay. Perhaps start with a historical event the day or year you were born. How does it connect with what is happening today regarding race relations? Explore.
3. Write a story about dueling-consciousness. You might even go all metaphorical or allegorical and write a fantasy or sci-fi story about a character living two lives. Alternatively, maybe you can make the dueling-consciousness literal. What if black and white fought each other in a literal duel? [Or any dichotomy: day versus night, happy versus sad, good versus evil, etc.].
4. Write about your first white or black teacher. What did you learn from this experience?
5. Write about the time you first remember noticing black skin or white skin (or "yellow, brown, or red skin", etc.)
6. Write about being a minority in a time and place where you felt you were separated from others based on biology (or your cultural heritage or race.)
7. Research and write a story or poem about the "best baby" (or the "worst baby") or a beauty pageant. (See the attached articles/videos for details).
8. Find one of the allusions or references Kendi makes in chapters 1-5: Soul Liberation, James Brown, Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, Tom Skinner, Harry Blackmun, Eleanor Holmes Norton, W.E.B Du Bois, Thomas Jefferson, Gunnar Myrdal, Prince Henry the Navigator, etc. and research and write about this figure's idea or connection with race related issues. Are these ideas or policies still prevalent today?
9. A segregationist, an assimilationist, and an anti-racist meet each other in a specific location. Write the story of that meeting or write that script.

10. Write as an anthropologist meeting an unknown cultural group (perhaps the group is a mythical race or aliens--or just a common group like Mormons or gaming nerds who are into D&D or Minecraft). What happens? Tell that story.

Other issues? If you have a better idea, go for it. Write a draft in any style or genre, or of any length that explores the topic of race, inspired by your research or Kendi's book. When you have a first draft--whatever shape it's in--please submit it here for writing credit.