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

“I do not use the term ‘minority’ to describe Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx because we are the majority in the world.”

Jewell challenges the dominant use of the word “minority” in her writing as part of her project of challenging Racism and Systemic Injustices. By using other words to define Black, Brown, and Indigenous people around the world, she moves away from terms ascribed to Black, Brown, and Indigenous people by racist power structures and offers a vision of an alternative.

“My optimism has brought me to action and to sharing these words with you because I believe you will help to dismantle and work toward ending racism. We need justice. No one’s names should be memorialized in hashtags.”

Here, Jewell alludes to the victims of police brutality and racist violence, including Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and Sandra Bland, three Black people whose deaths sparked protests about police brutality in America. Their names became rallying points on social media through hashtags. Jewell wants to imagine and, through Allyship, Activism, and Social Change, work toward a future where police officers do not murder Black people.

“The dominant culture is what has been considered ‘normal’ and this ‘normal’ has been created and is maintained by those who are in the box. It is this version of normal that has shaped how we see ourselves and the world around us.”

This quote examines how power structures are constructed starting at the individual level. The dominant culture creates an imaginary box, or an idea of “normalcy,” that people are expected to aspire to fit into. In turn, people often use this box to understand themselves and others in terms of how well they fit into it.