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

Racism and systemic injustices are the main thematic elements of This Book Is Anti-Racist. Throughout the book, Jewell aims to educate young readers on how racism functions in society. She expands the definition of racism beyond just personal prejudice and asks readers to think about the systems of power that privilege certain people over others. Systemic injustices include housing discrimination, legal discrimination, and workplace discrimination. Jewell uses the example of the Grenfell Tower fire to talk about housing discrimination, and she cites statistics from the United States to highlight this issue and demonstrate how “Black home ownership has been on the decline” (60) over the past 10 years in the country. These examples illuminate how race dictates the kind of treatment that people receive when trying to access housing. She talks about examples of systemic racism within the education system, legal system, and business institutions as well to show how people of color are disadvantaged by systems of power that privilege white people. 

The main focal point of the theme of racism and social injustices hinges on the understanding of the power structures that govern society. Jewell points out that the people in society who hold power are the dominant culture; those people who “are in charge of the institutions and have established behaviors, values, and traditions that are considered acceptable and the ‘norm’ in our countries” (26).