In 2020, in the middle of COVID, many of us who could afford to be locked down are locked down in our houses. Kamau Bell: Yeah, I think through social media it’s a lot easier to see what everybody is doing and what everybody even thinks they’re doing. Is White America more ready now for a racial justice activity book than it was a few years ago? Sonali Kolhatkar: It seems to me that the mass racial justice protests of 2020 opened the door for the nation to be more receptive to a book such as this one.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Even the fonts used in the book are designed by a Black typography artist named Tré Seals.īell spoke with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar about Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book, how it came about, and what he hopes readers will get from it. In exclusively featuring the work of artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color throughout the pages of their activity book, the authors of Do the Work! actually do the work of anti-racism-while encouraging their readers to do the work in their own lives. The book’s authors themselves embody the racial solidarity necessary to doing the work of anti-racism: Bell is a well-known Black comedian, writer, producer, activist, and the Emmy-winning host of CNN’s United Shades of America, while Schatz is a White queer feminist historian.
Bell and Schatz strike a balance between exploring serious concepts-like White supremacy and intersectionality-with games and activities that offer readers a sense of accomplishment, while still encouraging them to interrogate their own racial privilege.
For many Americans searching for a way to tackle racism, especially in the aftermath of the 2020 racial justice uprising, Do the Work! aims to be an accessible starting point. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz have incorporated into their new book, Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book. It’s not often that a book covering an issue as serious as anti-racism features coloring pages, crossword puzzles, and even a board game.
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