Review by Ian Keogh
Let’s begin with a statement. About the only people who don’t consider the USA has a widespread problem with racism are racists. Disagree? Well, it’s extremely unlikely Stamped From the Beginning is a book for you.
The title is taken from a speech given by Jefferson Davis to the US Senate in 1860, in which he wilfully misquotes the Bible to make his point justifying racial inequality. Page four lays out the massive disparity between Black people and others in the present day, and from there Ibram X. Kendi’s original book takes a long and depressing tour of entrenched racism in the USA from the earliest colonisation.
Kendi’s scholarly work is a dense exploration, and modifying it for a more accessible graphic novel takes considerable skill on the part of adapter Joel Christian Gill. Supplying portraits with quotes is a simple enough procedure, but Gill also has to transfer complex connections and subtleties, and develops techniques conveying information passively. White lettering on black word balloons literally dripping with attitude appear from the start, but smart visual metaphors are plentiful, as Gill’s diligence amounts to far more than just illustrating a text. He also increases accessibility by having characters from history using modern terms for comic effect, with Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech rewritten to be snarky about virtue signalling.
Starting with a view of history often either ignored or differently presented in text books, the text is guided by five people, beginning with racist Cotton Mather in the 1600s and concluding with campaigner Angela Davis in the modern era. The insidious embedding of racism even before a proper nation was founded is only the start of a very harrowing read for anyone with a sense of fairness. However, while correctly calling out abominations such as institutionalised slavery, and not having any truck with the free pass historians often give Abraham Lincoln, Kendi is also harsh when considering good intentions. A sarcastic and sweeping opening section about a white teacher in a poorly performing school is an ill-judged framing in terms of patronising comments. While some such teachers exist, are they really so many in number that they justify being used as an example when there’s hardly a shortage of better instances from politicians to make the point?
What’s established early with regard to African Americans is the victim blaming and a policy of damned if you do and damned if you don’t, the latter particularly prevalent since protests began in the mid-20th century. However, Kendi doesn’t just parrot anti-racist rhetoric, but points to theories that may make uncomfortable reading for people who believe they’re doing the right thing, and toward the end switches from historical fact to personal interpretation. That shouldn’t overshadow the bigger picture of what an achievement Stamped From the Beginning is on both his part and Gill’s. Even the most committed activist is likely to see things a little differently as viewed through Kendi’s eyes, and anyone falling short of that commitment is opening a world of change.
