An Activity Book for the Anti-Racist

by  Sonali Kolhatkar, Yes! Solutions Journalim

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. But that’s precisely what W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz have incorporated into their new book, Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book. 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. 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.

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.

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. Even the fonts used in the book are designed by a Black typography artist named Tré Seals.

Bell 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.

Enjoy the complete article and interview here.

Watch a video about Do The Work! here.

Read A Letter To My Fellow White Americans here.

For more Breaking News click here.