Thanks for the comment. Sounds like we are mostly in agreement about how we got here historically. As for “following the lead,” that in large part is what I am doing. As I write in the full-ebook from which this is excerpted, when it comes to the notion of deracializing, I’m particularly indebted to the work of Carlos Hoyt, Jr., not to mention Sheena Mason, Greg Thomas, and others.

However, I have a different perspective from Kendi about how to describe people in a way that doesn’t racialize them. And although I admire his historical writing, my view of how to approach these challenges is quite different from his. Just to be clear, when you say “follow the lead,” are you suggesting that because I’m identified as white, I shouldn’t share these perspectives—that I should defer to him because he is "Black?" Or do you mean something else?

Also, what if, as often happens, several different "Black" anti-racist thinkers see an issue very differently? Whose lead do I follow? Or is this is a situation where I'm permitted to drawn upon my own thinking?