Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Stamped, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism vs. Antiracism
History and the Present
Power, Profit, and Privilege
How Racist Ideas Spread
Summary
Analysis
Jason Reynolds asks the reader how they feel. This book has showed how the idea of race helps certain groups of people win power, profit, and privilege. They create policies that treat Black people like animals, then teach white people to see Black people as animals through the media. But everyone can choose whether to be a segregationist, an assimilationist, or an antiracist.
Stamped ends with a call to action. In finishing the book, the reader has completed a journey through the history of American racism and antiracism, which is supposed to equip them to deal with racism and antiracism in the present day. The reader now knows that both sides have always fought—racists want to exploit others and hoard more power and resources for themselves, while antiracists want a more equal society. Becoming an antiracist takes work and dedication, but, Reynolds and Kendi assert, readers can do it if they really want to.
Themes
