Book In Review
After a week off, Nick and Tara returned to Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist with Chapter 6, “Body.” Nick opened with Kendi’s two definitions: a bodily racist idea is “any notion that a group of racialized bodies is more animal-like and violent than others,” while a bodily antiracist idea is one that is “humanizing, deracializing and individualizing nonviolent and violent behavior.” He then read the page-79 passage on President Bill Clinton’s Oct. 16, 1995, speech in Austin, delivered the same day as the Million Man March, in which Clinton said “Blacks must understand and acknowledge the roots of white fear in America.” Nick used the passage to argue that bodily racism is a systemic, bipartisan problem rather than one party’s. Tara framed the chapter around policy: if racial inequality were natural, she said, it would not take so many laws to maintain it, and she pointed to the dilution of majority-Black districts in Southern States as a current example.
The middle of the hour turned on Kendi’s numbers. Nick read the page-82 passage noting that Black people make up 13% of the U.S. population but accounted for 26% of people killed by police in 2015, when the Washington Post began logging every fatal police shooting, and 24% in 2020; unarmed Black people, Kendi writes, are more than three times as likely to be killed as unarmed white people. Nick connected the chapter to the Mississippi attorney general’s finding that a Senatobia officer’s use of force was justified in the death of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley during a shoplifting call. He also read Kendi’s page-88 rejection of President Trump’s “war zones” framing and the note explaining why Kendi calls it the “criminal punishment system,” and tied that to local backlash against surveillance vendors like Flock and Axon. Tara traced the same pattern through Bacon’s Rebellion, the GI Bill’s exclusion of Black service members from home buying, and school funding through property taxes. She closed the segment with Sgt. Isaac Woodard Jr., the Black World War II veteran blinded by a police chief hours after his honorable discharge, whose attacker was acquitted after 30 minutes of deliberation.
The final stretch answered a commenter’s charge of “white guilt.” Nick said the chapter is about responsibility, not guilt, and offered an image for it: rights are not a pie that shrinks when others get a slice, but a balloon that expands for everyone. He read Kendi’s page-90 contrast of the three responses: segregationist ideas call for more policing and incarceration, assimilationist ideas call for “tough love,” and antiracist ideas recognize that Black people “don’t need surveillance, policing and prisons” but higher-paying jobs within reach. Tara added that not having created a problem does not erase a responsibility to the present.
The discussion also featured a video from Marine veteran Jerrod Zisser on the Veterans Day Democracy March, planned for Nov. 11, 2026, in Washington, D.C., with Veterans Fighting Fascism and the Unite for Veterans Coalition; Nick stressed that attendees do not need to be veterans. Nick and Tara closed by urging everyone to vote early, bring a friend, and sign up for the march.
Books Mentioned
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi — https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/564299/how-to-be-an-antiracist-by-ibram-x-kendi/
Sources & References
Veterans Day Democracy March PSA — Jerrod Zisser with Kristofer Goldsmith and Nick Paro — https://jerrodzisser.substack.com/p/extremely-important-psa-veterans
Veterans Fighting Fascism: march details, sign-up, and the Anti-Fascist Book Club Guidebook — https://www.veteransfightingfascism.org/
Mississippi attorney general finds use of force justified in the death of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley (ABC30, Oct. 19, 2026) — https://abc30.com/post/kohen-wiley-shooting-mississippi-attorney-general-says-use-force-justified-boys-death-during-senatobia-shoplifting-call/19956315/
Check your voter registration and early voting options — https://vote.gov
Subscribe to These Veteran Creators
Nick asked listeners to follow the veterans organizing around the march. These veteran creators are on Substack, and they are worth a subscription:
Jerrod Zisser: The TAKE with Jerrod Zisser. Marine Corps infantry veteran and VALOR Media Network correspondent.
Elyce Garcia-Powers: Army veteran and VALOR Media correspondent covering military regulation and policy.
Kristofer Goldsmith: On Offense with Kris Goldsmith. Army veteran and investigator focused on exposing extremism.
AngryMaleVet: Combat veteran covering news, interviews and commentary. VALOR Media Network correspondent.
Clay: Marine Corps veteran with two decades of government and private-sector experience. VALOR Media Network correspondent.
Megan Glancey: Navy Veteran and VALOR Media Network correspondent.
Laura O’Dea, M.A.: Political, legal and military family advocate. VALOR Media Network correspondent.
The Ken Harbaugh Show: Ken Harbaugh, producer of Against All Enemies.
Actions You Can Take
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Call your public servants on important issues:
Join the efforts to de-flock the States:
Service members can get un-biased information on legal vs illegal orders:
Reach out on Signal: @TheOrdersProject.76
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Thank you Outlier, Jandro Kirkish, TM, Brendan Brinkman, Judith Dolan, and many others for tuning into my live video with Tara Devlin! Join me for my next live video in the app.
