Stop calling babies racist

Kendi's definition of racism resembles nothing so much as the Protestant concept of Original Sin, in which humans are born inherently predisposed to evil, born in sin. Our very birth confirms our innate sinfulness, according to Martin Luther and John Calvin, because sin originates in the act of conception. So, too, is the baby born to the woke born into a world of racial sin and in need of anti-racist teachings to "make society transform," per Kendi. This Calvinist approach to modern racism, in which white babies and children are guilty from birth, implicated in racism from the day they are born, is wrong and damaging on many levels. For starters, human predispositions are created through environment. A child born into a family of racists will likely adopt racist attitudes and behaviors by learning and imitating them, and vice versa. Moreover, even a person born into a racist environment can change and grow through education and interaction with others. This is something the trendiest forms of antiracism education today do not allow for; just as original sin dictates that even after repentance or baptism, a person is still predisposed toward sin, the idea that white people are born racist ensures that one's skin color is a permanent, lifetime marker that one must obsessively "do the work" to correct.