Record sales! Ted Cruz tried to cancel the book "Antiracist Baby"
Ted Cruz tried to cancel the book during the Ketanji Brown Jackson hearing—now it's all over Amazon's bestseller charts
Olivia Miller 
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Ted Cruz's attempt to smear the book Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi appears to have backfired.
After an attack by the Texas senator during the hearing of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, Antiracist Baby has risen to the top of the Amazon bestseller list. At the time of writing, the book is the number one best-selling children's book on the Amazon hit list in the U.S. and currently the number two best-selling book overall. It is also number one in the categories of "Children's Values Books" and "Children's Books about Prejudice and Racism."
Cruz invoked "Antiracist Baby" to argue that Georgetown Day School in Washington DC, of which Jackson is a board member, brainwashes children with critical race theory (an academic discipline taught in law school). "Do you agree ... That babies are racist?" the senator asked Jackson.
While holding up a copy of the book, Cruz lamented the book's message that people learn to be racist, not are born racist.
First published in July 2020, Antiracist Baby proposes actionable steps to "build a more just world" that can be understood and implemented by children and adults alike. It introduces readers (and listeners) to the concept of race and encourages them to think about their own biases.
Kendi, author of Antiracist Baby , is founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. His other works include Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America , The Black Campus Movement , and How to Be an Antiracist .
During the hearing, Cruz also mentioned the book The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale, in which he advocates for the abolition of the police. Following Cruz's mention, this book is now number one in the "Discrimination and Racism," "Law Enforcement Policy," and "Law Enforcement (Books)" categories on Amazon's bestseller lists.
Following the sales surge, Vitale tweeted, "Thanks to Ted Cruz, The End of Policing is now the #1 bestseller in government social policy."
