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<div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-weight:400;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:16px;line-height:inherit;font-family:"Times New Roman";vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(51,51,51);letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><div class="gmail-css-1vkm6nb ehdk2mb0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><h1 class="gmail-css-fnr6md e1h9rw200" id="gmail-link-e10c5d9" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:auto;margin-bottom:16px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:normal;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:200;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:2.9375rem;line-height:3.4375rem;font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(18,18,18);text-align:left;width:660px;max-width:none">[FYI]<br></h1><h1 class="gmail-css-fnr6md e1h9rw200" id="gmail-link-e10c5d9" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:auto;margin-bottom:16px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:normal;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:200;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:2.9375rem;line-height:3.4375rem;font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(18,18,18);text-align:left;width:660px;max-width:none"><span class="gmail-balancedHeadline" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;max-width:556.684px"></span></h1><h1 class="gmail-css-fnr6md e1h9rw200" id="gmail-link-e10c5d9" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:auto;margin-bottom:16px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:normal;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:200;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:2.9375rem;line-height:3.4375rem;font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(18,18,18);text-align:left;width:660px;max-width:none"><span class="gmail-balancedHeadline" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;max-width:556.684px">Ibram X. Kendi Has a Cure for America’s ‘Metastatic Racism’</span></h1></div><p class="gmail-css-1ifw933 e1wiw3jv0" style="margin:0px auto 1.6rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:normal;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:300;font-stretch:normal;font-size:1.5rem;line-height:1.9375rem;font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(51,51,51);letter-spacing:0.005em;width:600px;max-width:600px;text-align:left">In 2016, he was a surprise National Book Award winner for a sweeping history of ever-mutating American racism. Now, he’s back with a new book that outlines how to fight<span> </span>it.</p><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><div class="gmail-css-bsn42l" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1dv1kvn" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:1px;overflow:hidden;width:1px"></span><img alt="Ibram X. Kendi, the author of “How to Be an Antiracist,” argues that there are not “not racist” ideas, policies or people, only racist and antiracist ones." class="gmail-css-11cwn6f" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/08/07/us/06kendi13/06kendi13-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1200px; cursor: pointer;"></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102)">Ibram X. Kendi, the author of “How to Be an Antiracist,” argues that there are not “not racist” ideas, policies or people, only racist and antiracist ones.</span><span class="emkp2hg2 gmail-css-1nwzsjy e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.8125rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1dv1kvn" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:1px;overflow:hidden;width:1px">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Emma Howells for The New York Times</span></span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-acwcvw epjyd6m0" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><div class="gmail-css-vp77d3 epjyd6m1" style="margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;width:600px"><div class="gmail-css-hus3qt ey68jwv0" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;min-width:50px;display:inline-block"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/jennifer-schuessler" class="gmail-css-uwwqev" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:none;color:black;width:100%;height:100%"><img alt="Jennifer Schuessler" title="Jennifer Schuessler" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/02/16/multimedia/author-jennifer-schuessler/author-jennifer-schuessler-thumbLarge-v2.png" class="gmail-css-1rjmmt7 ey68jwv2" style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: medium none; font: inherit; vertical-align: bottom; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 50px;"></a></div><div class="gmail-css-1baulvz" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block"><p class="gmail-css-1nuro5j e1jsehar1" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;letter-spacing:0.02em;color:rgb(51,51,51)">By<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/jennifer-schuessler" class="gmail-css-1riqqik e1jsehar0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(51,51,51);display:inline"><span class="gmail-css-1baulvz gmail-last-byline" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;text-decoration:underline rgb(204,204,204)">Jennifer Schuessler</span></a></p></div></div><ul class="gmail-css-1w5cs23 epjyd6m2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;list-style:outside none none;display:flex"><li style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;list-style:outside none none">Aug. 6, 2019</li><li class="gmail-css-6n7j50" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline;list-style:outside none none"><div class="gmail-" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-d8bdto" style="margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:17px;line-height:inherit;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(153,153,153);display:flex"><ul class="gmail-css-y8aj3r" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;list-style:outside none none"><li class="gmail-css-60hakz" style="margin:0px 16px 0px 0px;padding:10px 0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(153,153,153);display:inline;width:100%;list-style:outside none none"><br></li><li class="gmail-css-60hakz" style="margin:0px 16px 0px 0px;padding:10px 0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(153,153,153);display:inline;width:100%;list-style:outside none none"><br></li><li class="gmail-css-60hakz" style="margin:0px 16px 0px 0px;padding:10px 0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(153,153,153);display:inline;width:100%;list-style:outside none none"><br></li><li class="gmail-css-60hakz" style="margin:0px 16px 0px 0px;padding:10px 0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(153,153,153);display:inline;width:100%;list-style:outside none none"><br></li><li class="gmail-css-60hakz" style="margin:0px 16px 0px 0px;padding:10px 0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(153,153,153);display:inline;width:100%;list-style:outside none none"><button type="button" class="gmail-css-1h5igzw" style="margin:0px;font-size:17px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border:medium none;line-height:normal;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"></button></li><li class="gmail-css-l72opv" style="margin:0px;padding:10px 0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(153,153,153);display:inline;width:100%;list-style:outside none none"><button type="button" class="gmail-css-1d50gvk" id="gmail-comments-speech-bubble-top" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 2px;font-size:0.75rem;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px 0px 4px;border:medium none;line-height:1rem;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(102,102,102);display:inline-flex;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:500;height:25px;min-width:24px;overflow:visible;text-transform:uppercase"><i class="gmail-css-1pv1u79" style="margin:0px;padding:4px;border:1px solid rgb(102,102,102);font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;border-radius:4px;display:flex;min-width:26px;min-height:14px;width:auto"><span class="gmail-css-1dtr3u3" style="margin:auto 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:0.75rem;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"></span></i></button></li></ul></div></div></li></ul></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:495px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">WASHINGTON — Three years ago, when Ibram X. Kendi was up for the National Book Award, he thought he had no chance.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">He was a little-known assistant professor at the University of Florida. His book,<span> </span><a class="gmail-css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nationalbook.org/books/stamped-from-the-beginning-the-definitive-history-of-racist-ideas-in-america/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(50,104,145)">“Stamped From the Beginning,”</a><span> </span>a sweeping history of nearly<span> </span>five centuries<span> </span>of racist thought in America, had received admiring but sparse reviews.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">“Before we walked over to the dinner, my wife asked me if I had written a speech,”<span> </span>Dr.<span> </span>Kendi recalled in an interview<span> </span>last month. “I hadn’t, but I wrote out a few notes just in case. When they called my name, I was shocked.”</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">It was barely a week after the 2016 election, and Dr. Kendi — at 34, among the youngest ever to win the nonfiction award — made his way onstage to deliver an eloquent speech nodding at the man just elected president, and paying tribute to “the human beauty in the resistance to racism.”</p></div><div class="gmail-css-ke163a" style="margin:25px auto 0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;max-width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-48vsi0" id="gmail-newsletter-module" style="margin:0px auto 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden;width:180px"><div class="gmail-css-1k9ek97" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:555px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Since then, he has<span> </span>given a lot more speeches — 46 so far this year alone. He has become one of the country’s most in-demand<span> </span>commentators on racism, and leads the new Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, which recruited him as a full professor after the award.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">It’s been a<span> </span>wild and fast ride<span> </span>to the top of his profession, with one terrifying detour thrown in. Midway through writing his new book, “How to Be an Antiracist,” out on Aug. 13, Dr. Kendi received a diagnosis of Stage 4 colon cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of about<span> </span>12 percent.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">A recent scan, taken a year after he completed both chemotherapy and surgery, came back all clear. But Dr. Kendi — who turns 37<span> </span>on publication day<span> </span>— isn’t taking anything for granted.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">“I was pretty disciplined and determined before the diagnosis, but now I’ve taken it to a whole other level of seriousness,” he said. “Even though I’m young, I can’t imagine I have so much time. It forced me, compelled me, to take risks.”</p></div><div id="gmail-c-col-editors-picks" class="gmail-css-j64t31" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:210px;display:block;max-width:210px"><h2 class="gmail-css-ohexsw" style="margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px 0px 12px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom:1px solid rgb(226,226,226);border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-left-color:initial;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:14px;line-height:14px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0);letter-spacing:0.02em"><br></h2><br></div></div><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><img alt="Dr. Kendi’s book “Stamped From the Beginning,” a sprawling history of nearly five centuries of racist ideas, won the 2016 National Book Award for nonfiction." class="gmail-css-1m50asq" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/08/06/arts/06kendi12/06kendi12-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 480px; cursor: pointer;"></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102)">Dr. Kendi’s book “Stamped From the Beginning,” a sprawling history of nearly five centuries of racist ideas, won the 2016 National Book Award for nonfiction.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.8125rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Emma Howells for The New York Times</span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:150px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">One of those risks is the center, which is still in the ramping-up stage. On a recent visit, it was a pristine but sparsely decorated warren of cubicles, but Dr. Kendi envisions it as a place that will not just study racist ideas, but develop public programs aimed at dismantling them.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:690px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Another is “How to Be an Antiracist,”<span> </span>published by One World, an imprint of Random House.<span> </span>Part memoir, part social analysis, part polemic, it’s a book that, like its predecessor, seems to be arriving at exactly the right moment, as President Trump’s verbal attacks on lawmakers of color and on the city of<span> </span>Baltimore<span> </span>have spurred both intense outrage and debate on how to respond.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">But it’s also a book that directs some of its most unstinting criticism at the author himself,<span> </span>and what he sees as his own racist ideas.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Dr. Kendi defines racist ideas expansively: any idea that there is something inherently better or worse about any racial group. There is<span> </span>no such thing<span> </span>as “not racist” ideas, policies or people, he argues, only racist and antiracist ones.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Among the most painful personal episodes he revisited, he said, is the one that opens the book: a speech he gave in a high school oratory contest named for Martin Luther King Jr., in which he assailed African-American youth for its supposed failures.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">The thunderous applause from<span> </span>the mostly black audience<span> </span>gave him the confidence, he writes, that he could succeed in college, despite mediocre grades and test scores. The speech, which he listened to over and over, was also, in his view, deeply racist.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:285px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">“Every time<span> </span>I listened<span> </span>I felt embarrassed and ashamed, both personally and because of the spectacle I created, with thousands of people cheering on these racist ideas,” he said. “To think back about how I gained confidence by stepping conceptually on the heads of black people is still jarring to me.”</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Dr. Kendi might seem to have been anointed as the latest<span> </span>in a line of<span> </span>charismatic (and usually male) African-American public intellectuals, stretching from W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke to Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cornel West.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-f1atua ehw59r12" height="535.078125px" width="720px" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:535.078px;width:720px"><div class="gmail-css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:720px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><br></div></div></div><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:720px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="Dr. Kendi is the founding director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, which takes an activist approach to scholarship." class="gmail-css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/08/06/arts/06kendi5/merlin_158777481_8199c608-b028-4863-b7e1-75ed0bb8fc49-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 720px;"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102)">Dr. Kendi is the founding director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, which takes an activist approach to scholarship.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.8125rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Emma Howells for The New York Times</span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:480px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">But he is also emblematic of a new generation of young black historians who are working collaboratively to create new institutions, and find new ways of reaching the public.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">His work “reflects the collective desire to produce innovative research that will not simply meet tenure requirements but transform the world,” said<span> </span><a class="gmail-css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.publicbooks.org/public-thinker-keisha-n-blain-on-black-womens-intellectual-history/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(50,104,145)">Keisha N. Blain</a>, an associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh and president of the<span> </span><a class="gmail-css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.aaihs.org/#" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(50,104,145)">African-American Intellectual History Society</a>, a 5-year-old group to which Dr. Kendi belongs.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Dr. Kendi was born Ibram Rogers in New York, to parents, both<span> </span>later ordained as<span> </span>ministers, who were deeply influenced by liberation theology and the Black Power movement. (He took the middle name Xolani, meaning “peace” in Zulu, and the shared surname Kendi, meaning “loved one” in Meru, in 2013, when he married Sadiqa Kendi, a pediatric emergency room physician.)</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:405px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">At Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas, Va.,<span> </span>where the family moved when he was 15, he felt stranded academically, and lived down to the low expectations he thought his teachers and mainly white and Asian classmates had for him. “I was even saying I hate reading,” Dr. Kendi recalled. “I think I did read a few books on basketball, but for class I would typically get the<span> </span>CliffsNotes.”</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">He<span> </span>studied journalism<span> </span>at Florida A&M University, a historically black institution, and initially planned to be a sportswriter. After a few internships at newspapers, he<span> </span>enrolled<span> </span>in the graduate program in African-American studies at Temple University. His doctoral dissertation, published in 2012 as “The Black Campus Movement,” is a study of the 1960s student activism that led to the creation of the first black studies programs.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1h0maa8 e73j0it0" style="margin:43px auto;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;width:auto;max-width:720px"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Image</span><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:352.5px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="Dr. Kendi at his graduation from Florida A&M University in 2004." class="gmail-css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/08/07/arts/06kendi3/merlin_158643879_a97f7c6f-4f98-41c6-9e37-e3e2fc04001f-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 352.5px;"></div></div></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102)">Dr. Kendi at his graduation from Florida A&M University in 2004.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.8125rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">via Carol Rogers</span></span><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Image</span><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:352.5px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="And, with his brother Akil Rogers, left, and his parents, Carol and Larry Rogers in 2000." class="gmail-css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/08/07/arts/06kendi4/merlin_158643876_191772eb-54d4-4637-bfe0-152f42de05ed-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 352.5px;"></div></div></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102)">And, with his brother Akil Rogers, left, and his parents, Carol and Larry Rogers in 2000.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.8125rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">via Carol Rogers</span></span></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:390px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Temple’s department was, and still is, led by Molefi Kete Asante, a l<a class="gmail-css-1g7m0tk" href="https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/molefi-kete-asante-why-afrocentricity" title="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(50,104,145)">eading theorist of Afrocentricism</a>. That influence, Dr. Kendi says, was crucial to his own work, which classifies what he calls “assimilationist” ideas — the belief that African-American people and spaces should strive toward a standardized white norm — as inherently racist.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">And he credits his dissertation adviser,<span> </span><a class="gmail-css-1g7m0tk" href="https://liberalarts.temple.edu/academics/faculty/mazama-ama" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(50,104,145)">Ama Mazama</a>, a Guadeloupe-born scholar of African and Caribbean culture, with providing a model of what an “intellectual combatant” could be.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">“She was just a master at being able to speak very softly while saying some of the most powerful things,” he said. “She loved intellectual struggle and never backed down.”</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:600px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Dr. Kendi<span> </span>— tall and trim, with long dreadlocks he wears pulled back and a fondness for West African cloth pocket squares — also speaks softly and carries enormous ambition.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">After “The Black Campus Movement,” he planned to write a history of black studies. Instead, what was intended to be the first chapter, about the history of scientific racism, morphed into “Stamped From the Beginning.”</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Writing a sprawling narrative history rather than a narrower monograph — and publishing it with a<span> </span>trade press,<span> </span>Nation Books, and<span> </span>not an academic one — was a<span> </span>risky<span> </span>move<span> </span>for a junior scholar without tenure.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Also risky was the subtitle, “The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America,” which was suggested by his publisher, to his initial resistance. “I thought it was arrogant,” Dr. Kendi said. (At least one scholarly reviewer<span> </span><a class="gmail-css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/700230?journalCode=jaah" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(50,104,145)">agreed</a>.)</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">But today, he embraces it as a way of<span> </span>boldly<span> </span>claiming space in a field — the intellectual history of race — that has been<span> </span>overwhelmingly<span> </span>dominated by white men.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-1m1eum3 ehw59r12" height="479.875px" width="720px" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:479.875px;width:720px"><div class="gmail-css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:720px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><br></div></div></div><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:720px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="Dr. Kendi at the 2016 National Book Awards ceremony in New York." class="gmail-css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/08/06/us/06kendi11/merlin_158903337_d333ce35-4a63-40da-a851-af9cad64be4b-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 720px;"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102)">Dr. Kendi at the 2016 National Book Awards ceremony in New York. </span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.8125rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Beowulf Sheehan via National Book Foundation</span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:885px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">“I was writing this history as someone critical of racist ideas,” he said. “And one of the more prevailing racist ideas within scholarship was this idea that black people do not write definitive texts.”</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Some scholars<span> </span><a class="gmail-css-1g7m0tk" href="https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/2165" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(50,104,145)">have questioned</a><span> </span>Dr. Kendi’s broad definition of racist ideas, which seems to ensnare just about everyone in American history, including Frederick Douglass, Du Bois and Barack Obama. (Mr. Obama’s celebrated 2008 speech on race, Dr. Kendi writes, mixed antiracist and<span> </span>assimilationist<span> </span>ideas).</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">But others have welcomed “Stamped” as a broad, accessible history that directly and unapologetically engages with the present.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">“Once it existed, it was clear that we could use this kind of big-picture synthesis, which we haven’t had in a long time,” said<span> </span><a class="gmail-css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/arts/the-history-behind-the-birthright-citizenship-battle.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(50,104,145)">Martha S. Jones</a>, a professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. “I think of Ibram as someone who really gives us not only the big historical signposts, but the deep rationale for why we should call racism racism.”</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">In keeping with his activist approach to scholarship,<span> </span>Dr. Kendi organized the inaugural Antiracist Book Festival, held last April, which drew<span> </span>roughly<span> </span>3,000 people to hear a mix of junior and senior scholars, along with activists, novelists, poets, Y.A. authors, educators and publishing professionals.</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">In the final chapter of “How to Be an Antiracist,” Dr. Kendi connects his own cancer with the “metastatic racism” afflicting America. To cure it, he says, we must actively combat it, rather than taking comfort in the false neutrality of being “not racist.”</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:120px;width:1200px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">“Racial inequalities are pervasive and persistent in every sector of society,” he said. “If a person does nothing in the face of racial inequities that are pervasive, if they don’t challenge them, what are they doing?”</p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/arts/ibram-x-kendi-antiracism.html">Source</a><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p><p class="gmail-css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%"><br></p></div></div>
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