>> Hello.

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> Good morning, Dr. Kendi.

>> Good morning.

>> Welcome to Howard University.

>> It's an honor.

>> Welcome home.

Maybe we'll just get started.

I know that there are a number of students here in the audience, and just reflecting on your background.

You are a New York kid.

Went to high school in this area.

Attended Florida A&M University, You've had academic experiences.

So you've been throughout the East Coast.

How have your experiences, your formative experiences as a native New Yorker in the Mid-Atlantic area, in the South, in Boston, how has that background framed your work?

>> I'm thinking because in many ways it's...

There are so many reasons why my own experiences have framed my work.

I think first and foremost, being raised both as a young person and as an intellectual, largely in Black spaces, whether that is, you know, Jamaica, Queens, or FAMU or Black studies.

But then also having experiences, being a Black person in predominantly white spaces, you know, whether that is, you know, in Manassas, Virginia, where I went to high school or whether that is in history departments, you know, in Boston and other places.

I think what it's allowed me to speak to, particularly when I write about racism, or even the Black experience is the multiplicity of experiences.

In other words, a Black person who is trying to navigate racism in a predominantly Black space, there are actually differences that that person is experiencing then let's say a Black person who is navigating a predominantly white space.

And so to give an example, in "How to Be an Anti-racist," a lot of the chapters are set at FAMU, and one of the chapters that's set at FAMU deals in colorism, which is more likely for Black people to witness or experience in Black spaces.

And so but then there are other chapters in which Black people are being forced to act as representatives for the race.

That's more likely to happen in predominantly white spaces.

And so trying to sort of navigate both.

I think it's important when we're writing about the history of Black people, I think it's important when we're writing about the history of anti-Black racism to write to everyone.

So, in other words, a Black person can read that book, that literature and understand their experience and grow from it and be transformed by it.

Just as a non-Black person you know, could, as well, just as a Black person who's in a Black space can gain from it in the same way a Black person who's in a predominantly white space can, if that makes sense.

>> Let's dig into that a little bit more, the distinction between navigating racism in a Black space, as opposed to navigating racism as a Black person in a predominantly white space.

In your personal experience and in your career, what has the challenge been?

In other words, is one more challenging than another?

And if you could speak to any particular anecdotes?

>> I don't know if I could speak to what's more challenging, but what I can say about the distinctions is typically, a Black person who is navigating a predominantly Black space is likely facing resource disparities relative to a predominantly white space, and it's typically the case that that Black person is being told that there are less resources at that university, in that neighborhood, in that institution, in that country, because there's something wrong with the leaders or because there's something wrong with Black people, and that isn't necessarily being communicated or conveyed to that Black person as a function of racism in the way that I'm trying to sort of show in my work.

And, you know, and so as it relates to a Black individual who is in a predominantly white space, and let's say that predominantly white space has greater resources than the predominantly Black space, that then Black person is likely being barred from those resources or opportunities and being told that they're not qualified or that there's something wrong with them, as opposed to the racist policies and practices that are barring them.

>> Clearly your experience at Florida A&M had a significant impact on the trajectory of your career and on your experiences.

First of all, how did you end up at Florida A&M?

And then I'll get to my second part of the question.

>> So I think to the short answer is when I, when we moved, when we moved to first Centerville, Virginia, and then ultimately Manassas from Queens, I went from a predominantly Black space and predominantly Black schools to a predominantly white space and predominantly white schools, and it was a huge struggle for me socially, culturally, academically.

And I think -- I didn't realize this fully, and I wasn't necessarily conscious of this.

But ultimately, I think when I started to look for colleges, I primarily looked at HBCUs, and I think I primarily looked at HBCUs because I feel like I had thrived more from an academic and cultural standpoint when I was in Black schools, you know, in Queens.

I didn't fully -- I wasn't conscious of that.

But I think that's what ultimately led me to primarily visit historically Black universities and ultimately decide on FAMU.

>> Why FAMU?

>> Well, I should say I didn't visit Howard.

It was too close.

>> Had to get away from home.

>> Yeah, I think.

And so it came down actually to FAMU, and I don't think I'm allowed to talk about that other university here, another HU.

But ultimately I chose FAMU.

>> What influenced do you believe your experience at FAMU had on the trajectory of your career?

In other words, what types of exposure, what types of nurturing, if you will, did your experience at FAMU have on where you believe you have been able to traverse?

>> I would say three things.

I think first, my professors at FAMU were incredibly serious about the study of Black thought.

And so I think there was a certain way in which they cherished and approached the study of Black thinkers with a level of seriousness that sort of nurtured within me, you know, to treat Black thinkers with that level of seriousness.

And I'm saying that as somebody who ended up becoming an intellectual historian.

And I think that really and obviously treating the ideas that Black people have created with that level of seriousness and care.

I think that came from my professors.

I think secondly, going to FAMU, and I suspect it's certainly the same case here at Howard, you're forced to reckon with the diversity of Black people.

So it can you can easily be misled into believing that Black people are a monolith.

But going to Howard, going to FAMU, meeting Black people from all over this country and all over this world who have different sort of cultures, who dress differently, who speak differently, different skin colors, who have different ideologies.

I mean, it allows you to really understand the vastness of Black people.

And I think that was critical for me because certainly as somebody who was going to become a student of Black people, you know, I needed that to be my North Star.

And then I think thirdly, I went to FAMU as... ...a student who wasn't particularly confident and who in certain ways thought I was better than others.

And I left FAMU humbly confident.

And so I think that the experience of FAMU humbled me, while at the same time gave me a level of confidence to be able to navigate this society.

And I think the reason why FAMU and its experience humbled me is because going to FAMU or Howard, you're going to meet a whole bunch of incredibly talented and smart Black students who are going to show you ain't much of anything, right?

You know, you have so much to learn and so many ways to grow.

And so that's going to humble you.

At the same time, being in a space where you have faculty and staff and other students who continuously, directly and indirectly, tell you that there's nothing wrong with you is going to give you a level of confidence to stand strong, you know, in this world, you know, as I think is needed if you're going to become a leader.

>> How has that influenced the way that you approach teaching?

You're a professor.

You're an academic.

You've been at predominantly white institutions.

You trained at a predominantly Black institution.

How has that framing and that context influenced the way that you teach?

>> I think the first way it's caused me to have to treat the classroom as a hollow space in the way my professors treated the classroom as this sort of hallowed space.

I think secondly, my professors, there was a certain level of respect that they demanded from students, and so they weren't necessarily trying to be my friend.

They were trying to be, you know, somebody who trained me.

And that doesn't necessarily mean they weren't friendly, but that means they understood that they were there to train me.

But at the same time, they didn't think of themselves as above me.

And so, when I approach students, I don't necessarily see myself as sort of speaking down to anyone as much as I'm speaking across and trying to create the environment in which we can all learn together.

And so thinking of even intellectualism as sort of or being an intellectual, as really nurturing in a student the desire to know.

I feel that that is sort of my ultimate sort of duty so that as they leave the classroom, as they leave the university, they will continue to have that desire to know and grow.

>> Obviously, much of your work has been framed around this concept of anti-racism.

If you can explain to the audience, what does it mean to be an anti-racist?

What is this concept of anti-racism and how is it different from being non-racist?

>> Sure.

So I think that it's important for us to understand that the true opposite of racist is anti-racist, and the true opposite of racism is anti-racism.

And that is the ultimate argument that I'm making in my work, you know, based on research and evidence.

And the way in which I go about making that case is, for instance, if a racist idea is suggesting that particular racial groups are superior or inferior, there's a true opposite to hierarchy.

And that opposite is equality, that the racial groups are equals.

If a particular policy that is racist is creating or even maintaining inequity or injustice between racial groups, there's actually an opposite to that.

And that opposite is anti-racist policies that are actually creating equity and justice.

Typically, when people express racist ideas, when people support racist policies, and those who have expertise in sort of diagnosing and describing and identifying what they've done, point that out, the response of that person is "I'm not racist.

My idea is not racist.

My policy is not racist."

And so I try to show that the construct of "not racist," particularly in the way it actually operates, is largely a operation of denial.

And while, in fact, you have people who, when someone points out that that policy is racist, they actually, there are some people who acknowledge that and transform what they're supporting, which actually means they're being anti-racist.

So they're not actually trying to deny.

And so I'm hoping and I've been trying to show with my work that when you have a society of widespread disparities and inequities, when you have a structure of policies that have created those inequities and disparities, to even do nothing in that type of society is actually to allow that structure of racism to conserve itself, to grow, to maintain itself.

So if you're doing nothing in the face of a status quo that is racist, you're actually maintaining the status quo of racism, which is another reason why to be anti-racist is to actively challenge that status quo.

>> So from an institutional perspective, how in that framing, do institutions adopt a posture of anti-racism?

Let's be specific.

Industry?

Whether it is the technology industry, which we will come back to in a second, communications, whether it is wholesale, how do they work within this framework of anti-racism, based on what you've outlined?

>> Sure.

So if we think of industry meaning, let's say specifically a company, that company both has a net effect of their goods and services, like what ultimately is occurring in society as a result of your goods and services.

That company likely of course has staff.

Right?

Who of course carries out the functions, you know, of, you know, of the company.

And so, let's stay just looking at those two sort of forms of activity or even the makeup of the company.

If a company has, let's say, if Black people are underrepresented at the company, or let's say Black people are over-represented in the entry-level positions and underrepresented in the C-suite, the question becomes why?

And so is the company basically saying that there's nothing wrong with our policies and practices.

We are hiring the most qualified people.

If the company is saying that, then that means they're arguing that white people are more qualified than Black people.

That's the sort of net effect of that position.

Or a company could be saying, "You know what?

We don't think a particular racial group is superior to another racial group.

And so if Black people are underrepresented in a particular place, then that means there must be something about our policies and practices that we need to examine and transform and change."

And so you'll see certain companies constantly blaming the people who aren't at that company for why they're not there.

And then you have other companies who are constantly looking internally to grow and change their policies and practices.

And then as it relates to the net effect of a company's goods and services, is that net effect creating more justice or injustice in the world?

And I think that's a question that every company could be asking itself.

>> So one of the potential remedies to that have been diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices, which a number of companies adopted in the late 19, late 2010s.

And, you know, certainly in the wake of George Floyd's murder.

And we've seen a retraction from that.

What is your -- in the context of anti-racism and what we're seeing now in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, how do you reconcile where we are?

What has happened?

You know, I'm being very simplistic.

>> So, I think you have some institutions who only put into place programs to diversify those institutions, to project to the world that they care about diversity.

And those institutions weren't necessarily serious to begin with.

In other words, they only created those programs and policies as PR stunts.

And so then when the sort of, when the environment shifts, they're going to shift accordingly.

Right?

And so that's happening, certainly.

And then you have other institutions that were actually serious, you know, about, let's say, diversifying their staff.

And let's say they weren't necessarily serious about that because they are moral or just.

Let's say they actually reviewed all the research studies that find that when you have a company or even a team with more women and people of color, that that team is actually more efficient and more profitable.

So let's say they were like, "You know what?

We're just purely going to make, you know, a decision about our own profitability."

So therefore it actually is going to undermine, you know, our ability to be an effective company if we don't consistently bringing the best and the best, which will mean we'll bring in people of all races and genders.

Those companies obviously haven't rolled it back.

And I think that's one of the tragedies is that... And I think when we think about racism in a larger sense, oftentimes we have, and I say when I say we -- scholars, when we study racism, we have projected racism, I think somewhat too simplistically.

In other words, as purely a phenomenon that hurts, let's say, people of color and helps white people.

It's actually much more complicated than that.

In other words, what actually has been happening historically is it certainly has been helping, I should say, hindering people of color more.

And there's benefits and privileges that derive from racism.

And it's certainly the case that, let's say white people are being paid at higher levels.

They're less likely to die.

They're less likely to be killed by police.

They're less likely to be incarcerated.

But there's also large numbers of white people who are incarcerated, who are being killed by police, who would be making more money if, you know, laws were different in this country.

And so that's the irony about and that's really the perniciousness of racism, that you literally have individuals who are thinking that since they're better off than others, they're good, as opposed to thinking about creating a society where they could actually have a better life.

But for them to allow those Black people to have a better life, too, no, they don't want that.

>> Let's talk about this current generation of students for a second.

Our freshmen, even our sophomores, when I -- my wife and I have two daughters.

Our oldest is 22.

The youngest is 18 and is a freshman.

And the first president that she was cognizant of was Barack Obama.

And so she was aware of Barack Obama being the Black president for two terms.

And then we had the first Trump administration, and then we had the first Black female vice president.

And so for the majority of her life, she is either known a Black president or a Black vice president.

And I remember when President Obama was first elected, there was a lot of talk about America being in a post-racial society that we have essentially transcended race with the election of a Black man as president.

And then sort of the response to President Trump's first election was, this is an anomaly, that we are in this post-racial period, but this is a backlash from a dying era.

And he is elected again.

And so, for young people, how do you and what do you say to this current generation of college students, particularly those who grew up with a perception that anything is possible, that we're in a post-racist society, a Black man based on merit can be elected president, a Black woman can be vice president.

And we are now in an era where we're seeing backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion.

We're seeing a lot of languaging that would seem to retract progress that has been made.

How, given the context of your work, what would you say to this generation of students?

>> So I read -- I read?

I wrote a book entitled "Stamped from the Beginning," and in that book, I made an argument that actually expanded on in the 1619 project book, you know, by, of course, created by Howard professor Nikole Hannah-Jones.

And what I show is that this grand narrative that is largely a bipartisan narrative that, to a certain extent, is a multiracial narrative that we have had -- when I say we, Americans have had continuous and consistent racial progress and that in a way, American history is this sort of forward march, this singular march of racial progress that sometimes we take steps back, but ultimately we're taking steps forward.

Anybody heard this before?

That this is a narrative, a grand narrative based on propaganda, not history.

And what I show in my work is that instead of us thinking of, and this is what I convey to students, instead of us considering or thinking about this sort of grand, singular march of racial progress, we should understand that there historically have been two marches, what I call a dueling marches of racial progress and racist progress that over the course of American history, without question, there has been all sorts of anti-racist efforts that have ensured that, let's say, Black people have been freed from chattel slavery, been freed from, you know, from forms of Jim Crow.

And those successes and forms of progress and those movements are undeniable.

But at the same time, that march of racial progress has constantly been dueling with efforts to conserve racism through more sophisticated policies and ideas.

And the actual idea that we're in a post-racial society, I would argue, is one of the most sophisticated racist ideas that have actually ever been created.

[ Applause ] And the reason why that idea is so sophisticated is what happened historically is producers of racist ideas would specifically create racist ideas to explain to people what was wrong with Black people.

So they would just give them the red meat.

What actually has happened with post-racial theory is it says to people that racism no longer exists.

Anti-Black racism no longer exists.

It's over, as represented by the election of Barack Obama, as represented by the election of, you know, Kamala Harris.

It's, you know, it's over.

So then an individual looks out at a society where Black people are more likely to die of heart disease, where Black people are more likely to be impoverished, where Black people are more likely to be kicked out of school, and then asks, "Why?

Why do these racial disparities exist?"

And then they can't answer racism because they've been misled into believing it doesn't exist.

So then what is it caused that individual to do?

It actually causes them to create their own racist ideas about Black people so that they can understand the disparities in our society.

So instead of people force- feeding them those ideas, they create their own ideas to explain the inequality that they see.

And so that then leads to a whole host of ideas that are -- it's almost like personalized medicine or the very opposite of personalized medicine, which makes it harder for us to root out those ideas.

And so that's a moment that we're in now.

We're in a moment where people who are trying to conserve racism claim they're defending civil rights.

We're in a moment in which people who are trying to conserve racism claim that those who are trying to eradicate it are the real racists.

We're in a moment in which, apparently just expressing that you're committed to diversity, which means you're committed to everyone, is somehow anti-white.

That's the moment that we're in.

>> So how do you... how does an anti-racist framework deal with this transition in the forms of racism?

>> Well, I think it first allows people to almost expect, based on history, that racism is constantly transforming itself.

And I think that's one of our challenges.

If we -- let's say, if you're a person who imagines racism as it existed in 1962.

Like for you, that's what racism looks like.

And you're not going to then see it in 2025 because you don't recognize or you haven't been taught how racism, racist policies, racist ideas, the structure of racism is constantly transforming itself.

And so, to be anti-racist is to just recognize that transformation is needed, which then forces you as an individual to constantly want to understand the new developments.

Right?

Whether that's through reading, whether that's through studying, whether that's through experiencing.

And then you then create new mechanisms to challenge it, new struggles, new movements, new organizations, you know, to challenge this newness.

>> Let's talk about social media for a second.

>> Uh-oh.

>> What role has social media played in this transformation of racism?

And, again, how can we apply anti-racist strategies to address that?

>> So I just talked about the ways in which post-racial theory ultimately leads to the individual creating their own unique set of racist ideas to explain disparities in the world.

And that becomes then individualized to that person.

What's also happening at the same time is social media, particularly social-media algorithms.

are creating mechanisms in which each of us, as individuals, can be targeted by the racist ideas that we're already vulnerable about.

So in other words, right, if you're a Black person, let's say if you're an African-American and you have liked posts or even expressed posts that suggested that there was something wrong with Black immigrants, but you're still not necessarily sure.

You know, it's just, you know, you have some thoughts that probably one of the problems of Black America is Black immigrants.

You're going to be micro-targeted with all sorts of ideas about what's wrong with immigrants, which is then going to cause you to potentially internalize those ideas, which then allows it more easily for Black America to be divided and conquered.

Or let's say if you're white, a white person who believes that if there are health disparities, then that is the result Of, let's say, Black people not having access to high-quality healthcare or the ways in which our medical system works is racist.

But when it comes to the criminal legal system, you have liked posts suggesting that Black people are inherently dangerous.

You're going to be constantly fed those ideas about Black people being dangerous.

And so, social media, particularly the algorithms, create situations in which we're constantly force-fed poison that we like.

If y'all know what I mean.

Right?

And which then, of course, infects us, which then makes us less likely to be anti-racist to sort of ally with other people.

And I think that's what, to me is the most dangerous aspect of social media.

At the same time, we can use social media to bring people together, but it's also being used to micro-target people and ultimately poison them with disinformation.

>> So what practical steps could you offer in terms of individuals who are conscious of racism and want to be more of an anti-racist, as opposed to a non-racist?

What practical advice would you provide?

>> So I would say racist ideas sort of thrive when people don't know what they don't know.

In other words, you know, I would encourage people to really seek to understand and gain a much more deeper and complex understanding of the way racism works in our society and the reason why that's critical to being anti-racist or even being, you know, a good human being is because the more you don't know, the more you can be manipulated.

And so that's why, you know, I mean, I don't consider, I don't consider knowledge as inherently power, but I do think that knowledge can help a person use their own power to challenge power.

And I think that -- and I can only certainly go from my own experience, which was the more that I understood and the more that I studied the way racism works, the more I understood how it's worked on me, and the more I understood how it worked on me, the more I could free myself and liberate myself and prevent the manipulation of me, you know, by nefarious forces.

>> You know, we've spent much of the time, and much of your work has been framed around racism in America and anti-racist approaches.

But racism is not a uniquely American phenomenon.

What concerns you about what we're seeing around the world?

A retrenchment from progressive ideas and policies and really In ways that are concerning globally.

What are your thoughts about what we see taking place globally and the application of anti-racist ideas in a global world?

>> So let me sort of first speak in the U.S. context and then globally, because I want to go back to an example that I mentioned earlier about an African-American who's being force-fed xenophobic ideas about Black immigrants and that African-American being misled into believing that, "Black and brown immigrants" but let's say Black immigrants are "taking away their resources" and being led to believe that African-Americans are struggling vis-à-vis Black immigrants because the state is favoring Black immigrants more than African-Americans.

And so that both is a U.S. and a global sort of issue.

What I've tried to sort of demonstrate through studies is that oftentimes African- Americans are comparing themselves to Black immigrants when it's a false comparison.

And if they were to instead compare Black immigrants to non-Black immigrants, they'll actually see that Black immigrants have the highest levels of unemployment despite having the highest levels of education.

They'll see the ways in which the racist structure is impacting Black immigrants relative to non-Black immigrants in the way it's affecting African-Americans relative to non-Black Americans.

And so I think that then involves or compels us to have a global and even Pan-African sort of conception.

But then when we look globally, many of the ideas, you know, I just sort of talked about immigration.

So just as in the United States, you have elected officials who are presenting Black and brown immigrants as invading the nation.

That is the idea that is being used by the most popular politician in France, the most popular politician in Holland, one of the most popular, the second-most-popular politician in Germany, the most popular politician in the U.K, the most popular politician in India.

I mean, you name the country, the same idea is being used that somehow Black and brown immigrants, whether that's African or Muslim, you know, immigrants are coming to destroy the country and the nation, or therefore the party or the politician is the savior and the defender.

And so what we are facing here in the United States, people are facing around the world and in the United States, just as in these other countries, to be a person of color is to be seen as an immigrant.

And so and indeed politicians in other countries are much more explicit about that because there's less of a need to manipulate voters of color.

But that's even the case in the United States.

And that's why you can have politicians who can tell Black citizens, African-Americans, to go back to their countries, even though their ancestors arrived before the ancestors of white Americans.

>> So how do you apply... >> I'm sorry.

I'm a little riled up.

>> So how do you apply the anti-racist framework globally?

>> Well, I think first and foremost, it is important to understand race as not only a power construct, but also a global construct.

So the way blackness operates is there's profound similarities across the world, just as there are profound sort of differences.

And so I think to be anti-racist from a global standpoint is to reject the similarities of anti-Black racist ideas globally, or to even reject and challenge the ways in which international policy is actually disempowering or exploiting countries that are predominantly Black or brown.

And so, to give an example, one of the ideas that is, one of the anti-Black racist ideas that shows up everywhere in the world is the notion that Black people are dangerous and violent.

So you go to Italy, you go to Brazil, you go to the United States, you go to England.

You know, that idea is being circulated.

And that idea then is tagged to the idea of Black people being immigrants.

And then the idea of Black people being immigrants is tagged to the idea that there is this invasion of immigrants, which then is tagged to the idea that there's all this danger and violence, which then is tagged to the idea we need, "border security."

And so those notions, you know, are global manifestations of racism that we need to resist around the world.

>> Let me ask a question about technology.

And you and I have worked on proposals that sought to better understand how we can utilize technology, data science.

We're in an artificial- intelligence era, and we only -- from all experts only see that expanding significantly and exponentially.

What concerns you about artificial intelligence?

Not AI in and of itself, but maybe if you can talk about the development of algorithms, or you can talk about how AI systems are tested.

What concerns you?

And what do we need to be conscious of from a construct of racism?

>> Well, I think the most, the biggest thing that concerns me is that the intelligence is not artificial, that humans created artificial intelligence and thereby humans injected their ideas, their racist and sexist and homophobic ideas, you know, into that intelligence.

And we see that, you know, all many, many anti-racist AI researchers, you know, have been demonstrating the ways in which artificial intelligence is just as racist, you know, as the intelligence, you know, of humans.

And I think -- so, I think first and foremost, those of us who are, who want to create, you know, an equitable world, you know, have to be at the table pushing back, you know, against this notion that artificial intelligence is sort of "free of bias."

And the reason why that's dangerous is because when algorithms and AI technology is used to create inequities and disparities, then humanity can say, "Well, this was truly objective.

So if that disparity exists, there must be something wrong with Black people."

So it's a new way to not only create inequity but also defend inequities.

You know, that we have to be willing to challenge.

And I think that's one of the reasons why, you know, I'm excited, you know, about working with the centers and the researchers, you know, here at Howard, because in many ways, this is the new vanguard of racism, you know, through technology, through artificial intelligence, you know, through different forms of data science.

>> Okay.

>> Let's talk about what comes next for you.

It was recently announced that you will be leaving B.U.

and you will be joining Howard University.

[ Cheers and applause ] If you could talk about what motivated this change for you and why Howard?

>> So as I was actually -- do you mind if I tell a story?

Okay.

So, my next book project is a biography for young people on Malcolm X.

It's going to be coming out around Malcolm's 100th birthday in May.

And I've been working on this project for years, particularly working with the Malcolm X estate on this project.

And the book is largely written in scenes.

And one of the scenes in the book actually happened in this building, when Malcolm X debates Bayard Rustin here in 1961.

I mentioned that because, you know, literally this morning, I'm working on that manuscript, reviewing that manuscript.

And I, you know, including that chapter or series of chapters, you know, on Malcolm's visit to Howard.

And then I'm literally, you know, about to come and be able to engage with each of you in such a historic building.

You know, that is just one example, you know, of why, you know, it was exciting for me, you know, to choose to come to Howard University as an intellectual historian, you know, as somebody who studies and writes about Black thinkers and an activist and Black people who've challenged racism, you know.

My whole career, I've not only studied those people, but I've also studied the ways in which they either came to Howard, were trained at Howard, you know, or taught, you know, at Howard.

And so, for me, it's almost like, you know, coming full circle and to be able to sort of walk in their shoes and to be able to join with many of the students here and faculty here and administrators here who are doing similar levels of influential work.

I mean, that's why, you know, I wanted this -- I thought this was a, you know, an incredible opportunity.

And then to build an institute that will help foster those types of thinkers and, you know, and scholars.

I mean, that's why I wanted to come home.

>> So I know that the institute is going to really focus on work of importance to the global African diaspora, you know, which would include race and racism, technology, climate change.

What about that work is exciting to you as a next step?

>> I think particularly in moments like this, it is critically important to create spaces and places for students and intellectuals and creators who are trying to imagine and research and document, you know, a better world.

Creating that place and space for them to do that work in this moment is incredibly important.

And I don't want to get lost.

I don't want to sort of lose that.

And the reason why I don't want to lose that is because it's becoming increasingly difficult to conduct that type of work.

It's becoming -- they're becoming less and less spaces.

They're becoming less and less support.

And so I think that is one of the major sort of reasons why 'm just excited to use my platform and the relationships that I've built over the course of my career to help create that space for people to do what they do best.

And I know how valuable it's been to me, and I know how valuable it can be to students and to faculty and to intellectuals and certainly to Howard University.

>> I know one of the questions that I've been asked is how you're going to engage with students in particular.

>> Well, I think first and foremost, the idea at the institute being able to build a fellowship program and let's say if we're, you know, one year we bring in a climate scientist, you know, as a fellow.

And let's say if there's a Howard student who's interested in climate science, to be able to pair each fellow with a Howard student and so that Howard student could work as a research assistant or help that fellow, you know, conduct their project.

So that's an organic way for that Howard student to be trained to develop a relationship with somebody who's critically influential in their field.

It's something I'm excited about.

I'm also excited about creating opportunities for students to intern at the institute in other sort of ways.

I'm excited about figuring out ways to bring people to campus who students want to meet, you know, and engage with.

I'm obviously excited to teach, you know, Howard students.

And so those are a few of the ways.

>> And how would faculty be engaged?

>> Well, I'm hoping faculty could be fellows.

You know, I think the idea of creating mechanisms for Howard faculty to get some time to finish a research project and then to be in conversation with other intellectuals from other institutions, figuring out ways to support those faculty who are pursuing grants and gifts, figuring out ways to elevate the research and the expertise of faculty through The Emancipator, which I'd like to also sort of bring, which is, you know, a digital platform that really sort of seeks to cover racial-justice issues so that those faculty, those Howard faculty, there's so many Howard faculty who are like one of the leading experts in their field to be able to convey to the public what's going on, you know, with a current issue or to be able to translate their recent sort of academic paper or book, you know, for the general public.

You know, that's also something, you know, I'm excited to work with Howard faculty on.

>> Excellent.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us for the program today.

Please join me in thanking Dr. Kendi for being here today.

>> This program was produced by WHUT and made possible by contributions from viewers like you.

For more information on this program or any other program, please visit our website at whut.org.

Thank you.