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Antiracist Research and Policy Center

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The Antiracist Research and Policy Center (ARPC) is a project of far-left activist and writer Ibram X. Kendi. Kendi claims that every government and societal institution that produces unequal outcomes between racial groups is by definition discriminatory, and that the only acceptable institutions are those which champion equality of outcome above merit and competence. He has also claimed that all negative responses to his teachings are inherently racist. 12

Kendi has been involved in creating two ARPC locations at major universities. He helped launch the first center at American University in Washington, D.C., in August 2017, when he started his three-year tenure at the university. In June 2020, Kendi announced that he would be leaving American University to help launch a second center at Boston University in Massachusetts. 3 In May 2021, American University announced that it had selected University of California, San Diego professor Sarah Clarke Kaplan to lead its ARPC, and that she would officially join in August 2021. 4

Ibram X. Kendi

Ibram X. Kendi is the creator and leading promoter of a far-left ideology which he calls “antiracism.” Born Ibram Henry Rogers, the activist changed his last name to Kendi when he got married, and says he took the middle name Xolani after learning about Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator and his connection to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. During his time in college, where he majored in African-American studies, Kendi studied under a professor named Molefi Kete Asante, whose signature academic work claims that ancient Egyptians were black Africans. Asante and Kendi have both stated that rejecting the universal applicability of European civilizational values is “the first stage” of their “coming intellectual struggle.” Kendi also claimed during his time in college that “Europeans are simply a different breed of human.” 5

Kendi believes that government policies that discriminate based on race are not only acceptable but necessary if they benefit the racial minority groups he perceives as being oppressed. According to Kendi, a discriminatory policy is “antiracist” if it leads to equality of outcome, and this type of discrimination is “the only remedy” to both past and alleged present-day discrimination. Kendi also believes that racial minority groups can only be accurately labeled “racist” if they support institutions which do not align with his ideology. Kendi refers to these individuals as “Black on Black criminals.” 6

American University ARPC

Christine Platt is the managing director of the “antiracism” center at American University. She writes fictional and biographical works which promote far-left race ideology. Platt received her law doctorate from Stetson University in Florida, her master’s degree in African Studies from Ohio State University, and her bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies from the University of South Florida. 7

Malini Ranganathan is the faculty director of the “antiracism” center at American University. She studies environmental policy in India and the United States from a far-left perspective. Her work also criticizes capitalism and promotes the abolition of national borders and other institutions which she considers to be obstacles to her ideology. Ranganathan received her doctor of philosophy and master of science degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and her bachelor of arts degree from Bard College in New York. 8

In September 2020, the Washington Free Beacon reported that the center received a $50,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to create a “racial reporting guidebook” which would instruct journalists on how to apply Kendi’s “antiracism” ideology to their news coverage. The center also advertised a symposium on “racial reporting” that was supposed to take place in the fall of 2019. According to the Beacon, however, “neither the guidebook nor the symposium ever materialized.” The Beacon also reported that the center received a $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to start a “national antibigotry project.” Like the guidebook and the symposium, the Beacon found no evidence that such a project was ever launched. According to the Beacon, this was also the case for other initiatives that Kendi had announced, including “policy teams,” a database of alleged racial inequality, and classes for students. Kendi taught only one class during his three-year tenure at American University. 9

A spokeswoman for the center told the Beacon that the center had “other goals” and claimed that Kendi had “engaged in significant activity as a thought leader and public intellectual.” A spokesperson for Kendi’s new center at Boston University did not respond to the Beacon’s requests for comment. 10

References

  1.    Lizzy Tarallo. “Ibram X. Kendi will leave AU and join Boston University faculty to develop antiracist research center.” The Eagle. June 4, 2020. Accessed June 25, 2021. https://www.theeagleonline.com/article/2020/06/ibram-x-kendi-will-leave-au-and-join-boston-university-faculty-to-develop-antiracist-research-center
  2.       Christopher Caldwell. “Ibram X. Kendi, Prophet of Anti-racism.” National Review. July 23, 2020. Accessed June 25, 2021. https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2020/08/10/ibram-x-kendi-prophet-of-anti-racism/
  3.            Lizzy Tarallo. “Ibram X. Kendi will leave AU and join Boston University faculty to develop antiracist research center.” The Eagle. June 4, 2020. Accessed June 25, 2021. https://www.theeagleonline.com/article/2020/06/ibram-x-kendi-will-leave-au-and-join-boston-university-faculty-to-develop-antiracist-research-center
  4. “Sara Clarke Kaplan Is New Executive Director of Antiracist Research and Policy Center.” American University. May 27, 2021. Accessed June 25, 2021. https://www.american.edu/media/news/20200527-arpc-director.cfm
  5.         Christopher Caldwell. “Ibram X. Kendi, Prophet of Anti-racism.” National Review. July 23, 2020. Accessed June 25, 2021. https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2020/08/10/ibram-x-kendi-prophet-of-anti-racism/
  6.         Christopher Caldwell. “Ibram X. Kendi, Prophet of Anti-racism.” National Review. July 23, 2020. Accessed June 25, 2021. https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2020/08/10/ibram-x-kendi-prophet-of-anti-racism/
  7.           Christine Platt. American University. Accessed June 25, 2021. https://www.american.edu/profiles/staff/cplatt.cfm
  8. Malini Ranganathan. American University. Accessed June 25, 2021. https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/malini.cfm
  9. Charles Fain Lehman. “Billionaires Buy Ibram Kendi’s Woke Promises, But He Doesn’t Deliver.” The Washington Free Beacon. September 21, 2020. Accessed June 25, 2021. https://freebeacon.com/culture/billionaires-buy-ibram-kendis-woke-promises-even-as-he-doesnt-deliver/
  10.            Charles Fain Lehman. “Billionaires Buy Ibram Kendi’s Woke Promises, But He Doesn’t Deliver.” The Washington Free Beacon. September 21, 2020. Accessed June 25, 2021. https://freebeacon.com/culture/billionaires-buy-ibram-kendis-woke-promises-even-as-he-doesnt-deliver/
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