‘Antiracist’ Professor Scrambles to Explain Decline of Research Center as Storm Clouds Gather Above Him

At the core of critical race theory lay the toxic assertion that skin color dictates identity and largely determines destiny. Thus, one always feels heartened when misfortune strikes the CRT enterprise. Professor Ibram X. Kendi, founder of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, has addressed several recent news items that cast his management of the Center in a negative light. Last week, the Center laid off nearly half of its staff. Then, WCVB-TV in Boston reported on Thursday that Boston University has announced an “inquiry” into various complaints regarding the Center. In fact, a BU spokesperson told WCVB that the university had expanded an existing inquiry. The broadened investigation will “include the Center’s management culture and the faculty and staff’s experience with it.” Friday on X, formerly Twitter, Kendi posted a statement on the Center’s layoffs and the criticism he has received.

My thoughts on the @AntiracismCtr layoffs. pic.twitter.com/yRXnPGTqdT

— Ibram X. Kendi (@ibramxk) September 22, 2023

“A week ago, I had to make the hardest decision of my career and lay off a number of talented and committed staff from the BU Center for Antiracist Research (CAR) to ensure our long-term sustainability and impact,” the statement began. [firefly_poll] Kendi then insisted that the Center’s circumstances have not reached desperation. “I made this decision not out of financial distress — as suggested by some — but to put in place a new structure that would support the mission of CAR for the long term,” he wrote. Thus far, the statement read like any sterile piece of corporate public relations. Kendi, however, could not help himself. The antiracist professor quickly adopted the self-pitying tone of a true CRT agent. “There will always be people who critique the job someone else is doing — but I stand by my decision to take the long view for CAR, especially when racial and social justice organizations are under attack,” he wrote. Ah yes, the dominant corporate culture has proven hostile to “racial and social justice organizations”! Turn on an NFL game — consume one hour of corporate entertainment — and discover how those poor organizations must suffer. Kendi, of course, had more to say. Self-pity courses through CRT veins. “Leaders of color and women are often held to different standards and routinely have their authority undermined or questioned,” the antiracist professor complained. “But I want to live in a world where all leaders of new organizations are given the time to make mistakes and learn and grow. I want to live in a world where all new organizations are given the time to have growing pains and develop. I want to live in a world where we are all about building and sustaining antiracist organizations. Until we build that world, the crucial work of CAR will continue.” Kendi’s insufferable conclusion reads like a parody on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream.” While King spoke in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963, segregationist regimes enforced centuries’ worth of unjust laws and customs. King demanded civil rights, equality and respect rooted in Christian love. Kendi’s message, on the other hand, reduces to something we might summarize as follows: “From the ivory tower I declare that you must exempt me from scrutiny and allow me to continue trading in the currency of my ancestors’ suffering. Otherwise, you are the problem.” The sooner Kendi’s Center ceases operations, the better for all who believe in love, justice and true equality. This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.