{"id":52105,"date":"2020-09-09T10:28:12","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T14:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/?post_type=r_cas_magazine&#038;p=52105"},"modified":"2020-09-10T14:03:41","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T18:03:41","slug":"building-a-juggernaut-against-racism","status":"publish","type":"r_cas_magazine","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/arts-sciences\/fall-2020\/building-a-juggernaut-against-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a Juggernaut Against Racism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"byline\">By Andrew Thurston | Photo by Jackie Ricciardi<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">$10M to Dr. Ibram Kendi and the Center for Antiracist Research at BU. This research will inform and fuel much needed and overdue policy change. I appreciate you Dr. Kendi, and I\u2019m grateful for your work! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/M2zvIQYeEO\">https:\/\/t.co\/M2zvIQYeEO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 jack (@jack) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jack\/status\/1296486118863654917?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 20, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/antiracism-center\/profile\/ibram-x-kendi\/\">Ibram X. Kendi<\/a> thanked Twitter and Square cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey for a $10 million donation to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/antiracism-center\/\">BU\u2019s new Center for Antiracist Research<\/a>, he called racism a juggernaut. \u201cRacist policies + ideas are ubiquitous,\u201d tweeted Kendi, a leading scholar of racism, best-selling author, and the center\u2019s founding director. \u201cWe need juggernauts combating racism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Center for Antiracist Research is quickly becoming an inexorable force\u2014as is Kendi, who joined CAS in July. In 2020, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oprahmag.com\/entertainment\/a33534980\/ibram-x-kendi-the-oprah-conversation-antiracism\/\">he\u2019s been interviewed by Oprah<\/a> and just about every major news outlet in America, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2020\/09\/the-end-of-denial\/614194\/\">written a cover story for the <em>Atlantic<\/em><\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gq.com\/story\/ibram-x-kendi-antiracism-scholar-profile\">been profiled by <em>GQ<\/em><\/a>. At time of writing, two of his books, <em>How To Be an Antiracist<\/em> and <em>Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You<\/em>, were on the <em>New York Times<\/em> best-seller list, where they\u2019ve been for months. Kendi also holds one of BU\u2019s highest honors, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2020\/ibram-kendi-mellon-professorship-in-humanities\/\">the Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities<\/a>. The only previous holder of the endowed professorship was the Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel (Hon.\u201974).<\/p>\n<p>The Center for Antiracist Research brings together researchers from across BU and beyond to study issues such as education, environment, health, and justice with the aim of dismantling the racist structures that maintain inequities. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/antiracism-center\/profile\/jessica-t-simes\/\">Jessica Simes<\/a>, a CAS assistant professor of sociology, is the center\u2019s associate director of research.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy hope is that it becomes a premier research center for researchers and for practitioners to really solve these intractable racial problems of our time,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2020\/ibram-x-kendi-leading-scholar-on-racism-to-join-bu\/\">Kendi said in June, just before joining the University<\/a>. \u201cNot only will the center seek to make that level of impact, but also work to transform how racial research is done.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\" bu-callout aligncenter\">\u201cKendi\u2019s vision for the center calls for multidisciplinary research and policy teams. Researchers across BU, from the law, social work, the humanities, computer science, communications, and medicine and public health, will collaborate with researchers from other universities, as well as data analysts, journalists, advocates, and policy experts.\u201d Read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2020\/jack-dorsey-bu-center-for-antiracist-research-gift\/\">Kendi\u2019s plans for the center<\/a>.<\/div>\n<p>Dean Stan Sclaroff calls Kendi, who is also a professor of history, an exemplary teacher who \u201cchallenges his students to rethink current orthodoxies.\u201d Sclaroff says he\u2019s excited by the center\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe center\u2019s cross-disciplinary platform promises to connect and catalyze faculty and students from across the University to pursue a far-reaching agenda in historical humanities research, policy formulation, education, outreach, and advocacy on issues of racism and antiracism in the United States and the world,\u201d says Sclaroff. \u201cIn addition, Professor Kendi brings senior leadership and vibrancy to areas of growing interest to our students. He will contribute to the strength and renown of our curriculum and programs in African American history\u2014to the great benefit of students from across the University, the Boston area, and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"sidebar-right\">\n<h3>More on Ibram X. Kendi<\/h3>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2020\/ibram-x-kendi-on-change-protests-antiracist-research-center\/\">Q&amp;A: \u201cChange is possible.\u201d<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>Read an interview with Kendi about protests over police violence, COVID-19 and racial disparities, and his vision for antiracist research at BU.<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gq.com\/story\/ibram-x-kendi-antiracism-scholar-profile\">Article: Preacher of the New Antiracist Gospel<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><em>GQ<\/em> talked with Kendi about <em>How To Be an Antiracist<\/em> and asked, \u201cWhat happens to a professor when his theory of antiracism goes mainstream?\u201d<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/ibram_x_kendi_the_difference_between_being_not_racist_and_antiracist\">Video: Building an antiracist world<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>In a TED virtual interview, Kendi discusses the difference between being antiracist and \u201cnot racist.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/antiracism-center\/research\/datalab\/\">Research: COVID racial data tracker<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>The BU Center for Antiracist Research is partnering with the COVID tracking project to analyze pandemic data related to race and ethnicity. View the latest statistics.<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/2020\/06\/26\/dr-ibram-x-kendi-and-andrea-taylor\/\">Video: The current moment<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>From voter suppression to capitalism and racism, watch a wide-ranging conversation between Kendi and Andrea Taylor (COM\u201968), BU\u2019s first senior diversity officer.<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/trusted.bu.edu\/s\/1759\/2-bu\/giving\/interior.aspx?sid=1759&amp;gid=2&amp;pgid=9134&amp;cid=17366&amp;appealcode=WEBCAR\">Donate: Support the Center for Antiracist Research<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>See how your donations can help the center bring about an antiracist society.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ibram X. Kendi, a CAS professor of history, is founding director of the Center for Antiracist Research and a best-selling author<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":52194,"template":"","department":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles\/52105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/r_cas_magazine"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles\/52105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52155,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles\/52105\/revisions\/52155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"r_cas_department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=52105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}