Ibram X. Kendi and the Problem of Celebrity Fund-Raising

The turmoil at Ibram X. Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, which recently laid off more than half its staff, has been a schadenfreude bonanza for the right. Kendi, who argues that there’s no such thing as racial neutrality, that all ideas and policies are either racist or antiracist, was perhaps the biggest intellectual star to emerge from the febrile, quasi-revolutionary moment following the murder of George Floyd. The Center for Antiracist Research launched in 2020 with a grandiose vision, seeking to “understand, explain and solve seemingly intractable problems of racial inequity and injustice.” Money poured in; it ultimately raised nearly $55 million.