“We live in a society of racial disparities, inequities and injustices all around us.”
That’s how noted New York Times author and anti-racism activist Dr. Ibram X. Kendi began his keynote to celebrate the fifth annual Diversity and Inclusion Week at USC.
More than 1,200 people Zoomed into the event Wednesday morning.
“And so the question for us as human beings - the question for us as people - is why do we have all these racial inequities and disparities,” he asked.
Dr. Kendi was joined by USC Gould School of Law Professor Camille Gear Rich who moderated the 50-minute conversation.
Professor Rich and Dr. Kendi explored concepts of anti-racism, white supremacy, accountability and cancel culture. In a time where most people in the country have developed a heightened awareness of racism on both an individual and institutional level, organizers of the virtual event called Kendi’s lessons a gift to the USC community.
“The hope is that lots of conversations will be sparked by the topic,” said Dr. Renée Smith-Maddox, a clinical professor and diversity liaison for the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. “What Dr. Kendi helps us all sort of see is the importance of deconstructing and interrogating our own understanding of racism, systemic racism, structural racism, and how it’s important to examine racism through many lenses.”
Famous for his memoir, “How To Be an Anti-Racist,” Kendi addressed some of the common misconceptions of what being anti-racist is and what it is not.
Denying racism’s existence in society is a typical response when most people are confronted with the idea, Kendi says. But to be anti-racist “is to figure out a way for us as individuals to challenge that system of racism” and come to terms with the racist ideas and bias we’ve internalized for the past 600 years. He wants us to know that it’s deeper than just the individual – it’s an issue rooted in policy and history.
As Kendi explained, racism grows out of discriminatory policies and procedures.
“The institution itself is suffering because of a lack of accountability,” he said “There’s nothing that strangles a society or an organization more than a lack of accountability.”
With Black people dying at two times the rate as white people from COVID-19, Dr. Kendi explored the connections between racism within the healthcare system. An experience he knows far too well as a survivor of cancer.
“Our inequities exist because there’s something wrong with those racial groups on the lower end of those inequities,” said Kendi, who was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in 2018.
“Racial inequities, disparities and injustices are tumors,” he said.
Kendi was declared cancer-free six months after his diagnosis. He sees the Coronavirus pandemic as just one example of how deep racism has infected society. The cure, he explains, is anti-racism.
“We need to do the same thing we do when we find tumors in the human body,” Kendi said. “We go in and surgically remove those racist policies.”
In a little over five years, Kendi has become one of the country’s most sought-after commentators on racism.
Dr. Kendi is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of seven books – four of which have reached #1 on the best-seller list. Kendi is a professor and founding director of Boston University Center of Antiracist Research after a three-year stint at American University launching a similar initiative. He’s a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News Racial Justice Contributor. In 2020, TIME Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The event was hosted in partnership with the Office of the Provost and PRYSM from the Gould School of Law. Dr. Charles F. Zukoski, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, said events like this one are helping USC become a better university and fulfill the university’s mission to promote diversity, equity and inclusion – one of the unifying values established by the Culture Journey initiative.
“Today’s discussion, along with 100 other events being held this week, is intended to further equip our community to raise equity and inclusivity into all areas of our daily lives,” said Provost Zukoski. “So we must learn from history, face facts today and create spaces that promote changes we all seek.”
This year’s theme for Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Week is Diversity United: Race, Social Justice and the Future of American Equality. Events are being held virtually on multiple days a week focusing on promoting equity and inclusion both in the classroom and our daily lives.
“I just wanted to sort of encourage people that you are doing the right thing,” said Dr. Kendi. “No matter how many times people tell you otherwise you are doing the right thing – not just for justice and equity but for your institution.”