When an anti-racist book festival really isn't: professor's quest for harmony misses mark

Author and anti-racist activist Ibram Kendi is reportedly breaking his own principles, according to one media outlet.

The National Anti-racist Book Festival, of which Kendi is host, is the first and only book festival that brings together the nation's anti-racist writers.

That is according to the Center for Antiracist Research.

The College Fix reports American University hosted the first one in 2019. There have been two more since.

Matt Lamb is Associate Editor of The College Fix.

"Professor Ibram Kendi's anti-racist book festival violates his own principles of anti-racism,” Lamb said.

Lamb explained that Kendi teaches that there should be exactly equal distribution of any job or benefit across the races, although Kendi does say it's ok to discriminate against certain “people who have historically been privileged, as you might say, which means typically white people."

However, Kendi’s own book festival had a problem. It’s roster of participants wasn’t very inclusive compared to society’s racial make-up.

“His own anti-racist book festival did not feature enough Hispanic and Asian males relative to their proportion in the United States,” Lamb said.

Unfortunately, this is a trend. Kendi’s past three book festivals have not promoted anti-racism.

 "Now, Ibram Kendi's anti-racism theory doesn't provide for any other explanation of why their might be disparities, even though there's obviously plenty of variables that could play into why an employer doesn't hire enough of a certain race or why some races might be more represented than others in certain occupations or at certain universities."