Last September, Ibram Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research laid off the majority of its staff. There were subsequent reports that the problems at the center mostly revolved around Kendi’s leadership. Yanique Redwood was the center’s executive director for almost a year and from the time she was hired she said she could tell the center was dying.
For nine months in 2022, I served as the executive director of Kendi’s research center. When I arrived to begin my role, I observed that Kendi and the center were failing. What data did I have to support this assessment? There was significant staff turnover that preceded my arrival. There was the email from a disgruntled professor after I interviewed for the job warning me about an unsafe work environment. I reached out to an outgoing senior-level Black woman at the center, who curtly refused my request to talk. I wondered, what…
