Staffers Label Activist Ibram X. Kendi’s Center Layoffs ‘Exploitative’

(ProsperNews.net) – Staffers at the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University have criticized its founder, Ibram X. Kendi, and last month’s decision to lay off more than a dozen employees. Spencer Piston, faculty lead of the center’s policy office, said the problems started at the very beginning when the university “decided to create a center that rested in the hands of one human being, an individual given millions of dollars and so much authority.”

A former assistant, Saida Grundy, said the center lacked structure and relied on staff working long hours. “It became very clear after I started that this was exploitative, and other faculty experienced the same and worse,” she said.

Under new arrangements, fifteen employees were let go, but director Kendi will remain. Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said the center is evolving in a new direction, and details will be publicized in the coming months. He emphasized that the university is “committed to working with and supporting affected employees as they look for their next opportunities.”

The Center for Antiracist Research was founded in 2020 after the death in police custody of George Floyd. The incident led to worldwide riots amid accusations of police brutality against black people and demands for law enforcement to be defunded.

Born Ibram Henry Rogers in Queens, New York, in 1982, the controversial activist’s parents were a tax accountant and a business analyst. He attended private schools as a child and later graduated with dual degrees from Florida A&M University. His book “How to Be an Antiracist” reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

Kendi insists, however, that black people are victimized in America, and he advocates “critical race theory” – the belief that all black people are oppressed, and all white people are oppressors. The writer also calls for an “antiracist” amendment to the US Constitution declaring that any lifestyle differences between a black person and a white person are the result of racism.