Please, do not approach the panelists while in the building. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is ivan bates, and i will serve as the moderator for todays panel, black in america. One of the things thats very interesting here at the key school, we have the opportunity to look and listen to the schools leader. Once we sit down we understand his book, basically, is a definition of the racist ideas in america, and this book was ai book that he spent a great deal of time researching. Its a book that chronicles the entire story of the antiblack racist ideas and their power over the course of American History. Dr. Kendi has done this through a number of ways throughout his book in which he uses the life of five major americans. These were intellectuals throughout the time period of history. The first one is a puritan minister. He sits down and talks about that and how he looked at some of his ideas. The next individual in the book is an individual, thomas jefferson, talks about him as well as his familys upbringing and some of the thoughts that he had in framing the constitution. We sit down and look at theon abolitionist william lord garrison who was very strong in making sure that he ended slavery, and it worked within that movement. We also have w. E. B. Dubois who sits down as one of the leaders and put together the naacp, and he also talks with angela davis. We have dr. Kendi, and he is a native son of jamaica queens, new york, where he lived until he moved to virginia, manassas, virginia, the last two years of high school. He then went to florida a m for his undergraduate. He then was able to get his doctorate from temple university. Hes now a professor down at tht university of florida. Ty. So dr. Kendi will sit down and give the background in terms of the history of racism in america. I and we have with us as well professor d. Watkins. Professor watkins, the young man from Baltimore City, a native son of Baltimore City. Professor watkins has put together a number of essays and put them together in a book called the b side living and dying while black in america. Professor watkins is from Baltimore City, and his book chronicles his life story in many ways, the things that he saw, the things that he witnessed. Professor watkins is able to sit down and talk about racist policies weve had in america, how they have impacted him growing up black in america, especially in Baltimore City in the urban environment. Professor watkins is a young man who has turned his life around from the early days to gaining education, to showing the power of reading and how important it is through education as a key to success. Professor watkins is a graduate, has his masters from johns hopkins, and he also teaches a Creative Writing Program at the university of baltimore. So to have both of these gentlemen, both of these scholars and with us on thise panel, i think its a great opportunity for the key school, and we thank you very much for joining us. Thd like to start withth dr. Kendi, just talking about your book and talking about what led you to this point in terms of the publication and your research. Thank you. Thank you. Ch. Incredible introduction. Its truly a pleasure and an honor to be here at the key school, to be presenting at the Annapolis Book festival. As was stated, i went to high school not too far from here in manassas, virginia, and so anytime i can come back to my second home, i certainly take that opportunity. And so im actually here talking to you about my new book, and it really is brand new. It actually came out on april s 12th, just a few days ago, stamped from the beginning the definitive history of racist ideas in america. And, actually, on april 12th, 1860, Jefferson Davis who at the time was the, one of the senators, u. S. Senators from mississippi stood before his colleagues in the u. S. Senate and uttered the phrase the inequality between the black and white races was stamped from the beginning. And so ironically, my book came out on the very day that sort of title was inspired from. And he made that statement because there was a bill on the floor that was considering granting funds to educate black people in d. C. And, of course, he got up and argued against it. Of course, many of you know Jefferson Davis later became the president of the confederacy. And i sort of start with that very small story to say that that was, to a certain extent, indicative of the long and lingering history of racist ideas, that you essentially over the course of American History had racist policies put in place or you had individuals who did not want antiracist policies to be put in place like a bill that would provide education to black children in washington, d. C. In the same manner that educational funds were being provided to white children. And then you had individuals like Jefferson Davis present, produce, reproduce racist ideas to either challenge those antiracist bills or to defend existing racist bills, to defend existing racist policies. So what im saying in a nutshell is typically weve been taught this history that ignorance and hate has led to racist ideas. And then individuals who have these racist ideas are the ones who, essentially, have created these viciouslyracist policies that have impacted the lives of people of african descent over the course of American History. And what i found through studying the history of racistst ideas is that the connection actually has been quite the opposite. So what im saying is ive sort of differentiated between what i call the producers of racist ideas, these powerful producers, somebody as influential as a jefferson dais, or somebody as influential today as a donald trump. Im talking about these powerful producers of racist ideas or powerful producers of ideas. Im differentiating between them and the consumers of those ideas. People like us. Right . People like you and i. And in my book, i study the history of the producers of these ideas. Why were they producing these ideas. And i found that people created racist ideas to you have the slave trade. I to justifify the slave trade, to justify slavery. I found that people created racist ideas to justify segregation. I found that people continued to create racist ideas to now justify mass incarceration. And so im finding that we had these policies in place, we had these disparities in place, and then people were creating racist ideas over the course of American History to justify and rationalize them. And then it caused you and i having consumed these ideas to hook out at america toto look out at america and to see disparities or to see people enslaved, or to see two million black people in jail, right . Or to see hundreds of thousands of people in chains coming over to america and view that assa normal. And view that as gnarl. Thats as normal. And i try to chronicle that in stamped from the beginning, that these ideas have been powerful enough to make us believe that inequities are normal. That inequities are normal. And so, hopefully, well have more time to sort of talk about that. I just wanted to give a brief introduction to stamped from the beginning. Thank you, dr. Kendi. Its very important to know that with these policies and throughout the throughout the history, how have these policiei impacted us at the grassroots level. Li and thats why we have professor watkins and author of the b side living and dying while black in america. Professor watkins, thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. So, dr. Kendi has done Amazing Research to put these things into a historical context, and i think the b side goes well with his book because it actually breaks down how these things hit everyday citizens who have to deal with these issues while still dealing with some of these issues that came or were established a long time ago. And the b sides a simple book. If youre from a place like east baltimore or any urban area anda you never see yourself in a book, you never see yourself on television, you never see yourself, you know, as a statue when you walk down the street, you know . Theres no representation of yourself anywhere in the country that you helped build, then its a love story for you. Its a chance for you to see yourself and understand your story and understand your journey, and it also flirts with putting some of these hugeou issues into a historical context. On the other side of the spectrum, if youre from a place far removed from a place like east baltimore, right . If youre from a suburb, and you dont really have a lot of experience with urban communities or, you know, you have, like, one black friend, you know . [laughter] then it ves you the opportunity to be able to understand or see the humanity that the media leaves out, you know . A lot of times you see unarmed black kid gunned down, you know . And then whats next . Really we have to stop and think, well, that killed, you know, he was just a kid. He had goals and dreams and ambitions. He could have been the next, you know, barack obama. He could you never know what these people can grow into, because they dont really get a chance, right . Think about some of the people who we celebrate in Society Today and, you know, look at them when they were 20 years old, and it goes across the board, you know . Look at malcolm x at 21 or, you know, for those of you who look up to george w. Bush, look at him in his 20s. I guess not much changed as he matured naughter] but you get the point. You know, in life we all make mistakes, you know . Nobodys squeaky clean. And we go through these things, and we can experience redemption, and we can takero those mistakes and that resiliency that comes from those mistakes and grow into great people. So i think the b side does a great job at showing the humanity that the media leaves out. You know, where were peoplee too, and we have a lot in common with all types of people around this country. I try to do that, and i try to put it in a language that everyone can understand. Its very accessible, you know . If you read 20 million act dem you can articles a day academic articles a day, youll say, oh, literature. Be youre on a second gradec reading level as a 50yearold, youll still be able to get through the book in three days. Thank you, thank you. Dr. Kendi and professor watkins, as you researched into your professional background and, professor watkins, growing up and living, what is the number one thing that you would like the reader to take from your book . Black readers or white readers . Both. T [laughter] both. I asked that for a specific reason. For black readers one of the, one of the major unfortunate findings in the book n studying this history is i not only let me just preface this. I not only try to study racist ideas, but i also try to study antiracist ideas and policies and strategies and protest movements and sort of show over the course of history this interlocking sort of struggle. And black people, specifically middleincome black people, have been long taught really ever since the abolitionist movementi that the way that we can undermine racist, the racist ideas of whites is to when we go before white audiences to not defy stereotypes. Right . To, quote, represent the race well. I mean, many of our parents have told us, right, to, quote, represent the race well. Which means dont defy stereotypes i mean, defy stereotypes, right . Dont make it seem as if youre inferior. Act intelligent, speak proper, all of these different things, right . And abolitionists, specifically really first in the 1790s began lecturing free blacks that this is the way that you undermine the prejudices of whites and thereby understood mine the ideas undermine the ideas that were underlying slavery. That you free blacks need to go before white audiences and show your equal humanity. Thats what was taught to black people by white abolitionists, and many blacks then internalized those ideas, and weve been consuming them andng reconsuming them and teaching and reteaching them ever since. R and what i found in the book is that idea is based on a racist idea. That strategy is actually based on a racist ideas. Ed it actually connotes this idea that somehow black people are responsible for the racist ideas that white people have. That black people are somehow responsible for the racist ideas that white people have which means there is some truth in thw racist ideas that white people have because black people are acting a particular way, right . D and so i basically chronical what i call upliftsuasion and show the way that those ideas are based on racist ideas. To whites, very quickly, that typically most americans think of a racist idea as an idea that states that the racial groups are biologically distinct and black people are genetically distinct and inferior. And typically, people do not acknowledge all of the other ways in which people have considered black people to be infear your. Ac like culturally, to give you an example. And throughout history you have a group who have constantly stated that the racial groups are biologically equal, but when it comes to culture, they say that black people are culturally inferior. Ay but they say since were biologically equal, black people can be developed. So theyve entered into black communities trying to develop black people because, of course these black people were inferior, but since theyre biologically equal, they can be developed, they can be civilized, they can be improved. And i show in the book thats a racist idea too. Okay, thank you. Professor watkins, in reference to your book, what would you like the reader to take from that . Three things. Yo i want, one, i would like every reader to think more criticallyi about race in society after reading the book. The book doesnt, it doesnt challenge you to change your perspectives, but to think about these things, the traditions and the information that was given to you versus your own thoughts and opinions on how these systems came about and how you can interpret them. Two, humanity. Were humans, were people, you know in these people who die and go through these things are people. You can be, you could be a ku klux klan member from mississippi or a gang banger from compton, california, but, you know, put two of those guys in a room with free ice cream, theyre both going to take it. Whos too racist for ice cream, you know what i mean . Were taught that were so different, but we have so much many common. And, three, the third thing ii would like people to take away from this book is something that i live by. Y. Its an ethiopian proverb that reads when spiders united, they can tie down a lion. I dont think about the government and what is going to trickle down into the community, i think about how we as individuals can use our powers to make real change. We you know, my thing is literacy. I work with reading programs. I started a writers project, ive helped a whole lot of writers get some of their work published in different places. Thats my job, thats what i dou i have another friend that does the same thing with Financial Literacy and another friend who does the same thing with nutrition. We all are figuring out what our passion is, and were working really, really, really hard to achieve mastery and sharingly those skills with ore people. I want people to read this book and understand how strong we are as individuals and the things we can do, because all of us have been waiting for politicians forever. So when people ask me things like what do you think about the election, what do you think about this president , thisua candidate or that candidate, you know, and im not jaded and i understand the importance of all of these things, but i know that any and every change that i wanted to see came from grass roots work. So i put my time and my energy there. I dont need to donate to campaigns and wear a tshirt with someones name on it. I dont need for you to wait to come to my city and call it a third world country and then leave. Or send your surrogate to offer all the free bumper stickers you can carry. Thats not going to help people make money, keep people out of prison, get people reading, any of these things. To so i want people to understand how we are as individuals and how we can do more for our communities than just marching and protesting. Marching and protesting is great. You need marches, and you need protesters. But we need lawyers, you know, we need teachers, we need educators who believe in thesene issues, we need people who run for office who believe in these issues and keep them once they actually get elected. And we also need people to do all of these other things too, you know . I was on a Television Show not too long ago, and this guy, it was chris hayes, and we were talking about some of these issues. I said its very simple. We need the guy with the [inaudible] to work with the guy in the nikes to work with the guy in the institute to work with the white guy in the birkenstocks, you know . We need all of these different people have to get together and work if we want to really get through these issues, andto hopefully this book gives enough examples on how we can unite as one to get through some of these issues that plague our country today. Now, dr. Kendi, we see the history and in knowing the history, how do we move forward . And are we able to move forward with the history and the scars that have been afflicted on the Africanamerican Community . So ill take your sort of second question first. And that is the answer is, yes. And i think black people have suffered quite a bit of trauma as a result of many of the things we could sort of talk about. Qui but at the same time, i dont think that that history of presentations has made the black people inferior in any way. Its reduced their opportunities, right . But the people themselves, just like any other group of people throughout World History who suffered oppression, right . The people were able to sort of strive through. Ed and so i think we should first recognize that black people, all racial groups are equal despite their differences. I think thats the first major thing im hoping that people recognize. Now, clearly, im pretty clear that i take a very antiracist position which is that the racial groups are equal. And is so when you believe theal racial groups are equal, when you believe that antiracist idea and you look out at Racial Disparities and inequities, youre going to see discrimination. You understand that . So when you truly believe the racial groups are equal and you look out at disparities, youre not going to see, okay, the black Unemployment Rat