
Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendi
Be Antiracist imagines what an antiracist society might look like and how we all can play an active role in building one. Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is the author of How to Be an Antiracist, the book that spurred a nationwide conversation redefining what it means to be antiracist, and in this podcast, he guides listeners how they can identify and reject the racist systems hiding behind racial inequity and injustice. Alongside notable guests, Dr. Kendi continues his journey towards building a just and equitable world and proposes how we can all help create it with him.
Latest episodes

Mar 14, 2023 • 49min
Introducing Started From the Bottom: How Charlamagne Turned Failure Into Success
Here’s a preview of a new podcast from Pushkin, Started From the Bottom. Host Justin Richmond interviews successful “outsiders” — people of color, people who weren’t part of the old boys’ network, people who weren’t part of the college network — about how they beat the odds and built a roadmap for success. In this episode, he’s joined by Charlamagne Tha God, who shares how he went from being a young man suffering from anxiety, constantly in and out of jail, to a prevailing icon of modern media. Hear more from Started From the Bottom at apple.co/thebottom. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 11, 2021 • 49min
Black & Asian American Solidarity: Exchanging Ideas, Sharing History
Cathy Park Hong is a Korean American poet, writer, professor, and the poetry editor at The New Republic. Her recent book, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography in 2021. Hong and Dr. Kendi have a deep discussion about the uniquely Asian American experience of living at the intersection of racist vilification and the stereotype of the “model minority.” For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit pushkin.fm/show/be-antiracist-ibram-kendi/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 4, 2021 • 36min
Repairing the Past: Returning Native Land
David Treuer is an Ojibwe Indian from Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. His most recent book, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Carnegie Medal in 2019. He is currently a professor of English at the University of Southern California. Dr. Treuer and Dr. Kendi held a powerful conversation about the ramifications of historical erasure, anti-Native racism, and Treuer’s antiracist proposal to return the National Parks to the tribes. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit pushkin.fm/show/be-antiracist-ibram-kendi/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 28, 2021 • 50min
Prison & Police Abolition: Finding True Safety
Abolitionist Mariame Kaba is the founder of Project NIA and the author of the New York Times bestseller, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice. Kaba and Dr. Kendi have a profound discussion on why mass surveillance, police, punishment, and incarceration will never create a safe society—and what will. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 21, 2021 • 38min
Antiracism & Immigration: People First
As a 2020 presidential candidate, Julián Castro proposed radically reforming United States immigration policy by putting people first. Previously he served as President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and spent three terms as mayor of San Antonio, Texas. In 2018 Castro published his memoir, An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up from My American Dream. He now serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for American Progress and is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. Dr. Kendi and Castro sit down to discuss the common ground on which antiracist and pro-immigrant battles must be fought. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 14, 2021 • 41min
Beyond Capitalism: A Multiracial Labor Movement
Historian Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley is the Gary B. Nash Professor of History at UCLA and the author of Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression and Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. Dr. Kendi and Dr. Kelley have a deep discussion on the roots of the modern American labor movements, racial capitalism, and how we can create an antiracist world that benefits all workers. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 7, 2021 • 43min
Racism & Sports: Changing Athletics, Changing Society
Jemele Hill is an award-winning sports journalist, a writer at The Atlantic, and host of the Unbothered podcast. She was a co-host of SportsCenter on ESPN and a Senior Correspondent and Columnist for their website, The Undefeated, before leaving the network in 2018. Dr. Kendi and Hill have a thought-provoking conversation about overhauling sports – from ownership to fandom to media – in the pursuit of an antiracist future. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 30, 2021 • 33min
Leveling Difference: The Antiracist Struggle for LGBTQ+ Justice
For a long time Don Lemon was America’s only Black prime-time news anchor. He now hosts Don Lemon Tonight on CNN every weeknight and serves as a CNN correspondent. He is also the author of a new, deeply personal and reflective book called, This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism. Lemon shares his experience as a Black gay man, the racism and homophobia he’s faced, witnessed and battled against. He and Dr. Kendi discuss how the antiracist struggle includes the struggle against homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of bigotry targeting members of the LGBTQ+ community. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 23, 2021 • 42min
The Attack on Voting Rights: An Ugly History
Ari Berman is, without question, one of the leading journalists documenting voter suppression in the United States today. He covers voting rights at Mothers Jones and is the author of Give Us The Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, which chronicles the history of voter suppression after the Voting Rights Acts of 1965. Dr. Kendi and Berman discuss the history of voting rights in the United States, the Republican-led attacks they face, and the type of antiracist policies necessary for a multiracial democracy. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 16, 2021 • 25min
The Juneteenth Mixtape
Host Ibram X. Kendi expounds the history and legacy of Juneteenth, and what the day means to him. He passes the mic to Annette Gordon-Reed, Heather McGhee, Adam Serwer, Tiya Miles and Maurice Carlos Ruffin, who share how this day in American history shows up in their lives. Plus: the Be Antiracist team hits the streets of New York to check in with the community on how they’re celebrating the holiday.For more episodes of Be Antiracist, visit pushkin.fm/show/be-antiracist-ibram-kendi Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.