No engagement with the arrant lies, the massive plagiarism, the airy public addresses. Kendi thinks all of that is okay if you're Black (and have dreadlocks) and that Arday was still a legitimate academic seized upon because of his color. Kendi thinks Blackness exempts one from amassing data, drawing connections, and presenting novel insights. You're the real thing in just showing racism exists, despite that this is a rote exercise. We don't have to be actually smart, and in fact shouldn't (too "Western"). We are authentic in eternally "contesting." That take is deep if you (have dreadlocks and) changed your name to Kendi. Note that he seems not to have worked out at the Atlantic, and publishes this soapbox performance art somewhere you're a little surprised a public "intellectual" of his status would choose. I wish Arday were alive. But this take on Arday as lynched is performance art. American academia should hesitate to embrace it.