Ibram X. Kendi launches book on authoritarianism in Minneapolis after ICE surge
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Historian and best-selling author Ibram X. Kendi said he launched his new book in Minneapolis, ahead of its official March 17 release, after the surge of federal immigration enforcement in the city.
The Howard University professor authored the international bestseller “How to Be an Antiracist” in 2019.
His latest book, “Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age,” examines authoritarianism and its relationship to the "great replacement” conspiracy theory.
Kendi reached out to the Black Collective Foundation MN to host a talk and signing at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Saturday evening.
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Ahead of the event, Kendi spoke with MPR News about the new book, its Minnesota connections and why he wanted Minneapolis to be the first stop on a national book tour.
Editor's note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How would you describe the book’s central argument?
“Chain of Ideas” chronicles the resurgence and global spread of what's known as ”great replacement” theory. This is a political theory that suggests powerful elites are enabling peoples of color to replace or displace the lives and livelihoods of white people who apparently now need authoritarian protection.
When we hear politicians say, “immigrants are invading the nation” or “they're poisoning the blood of the nation” or “diversity is discrimination” — politicians are typically using this theory to justify the erosion of democracy in the name of national security.
The book chronicles that utility or use, not only in the United States under the Trump administration but even in Europe and Latin America and South Asia. This is a theory that's being used by authoritarians everywhere to more or less manipulate people into consenting to their own domination.
Why the title ‘Chain of Ideas’?
I took that from a French thinker in the late 1700s who was basically arguing to the French monarchy that controlling people through iron [chains] is sort of an old way of doing it, and a more effective way to control people is by a chain of their own ideas.
It really speaks to how propaganda seeks to constrain and control people, particularly towards authoritarian ends.
What made you want to write this book?
I was really seeking to understand how politicians were going about seeking to get people to support policies — and even policymakers — that were ultimately harming them and the rest of us.
Why start your book tour here?
I really wanted to visit Minnesota to talk about “Chain of Ideas” for two major reasons.
First, because in many ways, Minnesota became — and really still is — this sort of ground zero for the many stories and ideas and campaigns that I chronicle in “Chain of Ideas,” in which you have these politicians essentially going about occupying particular institutions, or even states, to “free those people from the invaders.” And, ultimately, the people that they claim they're trying to save or protect, they end up harming.
Minnesota became an obvious example of that, which I think allowed people to see that these so-called saviors were actually harming everyone.
Secondly, I think the solidarity that emerged in Minnesota to resist the occupation has galvanized and inspired people around the United States and around the world. And I suspected that as I travel around the country, people will ask me, “Well, what can we do?”
It's one thing for me to say, “Be like Minnesotans.” It's another thing for me to learn from people in Minnesota how they did it, so I can relay that to people across the country and the world.
When you're saying ‘ground zero’ for what you're chronicling, what time period are you referring to? What actions and harms?
Let me just give an example. The book is on great replacement theory. This theory was named by a French novelist named Renaud Camus, who wrote the book “The Great Replacement” in 2011 and a subsequent book in 2018 called “You Will Not Replace Us!” which was taken after the chant in Charlottesville, Va. In that book, he argued that the solution to the great replacement was what he and others have called “remigration,” which is this all-out, systemic effort to remove people of color from states, from nations.
The Trump administration has sought to execute its “mass deportation program” particularly in a state like Minnesota. You have politicians all over the world who are campaigning on or trying to execute similar-type programs, as people in Minnesota have experienced.
Do you have any Minnesota specific references in the book by chance?
My book was finished before the occupation started. However, I have references to the murder of George Floyd and the aftermath of that murder, particularly around those who presented those who were demonstrating against police violence in Minnesota and around the world as the problems, as opposed to police violence itself.
Because that furthered this narrative within great replacement theory that anti-racist protests were actually anti-white. That they weren't seeking to create equal opportunity for all or ensuring no one is subjected to police violence.
Like the demonstrations against police violence were misconstrued or kind of twisted to seem anti-white?
Yes. So, to give a larger context, what “Chain of Ideas” shows is that great replacement theory has evolved from this idea that Black and brown immigrants are coming to replace the “native” white population. The theory is also stating that African Americans are stealing the jobs of qualified white people, and they're replacing them in these coveted positions.
That idea really emerged in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. Because after the murder of George Floyd, you had this surge of interest in trying to eradicate racial disparities and inequities. And in the aftermath of that, you had these great replacement theorists stating that these people were not trying to create equal opportunity for everyone — what they were trying to do is replace white people and take jobs and depress the livelihoods of white people.
And that is how they were able to undermine those racial justice efforts.
What do you think this book offers Minnesotans? Or what do you hope that Minnesotans take away from the book?
I think that people in Minnesota have almost certainly heard or been exposed to great replacement theory, although they may not have recognized what was being told to them as great replacement theory.
I suspect people in Minnesota have been told ideas like “those Black people” or “those immigrants” or “those Muslims” are coming to take their livelihoods or their lives or their jobs or even their power.
And so what I'm hoping “Chain of Ideas” will allow them to see is, not only that this is great replacement theory, but also how these theorists and propagandists and politicians have used this as a pretext to state to Minnesotans that they need protection.
I think that was the pretext for invading Minnesota with all these ICE agents. It was justified by this idea that those immigrants are there, harming people in Minnesota, even as immigrants are less likely to break the law than U.S. citizens.
I think it gives people in Minnesota a context, frankly not just a national but even a global context, of what the state has experienced for several months.
Was there anything that surprised you while researching this book? Or did it expand or challenge your own thinking in any way?
I think people are going to be shocked by how far this theory has spread and the power of the people who are espousing it. And even the wealth of the people who are financing the political parties that are expressing these theories, many of whom are some of the wealthiest people in the world.
For people who are concerned about political polarization and the impact of great replacement theory, is there something that you advise people do? Are there any takeaways?
I don't think we are polarized politically by coincidence. If you think about great replacement theory — attempts to make people believe that different religious or racial or ethnic groups are political enemies, and that this other group is coming to destroy you — it fundamentally is going to lead to political polarization. That's actually the point.
I'm hoping that by reading this book, people can see why certain politicians are trying to divide us. Why they don't want us to see people who don't look like we do — or who don't practice a similar culture or the same religion — to believe that that difference is danger.
I want people to see why certain elected officials are trying to convince us of that, and how that's ultimately not only driving a wedge between us, not only putting us at war with each other, but ultimately allowing those who are doing that to divide and conquer and exploit us.
Because that's ultimately the point: to get everyday people warring against each other so the oligarch could continue to dominate and exploit us all.
