July 17, 2024
Episode 8 of “Break Fake Rules” names the fake rules we must break to create an antiracist world
It’s time for a special edition of “Break Fake Rules” where we delve into racism, philanthropy, and humanity. We were honored to welcome Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, leading antiracist scholar and award winning author, and Marcus Walton, CEO of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO). In their discussion with our CEO Glen Galaich, they addressed the most profoundly fake rules that have divided us for centuries by race and identity. Together, Dr. Ibram Kendi and Marcus highlight what it will take for us to overcome the forces that dehumanize us to create a just and antiracist world. As Dr. Kendi shares,
“We have been taught that freedom is chaotic. So, we’ve sort of ran back into slavery. I don’t think freedom is chaotic. Freedom is just uncertain. And I think it’s possible for us to create new norms and standards for ourselves. That’s when we will be able to create a truly free world.”
Meet Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is a National Book Award-winning author of 15 books for adults and children, including nine New York Times bestsellers—five of which were No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. Dr. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University and the director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News racial justice contributor.
Dr. Kendi is the author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, making him the youngest author to win that award. He also authored the international bestseller, How to Be an Antiracist, which was described in the New York Times as “the most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind.” Dr. Kendi’s other bestsellers include How to Raise an Antiracist; Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, co-edited with Keisha Blain; How to Be a (Young) Antiracist, co-authored with Nic Stone; Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored with Jason Reynolds; and Antiracist Baby, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky. In 2020, Time magazine named Dr. Kendi one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world. He was awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant.
Episode 8: “How to Become an Antiracist Funder” With Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Marcus Walton
Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.
It was a privilege to share space and learn from Dr. Kendi. Tune into the episode to hear him trace the history of racist ideology and practices that created the inequitable society we know today. Through his historic lens, Dr. Kendi reveals why the ideologies that created our systems and structures make it hard for people to recognize what is happening and which rules we must break. By exposing the forces that divide us, Dr. Kendi encourages us to recognize them so that we can live into our full humanity.
Watch the abbreviated version on YouTube or listen to the full discussion wherever you get your podcasts. An for up to date news on the people, organizations, and topics shaping the antiracism movement today, sign up for The Emancipator newsletter.
Racist ideas and bigotry across different areas not only prevents us from recognizing the full humanity of the other, but in being unable to recognize the full humanity of the other, we’re actually not able to live in the full humanity of ourselves.
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Meet Marcus Walton
Marcus F. Walton serves as the president and CEO of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations where he supports communities of philanthropic leaders to realize their highest grantmaking aspirations. Throughout his 20-year career, he has specialized in operationalizing ideas, concepts, and frameworks; cultivating transformational leadership and relationships; racial equity facilitation and training; management strategy; program design; and constituent engagement.
Guided by a lifelong interest in human development, Marcus’ vocational pursuits include a decade-long career as a Newfield Network-trained ontological coach, with additional training in the Action Learning systems coaching model. He adopts a multidisciplinary approach to cultivate conditions for individual and collective thriving by integrating the behavioral sciences with nonprofit management and organizing principles, racial equity practices, and ontological learning competencies. Marcus endeavors to leave a legacy characterized by personal mastery, systems change, and social sector excellence.
Hear Marcus Walton connect Dr. Kendi’s remarks to the consequences that racism and division have for philanthropy. During the conversation, he exposes the artificial barriers traditional philanthropy has built up to institutionalize and insulate wealth holders away from community. Hear him make the case for why we must break through the institutional barriers that prevent us from realizing philanthropy’s true purpose.
We’d like to thank Marcus and the GEO team for hosting us for our first episode filmed in front of a live studio audience! Thank you to GEO and every rule breaker who attended the recording to lean into this important conversation.
The most effective philanthropy is not about efficiency, it’s about effectiveness; and efficiency doesn’t equal effectiveness, which is another fake rule. For so long, traditional philanthropy was about efficiency, but efficiency for whom?
Marcus Walton
Up Next
Next month, Ryan Easterly, executive director of the WITH Foundation, joins us to share his foundation’s decision to spend down. Look out for his episode to learn about how his foundation is joining the spend down movement to go all in on advancing disability justice today.
New episodes of “Break Fake Rules” drop monthly through October on your favorite podcast platform and Stupski Foundation’s YouTube channel.
We want to hear from you. Which fake rules do you want to see philanthropy break next? Share your thoughts with us on YouTube, and join the conversation with Glen on LinkedIn.
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