Kehinde Nkosi Andrews (born January 1983)[1] is a British academic and author specialising in Black Studies.
Andrews is a Professor of Black Studies in the School of Social Sciences at Birmingham City University.[2] He is the director of the Centre for Critical Social Research, founder of the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity,[3] and co-chair of the UK Black Studies Association.[4] Andrews is the first Black Studies professor in the UK and led the establishment of the first Black Studies programme in Europe at Birmingham City University.[5][6][7]
Andrews is of British African-Caribbean heritage.[8] He earned a PhD. in Sociology and Cultural Studies from the University of Birmingham in 2011. His thesis was entitled Back to Black: Black Radicalism and the Supplementary School Movement.[9]
Andrews regularly appears in the media discussing issues of race and racism, colonialism and slavery, and British nationalism. He contributes to The Guardian,[10][11] The Independent,[12] New Statesman,[13] CNN,[14] OpenDemocracy,[15] and often appears as a guest on the BBC[16][17][18][19] and Good Morning Britain.[20][21][22][23]
In 2016, Andrews criticized universities in the United Kingdom for institutional racism, specifically the lack of diversity in students' assigned readings.[5] The following year, Andrews spoke at the Oxford Union, arguing that British education perpetuates racism.[24] He also gave a TEDxYouth talk in Birmingham entitled "How to Stay Radical within an Institution", exploring how Black Studies can exist within the historically racist institution of the university.[25]
In 2019, Andrews took part in a debate on whether or not the West should pay reparations for slavery at Intelligence Squared.[26] He also spoke about his book Back to Black in the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies at Duke University[27] and gave a talk at Tate Liverpool on the role of Black radicalism in the United Kingdom and the United States.[28] In that year, Andrews appeared on Good Morning Britain, where he argued that the Royal Air Force bombing of Nazi Germany constituted a war crime[29] and equated the racial views of Winston Churchill to those of Adolf Hitler.[30]
Andrews narrated the film The Psychosis of Whiteness, which explores race and racism through cinematic representations of the slave trade.[31]
In July 2019, Andrews criticized the idea that prominent non-white members of the Conservative Party automatically represent racial progress, saying that a "cabinet packed with ministers with brown skin wearing Tory masks represents the opposition of racial progress".[32]
In May 2020, Andrews was a guest on Russell Brand's YouTube channel discussing racism in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd.[33] He was also interviewed by the Los Angeles Review of Books discussing Malcolm X and the question of violence in Black radicalism.[34]
In August 2020, Andrews joined calls to drop "Rule, Britannia!" and "Land of Hope and Glory" from the Last Night of the Proms, stating that the lyrics contained "racist propaganda from a time where Britain was the leading slave-trading nation in the world".[35]
In June 2021, Andrews described Elizabeth II as "the number one symbol of white supremacy in the entire world".[36] Following her death in September 2022, he called for the abolition of the monarchy.[37]
