University of Virginia paid CRT proponent Ibram Kendi more than $500 per minute for lecture: report
The school says it welcomes speakers from a 'broad array of perspectives'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}For a prominent anti-capitalist, delivering a one-hour speech pays nearly half of what the average American makes in a year.
Controversial author and critical race theory advocate Ibram X. Kendi reportedly earned over $500 per minute to give a speech at the University of Virginia in April 2021.
According to a contract obtained by the Daily Wire, the University of Virginia paid Kendi $32,500 to host an hour-long discussion on "racial equity."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to Statista, the average American's annual salary was about $71,456 in 2020.
The fee the public university paid to the anti-capitalist activist breaks down to $541 per minute.
Ibram X. Kendi visits Build to discuss the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You at Build Studio on March 10, 2020, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The free virtual event, contracted through Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau, took place on April 21, 2021, and was attended by 876 people.
"The University of Virginia welcomes speakers from a broad array of perspectives to our Grounds every academic year and we often do pay speakers fees or other compensation,"Brian Coy, a spokesperson for UVA, told the Daily Wire. "Offering our community access to a diverse set of speakers and points of view is an important part of our academic mission."
Signs opposing Critical Race Theory line the entrance to the Loudoun County School Board headquarters, in Ashburn, Virginia, U.S. June 22, 2021. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Young America’s Foundation, a conservative group on campus, told the Daily Wire it is "not familiar" with conservative speakers being invited to campus and said that it is "shameful" the school paid "such a racist figure" to speak at the school.
The University of Virginia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News regarding conservative speakers being invited to campus.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Last year, Kendi wrote an article in the Atlantic that argued there is "no debate" on the validity of critical race theory, which promotes the idea that America is inherently and systemically racist and that capitalism itself is also racist. Kendi also said that Republican critics have created an "imagined monster."
"The Republican operatives, who dismiss the expositions of critical race theorists and anti-racists in order to define critical race theory and anti-racism, and then attack those definitions, are effectively debating themselves," Kendi, a humanities professor at Boston University and author of "How to Be an Antiracist," wrote. "They have conjured an imagined monster to scare the American people and project themselves as the nation’s defenders from that fictional monster."
Professor Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, stands for a portrait at the American University School of International Service following a panel discussion. (Michael A. McCoy/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
In April of last year, Kendi suggested Black Republican U.S. Senator Tim Scott was racist for publicly denying that the United States is a "racist country."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kendi did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.