Kehinde Andrews

Andrews is of British African-Caribbean heritage.^[2] He grew up in Birmingham, the son of a half-white English, half-Jamaican mother who was a university graduate and was born in Britain, and a Jamaican father who had come to the UK in his early teens.^[3] Andrews earned a PhD degree in sociology and cultural studies from the University of Birmingham in 2011. His thesis was titled Back to Black: Black Radicalism and the Supplementary School Movement.^[4]

Andrews was a professor of Black studies in the School of Social Sciences at Birmingham City University,^[5] having intimated in August 2026 during an appearance on the Radio 4 Today programme that he had been made redundant from this role.^[6] He is the director of the Centre for Critical Social Research, founder of the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity,^[7] and co-chair of the UK Black Studies Association.^[8] 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.^[9][10][11]

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Andrews regularly appears in the media discussing issues of race and racism, colonialism and slavery, and British nationalism. He contributes to The Guardian,^[12][13] The Independent,^[14] New Statesman,^[15] CNN,^[16] openDemocracy,^[17] and often appears as a guest on the BBC^{[18][19][20][21]} and Good Morning Britain.^{[22][23][24][25]}

In 2016, Andrews criticised universities in the United Kingdom for institutional racism, specifically the lack of diversity in students' assigned readings.^[9]

In 2019, Andrews appeared on Good Morning Britain, on which he argued that the Royal Air Force bombing of Nazi Germany constituted a war crime^[26] and equated the racial views of Winston Churchill to those of Adolf Hitler.^[27]

Andrews narrated the 2018 film The Psychosis of Whiteness, which explores race and racism through cinematic representations of the slave trade.^[28]

In July 2019, Andrews criticised 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 opposite of racial progress".^[29]

In 2020, he was interviewed by the Los Angeles Review of Books, discussing Malcolm X and the question of violence in Black radicalism.^[30]

In June 2021, Andrews described Elizabeth II as "the number one symbol of white supremacy in the entire world".^[31] Following her death in September 2022, he called for the abolition of the monarchy.^[32]

In September 2024, Black political commenter Calvin Robinson reported Andrews to the police for allegedly using a racial slur against him.^[33] The professor was investigated by the West Midlands Police, which, following a voluntary interview with Andrews during which he explained his academic work, dropped the probe.^[34] In an interview with The Independent, Andrews said, "'house negro' is a political critique and has never been used as a racial slur" and criticised the police for "criminalising Black and brown people" and the criminalisation of Black thought.^[33] Months before the police investigation, the Metropolitan Police had contacted Andrews for advice for a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) review for an investigation into an alleged hate crime, in which a British Asian woman held a placard depicting Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconuts. Andrews declined to take part in the review, explained to the police why he believed this use of "coconut" was not a racial slur, and urged the police and CPS to drop the investigation. The police and CPS pursued the conviction but the woman was found not guilty.^[35]

While critiquing books written by academics as a "con", Andrews said the work of many academics is "devastatingly bad" and stated one of his peers had written something so bad that "he writes like he has a brain injury".^[36]

On 6 August 2026, Andrews appeared on the Radio 4 Today programme, defending the black professor Jason Arday, who had been subject to significant controversy over plagiarism.^[6][37]

• Resisting Racism: Race, Inequality, and the Black Supplementary School Movement. London: Institute of Education Press. 2013. ISBN 9781858565156. OCLC 952965547.
• Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century. London: Zed Books. 2018. ISBN 9781786992789. OCLC 1038006618.
• The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World. London: Allen Lane. 2021. ISBN 9780241437445.
• The Psychosis of Whiteness: Surviving the Insanity of a Racist World. Penguin Books. 2023. ISBN 9780141992396.
• Nobody Can Give You Freedom: The Political Life of Malcolm X. New York: Bold Type Books. 2025. ISBN 9781645030706.