Racist ideas have long cast Black people as dangerous to the nation and White people as safe.

But if there’s anything Jan. 6 showed us, it’s the perils of misplaced fear.

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award winner, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and founder of BU’s Center for Antiracist Research, offers insight on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, where a violent mob tried to stop the certification of 2020 presidential election results. He illustrates how White supremacists have long cast Black people as dangerous to evade detection and responsibility. Kendi explores the safety ascribed to Whiteness, which he says serves as the ultimate diversion for dangerous White supremacists.