Kehinde opens explaining he's been busy and sick, so is late to the Nikole Hannah-Jones conversation. Before diving in he launches the new Black Studies Centre BRIDGE, that we has founded with Dr Dionne Taylor, who was also shown the door at Birmingham City University. Keep your eye out for updates as we take Black Studies back to the community.

Black education is not just about test scores, and this episode makes the case with force. Kehinde turns a viral controversy around Nicole Hannah-Jones into a much bigger question: what do we actually mean when we say we care about our children, our schools, and our communities? He unpacks the backlash over Hannah-Jones' decision to send her daughter to a local public school, then widens the lens to expose the deeper tension between individual privilege and collective responsibility. Along the way, he gets personal, drawing on his own experience with underfunded schools in Birmingham, the realities of Black children navigating hostile institutions, and why "good schools" often still aren't safe, nurturing, or truly liberatory.

You'll discover:

Why the debate over "local school vs private school" is really about class, access, and who gets protected, how school funding, segregation, and structural inequality shape outcomes long before a child sits an exam Why Saturday schools and supplementary education mattered so much in Black communities

What gets lost when education is reduced to credentials, university access, and job outcomes

Why building independent Black institutions may matter more than trying to survive broken ones

Kehinde also connects the conversation to the launch of Bridge Black Studies, a new independent center created after his exit from Birmingham City University, and explains why this moment is about building outside the gatekeepers, not waiting for permission. If you care about Black education, community responsibility, or the limits of respectability politics, this episode is essential listening. It is sharp, candid, and deeply personal, with big questions about how we protect our children and build something better for the next generation.

Find out more and support BRIDGE Black Studies https://bridgeblackstudies.com/

Read Nikole Hannah Jones piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/magazine/ny-public-schools-black-students-segregation.html

1619 Project: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html Join us for

Make it Plain live at the Legacy Centre in Birmingham, Nov 6, 6pm: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-reasoning-room-tickets-2002813353655

Join us for the Harambee OBU Annual General Meeting 21st October 2.30pm https://HarambeeOBUAGM26.eventbrite.co.uk Join Harambee OBU: www.blackunity.org.uk

Written and hosted by: Kehinde Andrews

Edited by: Kadiri Andrews

Artwork by: Assata Andrews

Kehinde opens with a tribute to Bonnie Greer and a recap of the vote over whether he should still keep the title of 'professor'.

Then he is joined by new regular contributor to the pod, Busayo Twins for a wide ranging conversation. Reparations, Reform, and respectability politics get dragged into the light in this wide-ranging conversation. Kehinde and Busayo Twins discuss Jamaica's push to challenge the King and bring the case for reparations into UK law, while asking a much bigger question: what does real justice look like when the system you're appealing to is the same system that caused the harm?

The conversation explores the symbolism of Jamaica petitioning the Crown, the role of the Privy Council, and why asking Britain for reparations may reveal the deeper contradictions of colonial power.

They also discuss:

• Jamaica's reparations campaign and the political meaning behind it
• Why reparations must go beyond symbolic gestures or one-off payments - The continuing legacy of the British Empire across the Caribbean and the UK
• Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the future of the United Kingdom
• Reform UK's multimillion-pound donations from wealthy crypto investors
• How propaganda and racism shape far-right politics
• Why voters are encouraged to blame immigrants instead of billionaires
• David Lammy's potential mayoral ambitions and the limits of representation
• Black politics, respectability, and the manipulation of Black communities
• Whether HBCUs provide a model for Black education in Britain
• The need for independent Black Studies institutions and community-led education

The episode also examines the relationship between titles, academia, power, and self-esteem. What does it mean to be called "Professor" within an institution shaped by colonial traditions? And can Black education create genuinely liberatory alternatives, rather than simply reproducing white institutional models?

Subscribe for more discussions on Black politics, reparations, education, Britain, and the global African diaspora.

RIP Bonnie Greer. Check out this clip of her taking on the ugly racist Nick Griffin on BBC Question Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afE05e6n4Zk

Jamaica's Culture Minister, Olivia Grange make a PLEA to the King!!

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/sep/09/jamaica-slavery-reparations-king-charles

Join us for the Harambee OBU Annual General Meeting 21st October 2.30pm https://HarambeeOBUAGM26.eventbrite.co.uk

Join Harambee OBU: www.blackunity.org.uk

Written and hosted by: Kehinde Andrews

Edited by: Kadiri Andrews

Artwork by: Assata Andrews

Kehinde is back from holiday and reflects on the reaction to the death of Jason Arday and says we need to to better to support each other when we are still here. He also drops the poll question of whether now that he is out of the university he should renounce the title of professor? He also briefly touches on the the latest Reform scandal but reminds us that Whiteness is a psychosis so don't expect it to change many voters minds.

This weeks interview is with Joy Mbakwe, who brings the perspective of a former head of English and assistant principal who now works in educational consultancy, helping parents understand the realities of schooling from the inside. They discuss how anti-Blackness shows up in uniforms, hairstyles, toilet rules, detention culture, and the language of "behavior management." Joy breaks down how schools can quietly punish Black children for simply being visible, while still presenting themselves as neutral, rigorous, and fair. The conversation also gets into the gap between what schools claim to prepare children for and the world young people actually enter, especially in an era shaped by AI, burnout, and widening inequality. We break down the deeper question behind all of it: are schools designed to educate, or to reproduce the same hierarchy over and over again? Joy explains why belonging matters more than slogans, why recruitment and retention shape whether students feel seen, and why some children need support that the mainstream system simply does not provide.

There is also a powerful discussion about supplementary education, Saturday schools, and what a community-led curriculum could look like if Black families were building it for themselves. This episode matters if you are a parent, teacher, educator, or anyone asking why the same patterns keep repeating, especially for Black children. If you have ever felt that schools demand compliance more than care, or that "success" is being defined in ways that leave too many children behind, this conversation will stay with you.

Check out Kehinde and Joy on 'We Are Black and British': https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014t9r

Find out about Joy Mbakwe's work: https://www.msjoymbakwe.com/

Buy Jason Arday's book, Great and Unfortunate Things: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Great-and-Unfortunate-Things/Jason-Arday/9781398542747

Support the call for a public inquiry: https://goodlawproject.org/petition/jason-arday-letter/

Sign up for the Harambee OBU AGM. In person and online October 24th 2.30pm: https://HarambeeOBUAGM26.eventbrite.co.uk

Join Harambee OBU: www.blackunity.org.uk

Written and hosted by: Kehinde Andrews

Edited by: Kadiri Andrews

Artwork by: Assata Andrews