Black professor faces police probe for using the n-word

The UK's first professor of Black studies is facing a criminal investigation over a video in which he called right-wing commentator Calvin Robinson a "house n*gro".

- NADINE WHITE

Prof Kehinde Andrews was visited by three police officers at his Birmingham home on Wednesday morning and invited to attend a voluntary interview.

In a video posted online in June, the academic argued that terms such as “coconut”, “house n*gro”, “c**n” and “Uncle Tom” are “vital expressions of Black political thought that should be celebrated and not policed”.

But the comment Prof Andrews made about former GB News host Mr Robinson in the video has prompted a complaint to West Midlands Police.

In the video, Prof Andrews went on to explain the origins of the term: “Malcolm X popularised the idea of the ‘house n*gro’. Those people who, because of their relative privilege, relative connection to the master, tend to be deluded into believing they’re not slaves,” he said.

“On the plantation, they live in the house... get slightly better conditions; they’re not catching hell from sunup to sundown. So, because of that, house n*gro starts to identify with the master... more than the master identifies with himself.