Kendi portrays his father as a wise, supportive parent, who was committed to building a more racially equitable world for his children but nevertheless made some mistakes along the way. He and Kendi’s mother met through church and became involved in Black liberation theology and the Black Power movement in the 1970s. But they grew more conservative or assimilationist in the 1980s and 1990s, which reflects broader political trends in the United States as a whole. During this later period, they took comfortable corporate jobs rather than pursue the careers they really wanted in the Christian ministry and the arts. Kendi also portrays his father as supporting gender equity and the feminist movement, even if he was not fully committed to transforming traditional gender roles: Kendi’s father stopped short of joining the Black Panthers and Nation of Islam because he saw misogyny in their ranks, and he supported his wife’s involvement in Black feminist activism. Just like his mother’s, Kendi’s father’s political thinking followed broader trends in Black America over the latter half of the 20th century and represents a dueling consciousness between antiracist and assimilationist ideas.