CMS agreed to limit access to recording of taxpayer-funded event
Part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ $25,000 contract with Ibram X. Kendi allowed the district to record the professor and author’s appearance at a recent leadership conference — but CMS agreed to limit how that video would be shared.
It is unclear from the contract — which CMS provided a copy of Monday in response to a public records request from the Charlotte Observer — whether the video can be shared with the public in its entirety without leading to copyright infringement. The district initially said it would not release video from the virtual event, citing the contract.
To date, the school district has sent a private YouTube “view only” link of Kendi’s appearance those who file public records requests. That method, in an attempt to satisfy CMS’ obligations under public records law, has limited the Observer’s ability to make the video readily available to the public.
The content of the talk with Kendi, an anti-racism scholar and best-selling author, could shed light the school district’s equity efforts.
In an email to Steve Myers — a lecture agent with Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau, which represented Kendi — the district’s superintendent chief of staff LaTarzja Henry said Kendi’s keynote address would “allow us to transition to the next phase of the work towards becoming an anti-racist organization.”
Last month, two top Republicans in North Carolina politics made dubious claims that CMS leaders were “embracing a discriminatory ideology” by hosting Kendi, and charged that Critical Race Theory and “the left” are “working to bring back a racial divide and not unity.”
A review of Kendi’s talk, however, shows little time was spent on the topic of Critical Race Theory.
Video of Kendi’s CMS appearance
While language in the original contract makes it clear the district could not make an audio or video recording, the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau, which represents Kendi, allowed CMS to record the interview through an addendum in the contract. In the addendum, it states: “All displays of the recording shall bear the notation” that Kendi reserves all rights.
The speakers bureau also granted permission for CMS to “to record for internal purposes only on a password-protected site, available for 14 days.”
The contract is dated Jan. 23, and includes payment details and a general topic description for the nearly 45-minute-long interview CMS Foundation Director Sonja Gantt conducted with Kendi during the summer leadership conference.
Kendi addressed more than 800 district and school leaders focused on a platform of anti-racism and diversity. Kendi’s book, “How to Be an Antiracist,” was a key study point for administrators over the past year.
