When you think of Ibram X. Kendi, what goes through your mind? Maybe you think of his books, like the 2016 National Book Award–winning Stamped From the Beginning. Or maybe you think about the brutal reaction his work provoked from conservatives.

Kendi is an avatar for the battered and bruised fight for racial equality in this country. He’s a historian who offered very earnest advice about how we all might rethink our relationship with America’s racialized caste system. His new book, Chain of Ideas, is a global look at racial authoritarianism and how the “great replacement theory” is used to justify it.

As a historian of racism, Kendi has always known that racism is global. “But I think we’re living in a very specific moment where some of the same terms are being utilized by racist theorists in different countries,” he says. “I don’t think that Americans are familiar with just how global the playbook that’s being used on us truly is.”

On a recent episode of What Next, host Mary Harris spoke to Kendi about his latest book and what he would say to people living under racist authoritarianism. This transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Mary Harris: Chain of Ideas starts off by telling the story of a French novelist named Renaud Camus, who is the father of modern-day great replacement theory. The book then tells the story of how Camus’ ideas spread politically. It tells the story of one politician after another and how they’ve embraced the thinking here. Some of these folks are not surprising; for instance, Vladimir Putin. But one thing that was interesting to me is you’ve got 10 chapters with 10 leaders, and none of them are President Donald Trump. Why did you decide........

© Slate