Kehinde Andrews tweeted his view that ‘whiteness is a psychosis’ after appearing on Good Morning Britian (Picture: ITV)

An academic has hit out at the ‘psychosis of whiteness’ after saying the British Empire did more damage than the Nazis.

Birmingham City University’s Dr Kehinde Andrews appeared on Good Morning Britain on Monday to discuss the renaming of the MBE and OBE.

He appeared alongside Breakin’ Convention founder Jonzi D, a dancer and spoken word artist, who turned down an MBE for its connection to the British Empire and the empire’s history of slavery.

Jonzi D said: ‘I didn’t want the label of ‘Member of the British Empire’ on my chest.’


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Piers Morgan then challenged the panel on whether they accepted the empire ‘wasn’t all bad’. Journalist Toby Young said the empire abolished slavery, which Dr Andrews said was ‘not true’.



The professor of black studies said: ‘The way we remember this history is so bad, that we actually think we can find comfort in this system which killed tens of millions, probably hundreds of millions of people, rape, murder, torture, famine.

‘Whiteness is a psychosis – you can’t have a reasonable explanation.’

Both Piers and Susanna Reid challenged the professor on his use of the word ‘psychosis’ and accused the professor of racism.

Dr Andrews told the programme: ‘Whiteness is not just for white people, there are black people, Asian people, who also purport the psychosis of whiteness. It’s about the idea.

‘It’s about the fact that in the 21st century, 60% of British people believe that empire was a force for good.

‘That’s like saying the Nazis built motorways, so we should celebrate them. It’s literally an irrational view.’

He was attacked on Twitter but later re-iterated his views (Picture: Kehinde Andrews/Twitter)

He added: ‘The British Empire did far more harm for the world for a far more sustained period of time. It lasted for like 300 years.’

The professor went on to say that concentration camps were first trialled in the British Empire and that ‘the logic of race, that this is something you can kill, and rape, and murder for’ was ‘heavily trialled’ in the British Empire.

Furious viewers slammed the ‘anti-white’ academic online before he took to Twitter to back up his claim.

Taking to his social media page, he posted a grab of author Carol Anderson’s book White Rage and wrote: ‘Yes, Whiteness is a psychosis. Much respect to @ProfCAnderson for the excellent White Rage. First stop on my reading our for the #PsychosisOfWhiteness book.’

He later tweeted: ‘The British Empire lasted far longer, did more damage and in many ways, paved the way for the Nazi’s and their genocidal ideology.

‘We do no favours to the victims of the Holocaust by pretending otherwise. If we forget the past we are likely to repeat it.’

Dr Andrews previously narrated a film titled the Psychosis of Whiteness which investigated perceptions of race and racism by exploring cinematic representations of the slave trade.

The documentary looked at the way big budget films focus on the transatlantic slave trade and, according to its synopsis, argues that ‘rather than blaming the powerful institutions that are responsible for slavery, these films rewrite history by praising those same institutions for abolishing the slave trade’.

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