MANA’s President, Dr. Joshua Salaam, spoke with Dr. Arun Kundnani about his upcoming biography, Rise in Fire, H. Rap Brown, Imam Jamil, and the Long Revolution.
Click here to listen.

Dr. Kundnani is a writer interested in race, Islamophobia, surveillance, political violence, and radicalism.
Born in London, he moved to New York in 2010 and now lives in Philadelphia. The Guardian has described him as “one of Britain’s best political writers.”
He is the author of What is Antiracism? (Verso, 2023), The Muslims are Coming! (Verso, 2014) and The End of Tolerance (Pluto, 2007), which was selected as a New Statesman book of the year. He has written for the Nation, the Guardian, the Washington Post, Vice, and The Intercept. A former editor of the journal Race & Class, he was educated at Cambridge University and holds a PhD from London Metropolitan University. He has been an Open Society fellow and a scholar-in-residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.
Akanke is a native of Atlanta who now resides in Dayton, Ohio. She reverted to Islam in 1994 and is passionate about Islam and Islamic spirituality. Akanke is a graduate of Georgia State University, where she earned a degree in Communication, with a focus on film, TV, and cultural anthropology. Her career is diverse, and her interests span various creative forms of expression. From producing TV and radio shows to creating documentaries, writing, graphic design, and life coaching, she strives to make a lasting and authentic impact wherever she goes. Akanke has been a dedicated supporter of MANA since 2007, currently serving as the organization’s Board Vice President. In this role, she plays a key part in working with the Board President and Secretary to shape the organization’s trajectory. Additionally, she serves as MANA’s part-time Communications Director.



