Why does Kendi feel ashamed about the speech he gave at the oratorical contest in high school? How does this scene serve as an effective introduction to the book's themes and message?

Readers should recall that Kendi regrets using shame and rhetoric steeped in stereotypes while making his speech, as he told the assembled Black youth that they should aspire to more than teenage pregnancy and careers in sports or music so that they can live up to Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. This is suasion/respectability politics, the idea that Black people should pursue excellence at all times and attempt to prove themselves as equal in intelligence and virtue to the White judges of the world. Readers should also note that Kendi mentions being on the receiving end of this same rhetorical argument numerous time, with invocations of Dr. King included, and that he now...