Almost all the seats were filled as the speaker started his discussion on the miracle of shared space.

Teju Cole is a writer, art historian, and photographer. Cole is the author of two books: a novella, ‘Every Day is for the Thief’, and ‘Open City’, a novel that also featured on numerous book of the year lists.

Cole spoke on Monday night in Ice Auditorium.

He is a distinguished writer and a photography critic of the New York Times Magazine. He was born in the U.S. and raised in Nigeria.

He made jokes throughout his speech and the audience was thoroughly engaged throughout.

Cole did not have a barrier when it came to discussing the controversial topics of white supremacy and diversity.

“Diversity is not a burden, it is an advantage,” said Cole. The problem in today’s society is that people are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them, he continued.

He read excerpts from his books towards the end of the lecture.

James Baldwin, a character in one of Cole’s books, wrote an essay called “Stranger in the Village”. It recounts the experience of being black in an all white village and portrays the American racial situation in the 1950s.

To be a stranger is to be looked at but to be black is to be looked at especially and people of color were seen as “living wonders,” Cole said.

“And yet I, born in the United States and living half a century after Baldwin, continue to understand because I have experienced in my own body the undimmed fury he felt about racism,” said Cole, reading from his book.

He said diversity is about the fundamentals of a person such as love, sorrow, and grief; the exterior is just a landscape.

This fantasy about the disposability of black life has been a constant in American history and this disposability continues today.

“It takes white people a while to understand it, it takes non-black people of color a while to understand it, and everyone else a while to understand it,” said Cole.

American racism has many ruling parts and has had many centuries in which to evolve impressive camouflage. Cole said the worst part is that some people pretend to look the other way.