sentence1: If, as Banks normally assumes, any African-American academic who has an engagement with the fate of the race is part of the story, I am not sure why he thinks Professor Molefi K. Asante, who can make a reasonable claim to having invented Afrocentrism as an academic subject, doesn't merit discussion.
sentence2: Banks regards Professor Molefi K. Asante very highly and often refers to his work.