Prof. Henry Louis 'Skip' Gates
*Professor Skip Gates has long attempted to bring light to the truth of slavery. And that truth is that Africans are the reason that slavery exists in the first place.
But, then he brings up reparations as a fuzzy issue. All because “elite Africans” sold other Africans into slavery. Well, the other part of this argument has to do with context.
Let’s get a little more technical about the sales. The beginning of slavery is documented in various historic sources between the 16th and 17th centuries. (more… at eurThisNThat.com)
![The Howard University debacle that we reported Monday, with a letter from Renee Higginbotham-Brooks, vice chairwoman of Howard’s board of trustees, saying that “Howard will not be here in three years if we don’t make some crucial decisions now.” The letter sparked so much controversy throughout the Howard University community that the chair of the university’s governing board Addison Rand, came back with a formal letter of his own stating that ”without proper context [the letter] paints an unduly alarming picture of the University’s condition.” (more…)](http://eurweb.zippykid.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/renee-higginbotham-brooks-100x100.jpg)
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…I just hope this muthafuccer doesn’t get a PBS, TBS, ABC, CNN special to argue this point…Cause you can prove anything if the panel is stacked…I wish Dr. Clarke hadn’t left us…All groups were complaint and played a role…but how come only a few groups (rubs palm with finger) created and maintained great wealth while the other group (rubs back of hand with finger)suffered great poverty
and continues to do so…
Wow to your comment, just wow!!!!
Hmmm, exactly where is Prof Gates going with this statement?
I’m through with Gates. Every since his arrest he’s been trying to worm his way back into the good graces of you know who. To hell with people like him! Now this is what I call a bonafide sell out.
Melody, I was never too impressed with ‘Skip’ though I thought his series on Africa was pretty good. However, there have been black historians like Dr. John H. Clarke, Dr. John H. Franklin, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, etc. that have written extensively on African And African American History yet have never received the ‘acclaim’ like Dr. Gates has. Along with his Harvard degree, I think the reason he’s very well like with yt is because he presents our history in a ‘nice, revisionist’ sort of way. This latest statement just convinced me of it. He strikes me as the type is interested in being liked and famous than being a unflinching and uncompromising historian the way Clarke, Franklin, Sertima, Dr. Ben and others have presented Black history. My Lit professor likes to use some of his essays and I think it’s because Gates’ work easily ‘fits’ into what some may think is the so-called ‘progressive’ way of thinking. I don’t know if that makes sense but generally, Gates knows where his bread is being buttered.
I’ve never been too crazy about him either but tried to find something of value in him inspite of my gut feelings. I’m finished with him now!
Could not read the rest of the article due to firewalls, but I used another link and got the gist of what Skippy (lol) was saying. *sigh* I think I’ll just quote this article as a response (read when you get a chance, it’s good): http://thefreshxpress.com/2010/04/the-re-education-of-skippy-gates/
“And what exactly is Skippy’s point? That some Africans were bad so that as a race they all deserved to be enslaved and treated like chattel in the New World?…
And the next time the po po drags your dumb ass off in cuffs I hope they will have a legitimate reason to bring you in. Maybe spending some time in a jail cell will give you time to rethink your position on slavery. Hey, then you can pretend that your jail cell is the bottom of a slave ship, and that the police officer who booked you was black.”
So Gates is actually arguing that we should go back to Africa to extract reparations from the Africans who he claims sold us into slavery.
“Given this remarkably messy history, the problem with reparations may not be so much whether they are a good idea or deciding who would get them; the larger question just might be from whom they would be extracted.”
How much did they pay him to make this convoluted argument?
But should it be that big a surprise that folks like Skippy, who proudly proclaim their 57% yt DNA,
would feel that they constantly need the approval of yts, and will therefore end up pandering to them in the most shameful and abominable way.
Skip realized that he “messed” up after realizing that yts still don’t think that a Harvard professor has the right to ask a yt cop for his badge number, after being subjected to unreasonable questioning, despite showing clear proof that it is his residency.
Same with Michael Steel, who although being elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, soon realized that he is still a boy to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, and everything he says has to meet with Rush’s approval. Otherwise, he has to give a public apology for offending massa.
No different from Obama, who had to first call up Crowley to apologize, then invite him to the WH for a beer summit. Now all this after it was proven from the police report and conversation with the dispatcher, that Crowley was a racist crooked cop, lying at least ten times in the police report, and displaying clear racial profiling in his conversation with the dispatcher.
I see that Gates is also not averse to dragging his boy Obama down in the gutter with him.
“on Mr. Obama’s mixed feelings about the reparations movement: “He told us what he thought about reparations. He agreed entirely with the theory of reparations. But in practice he didn’t think it was really workable.
About the practicalities, Professor Obama may have been more right than he knew. Fortunately, in President Obama, the child of an African and an American, we finally have a leader who is uniquely positioned to bridge the great reparations divide. He is uniquely placed to publicly attribute responsibility and culpability where they truly belong, to white people and black people, on both sides of the Atlantic, complicit alike in one of the greatest evils in the history of civilization.”
Some folks are simply attention whores, and that 15 minutes of fame only makes them worse. Educated Fools are still fools.
Turns on Bat signal for Cornell West. Get him homey!
Don’t EVEN GET ME STARTED ON Gates and his bullshit!!!
where is the drop squad when we need them.
On second thought, I think Professor Gates is really reacting badly to the situation he found himself in, and it’s partly due to Obama. This is a guy who had good standing in the community and when I used to watch his PBS specials, I saw a guy who really was affected by our past history of slavery. The series in which he addressed the difficulty of tracing our ancestry, was particularly moving and painful, because it showed that no matter how hard you tried, everyone finally gets to a dead end, since they would rip children from their parents and send them somewhere, thus breaking any familial link.
His world was turned upside down when he found out that his standing as a Harvard and world renowned professor did not matter because of his color, that he could be treated like any other black person by a racist cop, and yt people would approve.
He was very angry about that, and wanted to sue. Obama really messed things up with that beer summit. Gates thought he didn’t have any choice, since Obama was intent on mending fences with yt people, no matter the cost to his and Gates self esteem.
Gates was still furious even after the summit.
“Thank God we live in a country where speech is protected, a country which guarantees and defends my right to speak out when I believe my rights have been violated; a country that protects us from arrest when we do express our views, no matter how unpopular.”
It’s extremely sad that he now he feels compelled to pander to yts because of the situation.
We need to show him love. Reminds him that his duty and allegiance is to his own people, fuck what Obama thinks.
Rather than dealing with this clown. “Skip the Dip” as Dr. Van may have called him. Please check out the works of at least these three Educators. I’m sure that you will be fascinated by much of what you read.
1. Joel Augustus Rogers, a.k.a J.A.Rogers.
(I’ve seen spellings of Rodgers too, but that is not accurate.)
2. Prof. John Henrik Clarke
Last but not least teacher, mentor
3. Prof. Dr. Ivan Van Sertima.
Lets not get bogged down on Celebrity-Researchers, and other posers.
Incidentally I’m waiting on Dr. Cornell West’s posits on this situation. Maybe when he finishes vomiting he will spend a little time refuting this crap
According to one of the foremost historians on US: Dr Jacob Festus Ade Ajayi, University of Ibadan, Cambridge University, Oxford University; there is no comparison for the African concept of slavery, and the white man’s concept of slavery. War and conflict did produce many questionable, heinous, vulgar practices. However, Africans did not deprive each other of their cultural practices. Just like the biblical story of Joseph, many slaves went on to become heads of state. In the slavery of america, it was a crime punishable by death to know how to read and write, and to teach a black slave how to read and write. Marriage, the practice of family, love, kinship was forbidden, to name a few. Dr Gates, you must tell the whole story, not just a few ‘blurbs’ here and there!
Y’all think Obama and Gates planned this together?
You know Obama don’t want to have anything to do with reparations.
Belita, In Total Agreement!
Forgot about Prof. Ajayi 