Newspaper Page Text
GUEST COMMENTARY By Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchison E
The failure of black intellectuals
fter peering at the books in my
library on contemporary
American racial history, a good
friend asked why none of the
books were written by Blacks.
The question seemed more like an accu
sation than a question. As an author and
researcher of contemporary racial issues,
I pride myself on my large collection of
books by Black authors. I quickly grabbed
books by David Levering Lewis,on W.E.B.
Dußois, Arnold Rampersad on Langston
Hughes, Robin G. Kelly on Blacks and
the Communist Party, and Nell Irving
Painter on Sojourner Truth and waved
them in front of him as examples of solid,
compelling works by Black writers that
enhance understanding of racial prob
lems, issues and events. My answer satis
fied him, but not me.
When he left, I sat for a long time
staring at my bookshelf. I realized why
he asked the question. Other than the
four books I showed him, the majority of
my books on racial issues were written by
white authors. They are first-rate schol
arly works based on an exhaustive mix of
primary and secondary sources, archives,
private papers, government documents
and reports, newspaper articles and per
sonal interviews. They were published
by non-academic presses and writtenina
non-pedantic, and highly readable style.
These books are frequently referenced
and discussed by students, academics,
policy makers, and the general reading
public. They will stand the test of time as
important works.
I can’t say the same for the books by
Black intellectuals. And it’s painful be
cause I remember during the 19605, Black
militants savagely attacked white aca
demics for carvingout a lucrative cottage
industry “studying” Blacks. They charged
that white academics had easy access to
research and foundation grants, paid sab
baticals, an unlimited supply of eager
students to comb the archives for source
material, and unlimited use of libraries.
Their ultimate pay-off was a fat contract
from a mainstream publisher.
Black activists demanded that colleges
and universities hire and promote more
Blacks to faculty positions, provide them
equal time and money for research, and
for publishers to provide them with con
tracts. Once this happened it was ex
pected that Black scholars would pour
Klan’s popularity waning, but other
racist groups move in to replace them
BELMONT, N.C.
(AP) Virgil L. Griffin, the Imperial Wiz
ard of the Christian Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan, isn’t whistling Dixie these days.
His band of white supremacists can
scarcely muster enough Klansmen to hold
a march. The group is being sued and
could go bankrupt. Griffin has had two
heart attacks, bypass surgery and a rup
tured disc in his neck.
“That slows me down, but I'm ready to
go,” said Griffin as he dragged on a ciga
rette during an interview at his home in
Belmont, a small factory town just west of
Charlotte. “The Klan’s been up and down.
But we’re going to survive. We’re going to
keep it going.”
The reality, however, is that after 130
yearsofterrorizingand lynching and beat
ing and burning, the Ku Klux Klan is
nearing its end. Battered by costly law
suits and social ostracism, the KKK has
eroded into a collection of scattered fac
tions that rarely raise their hooded heads
in public,
Membership in the Christian Knights
and abhout 45 other Klan organizations
across the country has dwindled to about
2,500 people, the fewest in at least 50
years,
The decline has been especially steep
in recent years, with the number of
Klansmen dropping by 75 percent since
1982, according to estimates compiled by
the Anti-Defamation League, aJewish civil
rights group.
In North Carolina, the number of card
carrying Klansmen probably doesn’t ex
ceed 100 people, said James Coman, direc
tor of the State Bureau of Investigation.
That’s in contrast to a generation ago,
when virtually every county in the state
had a thriving KKK chapter.
“They’re probably at their lowest point
ever,” Coman said. “It really seems to be
pretty close to their demise. The Klan
itself is not nearly as dangerous or able to
m«;ttpatl}.mthattheymfldhnve
In the mid-1980s, a Klansman from
Johnston County named Glenn Miller
A Closer Look
Many of the books by Black authors published by
mainstream publishers fall into these predictable
categories: Crime and violence, family breakdown,
male-female relationships, poverty, evil Black con
servatives, popular (mostly rap) culture, and spiritu
ality. Nearly all are thin volumes of the author’s
recycled essays, or newspaper articles.
out an avalanche of solidly researched
books on the Black struggle.
The critics were right and wrong. In
thatera white academics had a total lock
on campus resources and the publishing
world. And many editors didn’t believe
that Blacks were capable of serious schol
arship. That has changed. Thereare many
respected Black scholars on hundreds of
college campuses. Many have tenured
positions, have access to libraries, can
secure grants, and have an ample supply
of student researchers. Mainstream pub
lishers publish more books by Blacks
than ever. But the critics were wrong in
expecting Black scholars to publish books
that pass rigorous intellectual muster.
They are still mostly non-existent.
Many of the books by Black authors
published by mainstream publishers fall
into these predictable categories: Crime
and violence, family breakdown, male
female relationships, poverty, evil Black
conservatives, popular (mostly rap) cul
ture, and spirituality. Nearly all are thin
volumes of the author’s recycled essays,
or newspaper articles. The writers offer
little or no documentation, reference
notes or bibliography to support their
opinions. The only unifying theme of
their book is “racial matters.” Most of
them smack of crass intellectual mastur
bation hastily tossed together to make a
quick buck. The abysmal failure of Black
intellectuals to produce top line schol
arly works painfully betrays the hard
fight to recapture Black history from the
white academics they claimed monopo
lized and distorted the Black experience.
But why have they failed? Is it due to
intellectual laziness? Do major publish
ersencourage Black writers to write shal
low, pretentious works in order to make
fast sales? Do Black readers fawn over
these authors because they demand less,
and accept less, from Black writers? Do
reviewers make a slavish bow to political
formed a paramilitary organization called
the White Patriot Party. The group stole
weapons from Fort Bragg to prepare for
what members said was a coming race
war, although they were later caught.
Miller was convicted and sent to prison.
In 1979, two dozen Klansmen and Nazis
clashed with Communist protesters dur
ing a “Death to the Klan” rally in Greens
boro that erupted into a gun battle. Al
though fiveanti-Klan protesters werekilled
inthe firefight, four Klansmen were found
innocent of murder by an all-white jury.
Few black witnesses were willing to tes
tify.
Coman, then an assistant district attor
ney in Guilford County, prosecuted the
case. Shortly before the trial began in
1980, someone bombed a car in his drive
way.
“Back then, they really were an intimi
dating group of people,” Coman said. “I
don’t think that widespread fear exists
anymore. Most thinking people realize
that they are an anachronism.”
While the Klan’s presence has declined
steadily, hate crimes have not. Rather, the
KKK’s place has been taken by skinheads,
neo-Nazis and other hard-core
hatemongers.
These modern-day racists keep a lower
profile and belong to shadowy groups such
as Aryan Nation, the Confederate Ham
mer Skinsand the National Socialist White
Peoples Party.
Law enforcement officials regard these
groups as much more dangerous and more
likely to cause trouble than the Klan. A
well-known example is last month’s mur
der conviction of James Burmeister, a
Fort Bragg soldier and racist skinhead
who killed two black people at random in
-1995.
Others who might have suited up with
the Klan in the past are instead joining
KKK's ovet raciam 'lm.na:".,.m‘"““" g
’s overt ra i itism.
“At one time, the Klan was the only
show in town. They were the dominant
force in the hate movement,” said Samuel
and racial correctness by hailing the
works of these intellectual impostors as
deeply profound probes of racial prob
lems?
It’s all of the above. Many Black intel
lectuals have figured out that the key to
publishing successisn’tin spending years
busting their butts on research and in
terviews, hassling with students, going
through gyrations to get research grants,
and having their works subjected to un
sparing criticism from other academics.
Instead, they can grab instant success
pontificatingon racismon TV talk shows,
collecting steep honorariums for spew
ing their pop social theories at colleges,
and hobnobbing with the social elites on
the banquet circuit.
I'd like to think that a new crop of
Black scholars will mine the rich load of
historical material on the Black experi
ence and produce works of scholarship
wortLy of the name. But I’m not optimis
tic. Weaned on sound-bites, photo-ops, |
and tabloid journalism, nurtured on MTV |
videos, spoon-fed information via the i
Internet, many young people have made |
instant gratification a fetish, and reading
books and newspapers a dead art. The
dumbing down of Black America almost
certainly will worsen. And the up and
coming Black intellectuals will likely take
the cue and realize that the quick and
dirty way to recognition is to churn out
an instant “hit.” |
Meanwhile, scholars such as Lewis,
Rampersad, Kelly and Painter will con
tinue to be lonely souls turning out first
rate works that deepen our awareness of
the contemporary historical Black expe
rience. And this is a pity. Black scholars
can do much better and Black readers
deserve much better.
Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchison is the author
of The Assassination of the Black Male
Image and Beyond 0.J.: Race, Sex and
Class: Lessons for America.
Kaplan, director of the North Carolina/
Virginia office of the Anti-Defamation
League. “But now the militia groups and
the Freemen groups are offering attrac
tive alternatives... that don’t come with
the stigma that the Klan has.”
The fall of the Klan also can be attrib
uted to the courts. Criminal prosecutions
have sent many ofits leaders to prison over
the past 15 years.
Klan groups also have been hamstrung
by a string of costly civil lawsuits, most
filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center,
a civil rights group based in Montgomery,
Ala. Since 1987, the SPLC has successfully
sued three large Klan factions based in
Texas, Alabama and North Carolina. In
each case, the Klan groups were forced to
disband and hand over their assets to
victims of Klan harassment or violence.
“They've just been decimated by our
lawsuits and prosecutions by the Justice
Department,” said Morris Dees, the South
ern Poverty Law Center’s top lawyer.
James W. Farrands of Sanford was once
a nationally visible Klan leader, serving as
Imperial Wizard of the Invisible Empire
Knights of the KKK, a group that had an
estimated 3,000 members.
But the Knights lost a civil lawsuit to the
SPLC in 1993, and were ordered to forfeit
their assets to the NAACP.
Since then, Farrands has tried to start
over with a new group called the Unified
Knights, but his efforts have fizzled. He
declined tobe interviewed, sayinghedidn’t
want to risk antagonizing the Southern
Poverty Law Center. f
“The last time I dealt with them people,
I had constant depositions on me and
everybody I ever knew,” Farrands said.
In 1866, Confederate Army Gen. Nathan
Bedford Forrest and five Civil War veter
ans founded a secretive fraternity in
Pulaski, Tenn. The purpose: to fight Yan
kee influence during Reconstruction and
intimidate freed slaves. They named it the
Ku Klux Klan, a variation on kuklos, the
Greek word for circle.
The KKK spread quickly through the
South. Wearing white hoods and sheets.
IN FOCUS
High Court won’t alter
Mohammed sculpture
By Laurie Asseo
ASSOCIATED PRESS Staff Writer
WASHINGTOM
: sculpture of the Muslim
prophet Mohammed has looked
down from the marble frieze in
the U.S. Supreme Court’s
chamber since the building
opened in 1935. Now a Muslim group
wants it removed on grounds it is offen
sive to members of the religion.
But Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
says the frieze will not be altered, al
though the court will change its litera
ture describing the sculpture.
Mohammed is portrayed in the stately
courtroom among the “great lawgivers of
history,” alsoincluding Moses, Confucius,
Napoleon and Chief Justice John
Marshall. Mohammed — also spelled
Muhammad — is holding the Koran in
his left hand and a sword in his right.
The Council on American-Islamic Re
lations sent a message to court officials in
February asking that the image of their
prophet be removed.
The group said it recognized the court’s
“positive intentions in the original art
work,” but added, “Muslims are sensi
tive to created images of the Prophet
Muhammad.”
It said the portrayal of the prophet
holding a sword reflected stereotypes of
Muslimsas “intolerant conquerors.” And,
the group said it objected to court litera
ture that called Mohammed the founder
of Islam; instead, heis considered the last
in a line of prophets.
RACE MATTERS
Judge upholds promotion
of minority firefighters
CHICAGO
(AP) Promoting 25 black and Hispanic
Chicago Fire Department lieutenants to
captain ahead of whites who ranked
higher on a qualifying exam was not
reverse discrimination, a federal judge
has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Suzanne B. Conlon
ruled Tuesday that the city’s systematic
discrimination in the past justified the
affirmative action promotions.
Nine white fire lieutenants sued the
city after they qualified for some of the
161 promotions offered between 1987
and 1992 but were not promoted. Nine
Hispanics and 16 blacks who ranked lower
on the exam were promoted, and the
white firefighters claimed that violated
their constitutional rights to equal pro
White Charlotte policemen
lose in Supreme Court
By Lavrie Asseo
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
| WASHINGTON
~ The Supreme Court today refused to
‘reinstate monetary awards won, and then
lost, by seven white Charlotte, N.C., po
lice officers who say they suffered emo
tional distress over a race-based promo
tion policy.
The justices, without comment, let
stand alower court decision that reduced
the award to each man from $3,000 to a
The seven white officers sued the city
over the police department’s 1991 pro
motion plan. They said they were told the
promotions would not be based on race
because the city had fully complied with
a 1974 agreement requiring it to boost
the number of black sergeants.
The officers said they later found that
a number of more-qualified whites were
passed over so three blacks would be
included among the 21 officers promoted
to sergeant. A fourth black who ranked
11th also was promoted.
The white officers sued, and federal
courts ruled that the promotion plan
amounted to unlawful discrimination.
The seven officers acknowledged they
To Subscribe, call 724-7855
$24.95 for 52 issues
AUGUSTA FOCUS APRIL 3,1997
Inaletter tothe group released Wednes
day, Rehnquist said that altering the
frieze would harm its artistic integrity.
“The depiction of Muhammad was in
tended only to recognize him, among
many other lawgivers, as an important
figure in the history of law; it is not
intended as a form of idol worship,” the
chiefjustice’sletter said. Swords are used
throughout the court’s architecture as a
symbol of justice, it added.
However, Rehnquist said the court’s
literature will be changed to call
Mohammed the prophet of Islam instead
of its founder.
It also will state that the sculpture “is
a well-intentioned attempt by the sculp
tor Adolph Weinman to honor
Muhammad and it bears no resemblance
to Muhammad. Muslims generally have
a strong aversion to sculptured or pic
tured representations of their Prophet.”
The council’s executive director, Nihad
Awad, said Wednesday his organization
was pleased with the decision to change
the court’s literature but that “the main
issue regarding the prophet’s image re
mains unresolved.”
He said his organization would consult
with its members about any further steps
that may be taken.
Awad said his group would be willing to
pay toreplace the sculpture of Mohammed
with a marble piece showing quotes from
the Koran. Or, he said, the face could be
sanded down.
“Muslims do not believe that the
prophet can be symbolized in any picture
or artistic sculpture,” he said.
tection under the law.
“It’sreversediscrimination,” said Kim
berly Sutherland, a lawyer representing
the white lieutenants. “If they skipped
over blacks, they wouldn’t be calling it
affirmative action.”
But Conlon said the white firefighters
failed to show that they had suffered
“particularized and specific injury as a
result of the city’s conduct.”
And she wrote, “Overwhelming cred
ible evidence establishes that the Chi
cago Fire Department engaged in the
intentional discrimination against mi
norities over several decades.” The 25
minority promotions of “fully qualified
candidates was a modest remedy,” she
wrote.
would not have been promoted in any
event because other white officers were
ranked higher. Nonetheless, they said
they suffered emotional distress at being
subjected to a discriminatory promotion
policy.
A federal court jury awarded each of
ficer $3,000 in damages. However, the
4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals re
duced the award to $1 each.
The court said the policemen had the
right to seek damages for emotional dis
tress, but that they did not support their
claims. The officers appeared to have
suffered merely “disappointment with
their superiors, rather than emotional
distress,” the court said.
In the appeal acted on today, the offic
ers’ lawyer said the 4th Circuit court’s
ruling made it too difficult to win a claim
for emotional damages.
The city’s lawyers said the officers did
not show they suffered emotional harm.
The city’s lawyers also said the officers
could not seek damages because they
would not have been promoted anyway.
The cases are Price vs. City of Char
lotte, 96-962, and City of Charlotte vs.
Price, 96-1141.
9A