WE WERE JUST WONDERING

Life Upon These Shores

Looking at African American History

1513 – 2008 

Author:   Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

I (Alex Hutchins) met Henry (Skip to me and his friends) a few years ago when he spoke at the dedication ceremony of the Hutchins Forum and renovated Love House on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC.  He is an extraordinary person and I was immediately impressed his unique sense of understanding, compassion, and empathy for everyone as we talked for hours like we were old friends.

“Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, as well as director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. He is the author most recently of Black in Latin America (New York University Press, 2011) and Faces of America (New York University Press, 2010), which expand on his critically acclaimed PBS documentaries, and Tradition and the Black Atlantic: Criticism in the African Diaspora (Basic Books, 2010). He is the co-editor of Call and Response: Key Debates in African American Studies (W. W. Norton, 2011). His four-hour documentary, Black in Latin America, aired on PBS in April and May of 2011.”

This past Christmas, my brother sent me a copy of Skip’s new book, Life Upon These Shores, and as a result of our on-going friendship, felt compelled to mention not just his book but a more compelling story below, after the next paragraph.

“There are periodic surprises in the book, particularly at the outset, when the subject matter is less familiar: “only” 450,000 of the 12.5 million slaves brought to the New World came to the United States; New York’s blacks were in effect barred from Lincoln’s funeral march; a black man named Matthew Henson may have beaten Adm. Robert Peary to the North Pole (that is, if either of them ever got there), at least by a few steps; and, fearing the Scottsboro Boys really were rapists, the N.A.A.C.P. shied away from defending them. But for every edifying surprise, there are many frustrations.”

In an article entitled The African-American Experience, the author David Margolick states,

On July 20, 2009, Boston Police arrested Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for breaking into his own house because he refused to come outside and talk to police.   Gates was charged with disorderly conduct.  The reverend Al Sharpton (who attended the arraignment) said, "This arrest is indicative of at best police abuse of power or at worst the highest example of racial profiling I have seen."

And, I thought racial profiling only took place in the South; at least, that is what all the television shows imply, right?

Personally, I had forgotten all about this incident until I received this book in the mail and somewhat amazed that this type of behavior still happens, especially in Boston – the liberal capital of the North.

I like Skip.  I like his intellect . . .  I like his humor . . .  and, I like talking to him and about him as my friend.