AFROCENTRICITY AND “THE DONORS”

It seems pretty clear that the new Howard University leadership has set itself on a path of “toning down” the Black thing—that is, Afrocentricity—so as to be more mainstream and thus more appealing to the “donors.” Who then, in the opinion of this new leadership, are these “donors”? Should not the alumni be the principal “donors”? And, if Howard University is still the “Capstone,” the premiere of the nation’s 105 HBCUs (historically BLACK colleges / universities), why would the embracing of Afrocentricity be offensive—that is, non-appealing—to them?

THE OLD GUARD’S IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY

A stalwart member of Howard University’s “Old Guard” once declared that even a full professor is not supposed to be engaged in research “on Howard’s time.” According to this idea of the university, the faculty are here to teach, teach, teach disadvantaged African American students. Are not the three pillars of the academic’s profession research, teaching, and service? Isn’t instruction at the tertiary level inextricably tied to research and service?

That same stalwart Old Guard HBCU administrator also was once heard to proclaimed, “Harvard leads [not Howard]”!—Whatever about the “Leadership for America and the Global Community” slogan—

It appears that the Old Guard has cunningly confirmed its authority by selecting for the University’s top “leadership” positions individuals who are not sufficiently familiar with all of the subtle dynamics of the institution’s history, a history inextricably entwined with the specific African American Black experience. Thus the University has officially taken the position that faculty, even full professors, are duty bound to devote almost 100 percent of their efforts to teaching disadvantaged African American students; research is not to be undertaken “on Howard’s time.”

AFRICAN AMERICANS vs FOREIGN BLACKS AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY

Up until very recently, it was an unwritten but steadfastly adhered to rule that a so-called “foreign Black” could not serve as president of the Capstone. Now, all of a sudden, we have not only a president, but the provost and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences who are “foreign Blacks.” Do these individuals have a real empathy with the African American “Black experience”? Or does that really matter?

There are preliminary indications that two of these individuals have manifested a certain lack of empathy with the African American “Black experience.” This is particularly problematic, since there is a theory that the three “foreign Blacks” were plunked into “leadership” because they could more easily be manipulated than African Americans.

KNOWLEDGE, POWER, EMANCIPATION, MAKING SENSE OF SANDRA BLAND’S DEATH

Knowledge is power. Black people are effectively powerless. Therefore Black people need knowledge as much as we need oxygen. THE GUNNING DOWN OF MICHAEL BROWN: AN AFROCENTRIC RESPONSE provides precisely the kind of knowledge that we Black people need, the knowledge that empowers us to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery. The knowledge that helps us to make sense of the death of Sandra Bland . . . . My God, my God! When are we going to wake up and smell the coffee? 

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PRESIDENT FREDERICK’S IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY

Howard University’s newly installed President Frederick appears to be bent of deemphasizing the “Black” of the HBCU (historically Black college / university) character of the institution. President Frederick would be well advised to proceed with extreme caution, since his selection as president of Howard University smashed an unwritten, unspoken but viscerally adhered to policy of excluding so-called “foreign Blacks” from serving as president of the institution.

Furthermore, President Frederick received all of his degrees (the BSc the M.D., the M.B.A.) as well as his specialized medical training from Howard University. The HBCU model of Academe is the one that he knows best. Since he apparently thinks that this model needs to be reworked, he must have in mind some ideal model on which to fashion the new Howard. Should he not make clear to all the stake holders—the faculty, students, staff, and alumni—what this ideal model looks like? 

HOWARD AS THE “BLACK OXFORD”

In that July 4 interview with Von Martin on Caribbeana (WPFW 89.3 FM), President Frederick spoke of the significant impact the great Dr. Eric Eustace Williams had on his formation. Dr. Williams, the “founding father” (there goes that phrase again) of the nation of Trinidad and Tobago served for a few years on the faculty of Howard University—Indeed, his portrait hangs among the greats in the halls of the History Department. President Frederick was proud to point out that Dr. Williams deemed Howard to be the “Black Oxford.”

Are we not well past that stage? Is it not a given that he who aims at being second rate ends up being fourth rate?

PAN-AFRICAN “ASSIMILATION”

In that July 4 interview with Von Martin on Caribbeana (WPFW 89.3 FM), the question was raised as to how much of her/his Caribbean identity the Caribbean immigrant to the United States should retain. President Frederick thought that, whereas it was important to keep the special Caribbean identity, those immigrants who achieved the greatest success were those who were prepared to “assimilate” more fully. The term “assimilate” leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, harking back to the old days when natives under a white supremacist colonial regime saw assimilation to whites as the best way out of their situation. Here at the premiere HBCU (historically Black college / university), we are called to provide “leadership for America and the global community” in emancipating ourselves from mental slavery. Under the “Big Tent” of Pan-Africanism, Caribbean identity, African American identity, Afro-Latino identity, Yoruba identity, Kikuyu identity, etc. etc. fit together in marvelous harmony. There is no need to introduce the outmoded concept of “assimilation.” 

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CARNIVAL

In that July 4 interview with Von Martin on Caribbeana (WPFW 89.3F FM), President Frederick lamented the loss of the once flourishing Washington DC Caribbean Carnival, especially because of the significant contribution the festival made to the humanities. Out of modesty, I suppose, Von did not reference his own essay, “Going Back Home to Take Home Back,” published in the watershed work on the festival edited by Ian Isidore Smart and Kimani S. K. Nehusi, Ah Come Back Home: Perspectives on the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival (Washington DC: Original World Press, 2000). In his essay Von insightfully affirmed: “In order to be equipped to give full expression to the Carnival tradition, many Trinbagonians go back home to bring home back to the Carnival in their respective cities [throughout North America and Europe]” (page 194). President Frederick is one of those thousands of Trinbagonians who make the trek home every year for the Carnival.

SOCIAL JUSTICE OR AFROCENTRICITY

On July 4, the newly selected Howard University president, Dr. Wayne Frederick, was interview by Von Martin on his weekly program, Caribbeana (WPFW 89.3FM). Dr. Frederick repeatedly declared that social justice was part of the DNA of Howard University. Now, according to social contract theory, social justice would be inherent in the DNA of any social organization. Certainly, according to all the Fourth-of-July gush, social justice is inherent the DNA of this “land of the free, home of the brave.”

President Frederick referenced the “Founding Fathers [sic]” (a very revealing Freudian slip) of the University, Oliver Otis Howard. Oliver Otis Howard was, indeed, a Union general from New England; however, the achievement of which he was most proud was his complicity in the unspeakably high crime of genocide perpetrated against the First Nations peoples.

Since Howard University is the premiere HBCU (historically BLACK college / university), would it not have been more meaningful to signal Afrocentricity as the most significant element of its DNA? Since, Dr. Frederick is the first non-African American (that is to say, “foreign Black) president, would it not have been more meaningful to signal Pan-Africanism as the most significant element of the University’s DNA?