Dr. Greg Carr, Chair of the African American Studies Department at Howard University, joined our Jazz and Justice program this week. The discussion and music ranged from tribute to Fred Hampton to the state of the Black public intellectual to Obama, race and African identity all within the context of African cultural memory. The attempt was to offer some manner of response to comments once made by Carr that, “People will not challenge us. They must treat us with silence… So watch who people quote when it comes to Black scholarship. If they’re quoted forget them… If they are considered the most ‘compelling,’ the most ‘brilliant’ what you see then is someone that does not help us. It is the invisible…
… It is the ones that we know… the ones who are not considered the best by White scholars who stand over our archives like vultures keeping our history hostage and asking as the price of admission that you trade your soul for access to the things that your ancestors inscribed. Those people that write on the backs of books that ‘this is the finest new scholar,’ that is the person that you should never quote. Rather, buy all their books, read them for the sources, get the sources yourself because what they have contributed is not a frame for interpreting but rather they have just given you a road map to the things that you need to reclaim.”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Hear more from Dr. Carr:
Requiem for a Time-Keeper: A Tribute to Dr. John Henrik Clarke
Black/Africana Studies: A Brief Historical Overview
On MSNBC: Programmed Anonymity and Interpreting the African Condition
I’m on my second listen of this discussion and am planning a third! A lot of great books were referenced – please drop some titles so a sister can build up her knowledge base! Another great show!