The Gems of Gates

All right… from Boston.com;

In his 1994 memoir, “Colored People,’’ he wrote a letter to his daughters about rising above the constraints of race.
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“I rebel at the notion that I can’t be part of other groups, that I can’t construct identities through elective affinity, that race must be the most important thing about me,’’ Gates wrote. “Is that what I want on my gravestone: Here lies an African American?’’

And yet;

Gates’s sense of humor, combined with his deep knowledge, makes his Introduction to African-American Studies class, which he co-teaches with Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, a must among many undergraduates.
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He always has one foot outside the Ivory Tower – filming a PBS documentary series; running an online news magazine, the Root, dedicated to African-American news, culture, and genealogy; and editing an encyclopedia of the African-American experience.
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During an episode of Gates’s “Wonders of the African World’’ television series, he asked one of his African hosts why his ancestors sold Gates’s ancestors into slavery…
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“He’s able to joke about all the ‘booty-shaking and misogyny’ in many hip-hop videos,’’ Bobo said, “yet can testify convincingly in defense of [the band] 2 Live Crew’s free speech rights and help to establish the nation’s first and leading hip-hop archive.’’
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“The idea that he is someone who quickly plays the race card is nonsense,’’ Bobo (?!) said. “That is just not who Skip Gates is.’’

So, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. We should all remember Gates for all the times he has not focused on black people, or himself as a such. Which, as far as I can tell, I never and nothing.

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