San Jose State University Replies to Marvin X on Dr. Nathan Hare

Marvin X, Dr. Julia Hare, Dr. Nathan Hare and Attorney Amira Jackmon, Agent of the Community Archives Project



From: Abdul Alkalimat
Subject: Re: Hey, Dude, Where's my Black Studies Department?
To: H-AFRO-AM@H-NET.MSU.EDU
Date: Friday, April 19, 2013, 1:07 PM

From: ruth.wilson@sjsu.edu

We honor Nathan Hare by keeping the legacy of Black Studies alive on universities across the nation, and we salute those who organize the event in his honor.  It is not ironic that San Jose State was absent on Saturday, April 13th.  I do not recall that the Department was invited to the event or asked to be a sponsor.  As you may or may not know, many of the Black Studies Departments in the nation are struggling to maintain a presence in the academy, to get faculty tenured, and to serve students who are majors and minors in the discipline.  I think Nathan Hare would be proud of us, regardless of whether or not we were invited to sponsor the event in Oakland.

Reply by Marvin X: I see no mention of your community connection, a primary mission of Black Studies. We know you call on community when under attack by the white masters in academia, as is happening now from coast to coast, from San Francisco State to Columbia University in NYC to Temple University in Philly, where the Black Studies Chair has been usurped by the White supremacy administration.  Black Studies needs to set up shop in the hood so it can address some of the pressing needs such as mental health, male/female relations and economics. There needs to be a course on How to Attend a white institution and not come home hating black people. In the words of Amiri Baraka, "We send them to college and they come home hating us and everything we're about, but they don't even know what we're about!" Dr.  Nathan Hare calls it the addiction to white supremacy type II. How can the national black studies honor Dr. Hare but deny him a teaching position anywhere in America in conspiracy with the white man? Isn't it ironic that although Dr. Nathan Hare was never hired at Stanford University or University of California, Berkeley, they have expressed interest in acquiring his archives? Bay Area Poet Paradise has a classic poem entitled They Love Everything About You But You! --Marvin X, Academy of da Corner, Oakland