WORDS FROM....

Dr. A. A. ben-Jochannan was invited to give Wellesley's Martin LutherKing, Jr., memorial lecture. Posters described Dr. ben-Jochannan as a "distinguishedEgyptologist," and indeed that is how he was introduced by the thenpresident of Wellesley College. Rather, he was an extreme Afrocentrist,author of many books describing how Greek civilization was stolen from Africa,how Aristotle robbed the library of Alexandria, and how the true Jews areAfricans like himself. --p. 2.

After Dr. ben-Jochannan made these same assertions once again in his lecture,I asked him during the question period why he said that Aristotle had cometo Egypt with Alexander and had stolen his philosophy from the library atAlexandria, when that library had only been built after his death. Dr. ben-Jochannanwas unable to answer the question, and said that he resent the tone of theinquiry. Several students came up to me after the lecture and accused meof racism, suggesting that I had been brainwashed by white historians. --p.2.

A lecture at which serious questions could not be asked, and in fact weregreeted with hostility--the occasion seemed more like a political rallythan an academic event. As if that were not disturbing enough in itself,there was also the strange silence on the part of many of my faculty colleages.Several of them were well award that what Dr. ben-Jocahannan was sayingwas factually wrong. One of them said later that she found the lecture so"hopeless" that she decided to say nothing. Were they afraid ofbeing called racists? --p. 3.

Good as the myths they were hearing may have made these students feel, solong as they never left the Afrocentric environment in which they were beingnurtured and sheltered, they were being systematically deprived of the mostimportant features of a university education. --p. 3.