These were actually quite interesting to read.
While I am inclined to agree with Henry Louis Gates completely, the overarching concept that John Henrik Clarke was talking about does hold some validity, I think it was James Baldwin who wrote the article "Negroes are Anti-Semitic Because they're Anti-White" which was a fantastic piece (link below)
Negroes Are Anti-Semitic Because They're Anti-White
the "awakening" portion for much of the educated Black population does include a run toward afrocentricity and a desire for more accurate history. Perhaps the desire leads to the adoption of fairly unreliable sources (like Dr. Ben while leading the way for a much more robust inclusion of Black history by Black scholars also lied extensively and got basic historical facts wrong), but the desire does still exist and should be sated properly.
Thanks for the link to the Baldwin piece.
Gates over the years has been proven to be everything that Clarke accused him of in that article, though.
His reputation as a white apologist and a suppressor of information is what led Ben Affleck to contact him to edit out the slaveowner ancestor from that Finding Your Roots tv segment.
Dr. West, who was also criticized, has fallen out of favor with the establishment that once propped him up partially because of his support for the BDS movement.
BDS movement has jews at the top. Because of the cover provided to them by other Jews, people are now allowed to criticize Israel and her policies without being completely silenced. And are now allowed to criticize jewish people without being whiteballed.
The idea that any person or group is above criticism never sat right with me and never will.
Clarke should have called out the first volume of Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews as trash.Jewish groups called that book out as they should have
The SECOND volume, that came out a few years ago is solid and the silence about it from jewish groups speaks volumes.