Afrocentrism

Itabari Njeri (“The Chauvinism We Hate Isn’t Our Path, Either,” Commentary, Feb. 28) is the latest in a stream of black apologists and white conservatives who have attacked Afrocentricity in virtually every respected news medium in this country. The advocates of Afrocentricity have been given few, if any, opportunities to defend their points of view.

The foundation of this emerging school of academic and political thought is not “Black Nationalism” but rather concrete and verifiable facts that much of the Western academic Establishment has chosen to suppress, distort or ignore. For example, Egypt was indeed the classic land where an estimated two-thirds of the Greek scholars (e.g., Plato, Solon, Thales, Pythagoras and Archimedes) went to study. Moreover, a number of early Greek writers attributed the origin of their mathematics, science and many of their religious practices to the ancient Egyptians.

Secondly, the “American concept of ‘race’ as it regards African-Americans,” while certainly a compelling analogy, is not the crux of the Afrocentric argument that the ancient Egyptians were black people. The advocates of this logical position cite skeletal and sculptural evidence, royal mummies, biblical traditions, the testimony of ancient eyewitnesses, and much more.

Finally, Njeri quotes Dr. W.E.B. DuBois out of context to defend her assertion that “too much of Afrocentrism reflects a dangerously romantic nationalism.” This statement reveals not only that Njeri lacks familiarity with the subject she has chosen to attack, but also that she knows little about the scholarship of DuBois, one of the pillars of the Afrocentric movement.

DAVID L. HORNE

Professor of Ethnic Studies

Compton Community College