tion of remedial classes at the institutions in question. Thernhardv souls among professors, administrators, or students whorndared stand up to the thugs were derided as “racists” or “sellouts”rnand often physically assaulted.rnThough the militants achieved onlv a portion of their demands,rnthey did get intellectually fraudulent, “autonomous”rnBlack Studies ]3rograms as political payoffs. The original plansrnfor courses on “black” subjects within legitimate disciplinesrnwere soon trashed, in favor of separatist programs, barring whiterninstructors. Washington’s nascent, ill-fated Federal City Collegernat first opcnlv barred white students from Black Studies,rnbut admitted them when it became clear that the numbers ofrnblack students interested in the program were insufficient tornjustify its budget request.rnLeonard Jeffries was named chairman of City College’s programrnwith a knowledge only of the politics of the Ivory Coastrnand no publications to his credit. At the time, many of Jeffries’rnpeers were even less qualified. Psvchologist Nathan Hare wasrnnamed director of the Black Studies program at San FranciscornState College simply because black nationalist students demandedrnit. Hare’s chief qualification was that he had recentlyrnbeen fired by America’s leading black school, Howard University,rnfor being a perpetual troublemaker. In 1968, Washington’srnFederal City College hired 25-year-old English instructor JamesrnGarrett. A playwright with onlv a bachelor’s degree and no researchrnon black history, Garrett’s hatred of whites presumablyrncompensated for his educational deficiencies. As Irene Tinkerrnreported in 1973, Garrett saw a separate Black Studies programrnas serving the goals of “revolution and nation-building.” Onernof his Federal City memos read, in part, “Black people are notrnwestern. They are westernized. In much the same way as onernmight get simonized. We are painted over with whiteness. . . .rnIf you think that you can go to school and get what you call anrneducation and feel that you will not have to pick up the gun onernday to protect your life from tfiese pigs and the rulers of the pigsrnand the rulers of the rulers of the pigs (those are the toprnpigs)… “—you get the idea. The theory of “Black English” wasrnsimply an expedient extension of this gangster-style blackrnseparatism.rnTo test the veracity of BE as an empirical hypothesis, a blackrnstudent need only attend a school in the “black Ivy League”—rncolleges of, by, and for black Americans, say Howard or FiskernUnicrsity, or Spelman or Morehouse College. He should tryrnusing “Black English” in his essays for these black professors. Orrnupon graduating, he should try writing “black” for the blackrn”slicks”—Ebony, Essence, jet, etc.—written by, for, and aboutrnblacks. In either case, he would be tossed out on his ear.rn”Black English” is clearly a strategy for dealing with whites inrnpredominantly white institutions. In positing an insurmountablerninability on the part of whites to understand blacks, it isrnstronger than the fashionable “insensitivity” thesis. Ultimately,rnthough, as with all Afrocentrism, BE requires a constant state ofrnexception: black nationalists are to be freed from the rules ofrnlogic, evidence, and ethics, and the findings of linguistics andrnbiology. Defending BE involves constantly lying in one’s dealingsrnwith whites—not unlike the way many whites lie in theirrndealings with blacks.rnA 1930 Grad Revisits His Alma Materrnby Harold McCurdyrnMeasure for Measure slam-dunked on its head,rnLucio now truth-telling, the Duke a fraudrnGuilty of humping Mistress O., the bawd.rnAnd other failings Shakespeare left unsaid,rnThe feminist director reaps applausernFor undergraduates bounding across the stagernIn the chaotic license of their AgernSanctioned b’ dcconstruction’s popular Laws.rnAnd Shakespeare is, and his good Duke, forgotten.rnThe Duke of godly mind, forgiving allrnWho, being human, like Lucio, fallrnToo much in loe with everything that’s rotten.rnSEPTEMBER 1995/27rnrnrn