Author Explains White Supremacy

Dorothy Blake Fardan, an author and sociologist, spoke on the history of white supremacy and its modern-day expressions at a campus speech this weekend.

Approximately 75 people showed up to hear Fardan, a former member of the Nation of Islam and an active supporter of the Black Panthers, explain her view on white supremacy.

"White supremacy is a rule which has reigned supreme, and it has brought disaster to the entire globe," Fardan said.

Fardan, whose speech was sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Black Students' Association (BSA), addressed several of the issues presented in her book, Message to the White Man and Woman in America: Yakub and the Origins of White Supremacy.

"The first person in Europe was not what we call a European but was a migrating African," Fardan said.

Fardan said that white Europeans were "mutants," created by a dissatisfied being named Yakub "through stages of grafting recessive and dominant genes."

Fardan, who is white, also bitterly lashed out Columbus Day and urged students to speak out against the holiday.

"I can think of no better example of the white supremacist than Christopher Columbus," Fardan said. "You all protest that stuff. Have a day of mourning. Do it right here at Harvard University."

Columbus used native guides to exploit other islanders in his explorations, Fardan said. The sociologist compared this practice to the role of Black leaders, such as General Colin Powell and Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, in the Bush administration.

"Any time the white supremacist wants to walk today, he takes a Black man or woman with him," Fardan said.

Fardan cited Powell's leadership in the Gulf War and said the West Point graduate was "working for white supremacy."

First in a Series

The speech was the first in a Black Awareness Lecture Series presented by the BSA.

"Our purpose behind the series is to celebrate Blackness, Black culture, people, and history" said BSA President Art A. Hall '93 in an interview after the speech. "Basically what she has done is to educate us and to tell us a philosophy of Black history."

"I thought it was very enlightening for both Blacks and whites," said Nelson B. Boyce '92, Minority Student Alliance Representative to the BSA. "However, I would have liked to have seen more whites present."