Reply #116: Go run down for yourself all the stuff Gates has done.

[EFerrari]

It's amazing. In addition to that mind and intellect, the man is a workaholic. He managed to pull together 8 vols of African American biographies where there before was zip. He pulled together WEB Dubois's idea of an encyclopedia of African and African American experience and culture. He's more responsible than just about anyone I can think of for rescuing and preserving black history. And that's just two of the many projects he's quarterbacked. You don't get all of that done as a slouch or a skater.

And Skip Gates is going to be the first one that you can talk to about class. He comes from poor, then working class families and he's written about class extensively. It's not a new idea to him of all people.

But, the fact that someone from a different class would be treated worse than Gates doesn't mitigate what was done to him.