Voices of Protest

Leonard Jeffries arrived at Harvard last week at the invitation of the Black Students Association and two graduate student groups, provoking disturbing questions about race relations on campus. Are there deep divisions on campus between whites and Blacks which Jeffries' visit uncovered, or is the reaction to Jeffries a one-time phenomenon? After all, David Duke may speak at the Kennedy School soon, but his visit will bring near-universal protest. Jeffries, who many feel is as bigoted as Duke, drew support from many Black students, who welcome his Afrocentric perspective and unapologetic frankness on the position of Blacks in American society.

Sanders Theatre is a cavernous, Gothic space, where Harvard undergraduates have, through the years, come quietly to listen to tweedy poets like T.S. Eliot, John Ashbery and Seamus Heaney. But the scene on Feb. 6 was dramatically different. At 8 p.m., Jeffries, his flowing white robes and black and gold hat, ascended the stairs from backstage to loud cheers from many Blackstudents, several of whom were seated in theorchestra section. The rest of the audience,mainly white, sat in a scornful U around theorchestra, occasionally hissing at Jeffries.Outside, in the cold, 450 students protestedJeffries' presence. For the first time in a longwhile, the Harvard campus had witnessed scene ofcomplete division and segregation along raciallines.

For anyone who was there on Feb. 6, it wasimpossible to imagine that Leonard Jeffries alonewas responsible for the division. Rather, hisvisit merely uncovered the reality of ourdifferent perspectives. Differences morefundamental than those between conservatives andliberals. The reaction to Jeffries showed a basiclack of understanding and communication betweenBlacks and whites, even at Harvard. It was, inthat sense, both a troubling and a revealingmoment.PhotoZachary M. SchragDean of Students Archie Epps helps keep lawand order at the protest against LeonardJeffries.