Filed under: Dr. Boyce Money, News, The Economy
Summers wasn't a bad economist, but he was hardly an adequate representative of the American people. He was part of the academic aristocracy, the nephew of (not one, but) two Nobel Prize winners and the son of two Yale university professors. Needless to say, Summers was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and doesn't know a thing about economic struggle. He worked hard for what he ultimately received, but quite a few doors were open to him from birth. He personified the white male affirmative action program that has been in existence since slavery. At the very least, the chances of a black man having two Yale professors in his family (let alone a Nobel Prize winner) are virtually non-existent due to Jim Crow. So, if Lawrence Summers had been born as one of "us," we wouldn't even know his name.
Summers has insulted women, remarking that it might be plausible that men are intellectually superior in math and science. He has insulted the black community, by attempting to argue that the work of the great Cornel West was somehow not representative of true scholarship. The reality was that the brilliant work of Dr. West is not representative of Lawrence Summers scholarship - the kind that existed at Harvard long before African Americans were allowed to attend the university. Even to this day, Harvard university has an abysmal and embarrassing record when it comes to granting tenure to African American faculty.
It is because Lawrence Summers represented the worst of academia that I was ashamed and saddened that Barack Obama chose to hire him. Lawrence Summers wasn't even equipped to do what's right for white America, let alone black America. He had more ties to Wall Street than Dow Jones, making him hardly the kind of man to lead an administration allegedly founded on the concepts of hope and change.
I am not sure if Lawrence Summers made the personal decision to leave office, or if someone came along and gave him a "Shirley Sherrod." Either way, I say good riddance. President Obama would be well-advised to avoid returning to the same Ivy League well to get his next economic advisor. Lawrence Summers was simply a horrible pick, and I am personally wondering how a man of the people can be so blinded and beholden to America's academic elite.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.