Henry Louis Gates Inkwell, AfricanDNA: Henry Gates in Martha's Vineyard, on Newt Gingrich

The Professor Henry Louis Gates story just gets more interesting. As America's pre-eminent Black scholar, Gates spends his life engaged in intellectual pursuits, traveling, charity and resting at his home on Martha's Vineyard. Along with being the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, Gates opened a "for-profit" business, AfricanDNA.com, in 2007. What is interesting about this is that a percentage of the profits from AfricanDNA.com are donated to Gates' charitable venture, the Inkwell Foundation. See a video below.

Martha's Vineyard

Professor Gates, through AfricanDNA.com, traces the genealogy of "prominent Blacks." This in Dr. Gates' words:

"I was able to trace the family trees of several prominent African Americans deep into slavery, following the paper trail. And then when the paper trail ended, we tested their DNA in an attempt to discover the origins of their mother's line or their father's line on the African continent."

When Professor Gates returned to his house that fateful night when his neighbor reported that he was breaking and entering, Gates said he had just returned from a trip to China. A spokesman for him said he was inivestigating the genealogy of famous cellist, Yo Yo Ma. Ma is not Black, he's Chinese, born in Paris to Chinese parents. Perhaps Ma paid for the trip?

The office for Inkwell Foundation is located in Professor Gates' Cambridge home, owned by Harvard University. In 2008, this report from Boston.com says that the Inkwell Foundation "has been dormant since its inception." (Thanks to afTicker at Jus' Sayin')

Jill Butterworth, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office, says Inkwell has never filed the required, annual form PC, for public charities. "They are currently not in compliance," Butterworth said. "It's possible they are inactive or have dissolved. We are checking into it." Gates declined to comment.

Quite frankly, this story is astonishing as there is much, more more. I'll give you the quick flavor and then link the pertinent documentation. In some fashion Henry Gates raised $205,400 for Inkwell in one year. Of that, $27,000 was paid out in grants. Twenty-three individuals were paid $27,500. The 23 individuals include Angela Delon. Not much is known about her except that it is believed that Delon called Gates to tell him that Obama had just mentioned him on national TV in connection to Cambridge police.

Delon received $6,000. Joanne Kendall, as Inkwell's treasurer, received $10,000 in "research grants." Another $10,500 went out to grants, totalling $27,500. Joanne Kendall is Gates' assistant. Dell Hamilton received $1,000. He was, or is, the Events Coordinator for the Dubois Institute which Gates directs at Harvard. Nancy Brigham Cyr was an "administrator" for Gates. She has recently been named the administrator of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. She received $500 and she works for Gates. Eric Foner, a professor at Columbia received $500. John Stauffer collaborated on a NY Times editorial with Gates and received $500. This list, in this vein, goes on and on.

Allegedly, Inkwell has $177,000+ in assets, unspent. And it's tax filings seem to be non-existent. Read it complete with documentation at RiehlWorldView. On July 21st, the Washington Post quoted Charles Ogletree, also a Harvard professor, saying that Gates is "resting on Martha's Vineyard." According to Gates, the arrest was "deeply painful and traumatic," and besides that Gates says he is "half-white," "was married to a white woman for more than two decades," and his children are part white."

He is not, he said, a lunatic black nationalist." So while Gates is perhaps receiving an unknown perk from Harvard through his rented home, and runs his non-profit organization out of that home, he owns a home on Martha's vineyard. Stephanie Gutman, writing for the TelegraphUK, describes it this way:

On the northeast side of the island is the charming neighbourhood of Oak Bluffs whose “big, sprawling homes with large yards and gorgeous architecture” (as one real estate website put it) are the summer home of “prominent African American leaders … famous black writers, politicians, judges and artists”, people like Spike Lee and Oprah Winfrey. President Obama summers here too.

While at Martha's Vineyard, Gutman suggests he will spend his time as follows:

He will work on a documentary, presumably for his regular venue, the taxpayer-subsidized Public Broadcasting Service, which he says will ask: “How are people treated when they are arrested? How does the criminal justice system work? How many black and brown men and poor white men are the victims of police officers who are carrying racist thoughts?”

President Obama and Michelle will be taking their summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard. It's bound to a funfest. I don't see why the taxpayer should be paying for a beer in the White House with Obama, Gates and Sgt. Crowley. Obama and Gates can get together this summer on the Vineyard and Sgt. Crowley will be well-served to heed my advice: try to get out of that meet-and-greet, if you can. You will not be well-served by going. Just ask Newt Gingrich. You can't win with people of this mindset. Noel Sheppard at Newsbursters found the video below, via HotAirPundit

A video circa 1996 has just surfaced of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates speaking in front of a group about racism and affirmative action.
In it, he defamed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as well as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

Read this story of a White man being racially profiled (sure it happens!).  

Update: 8-12-09: I previously linked an Inkwell Foundation that is a charitable organization for children. That Inkwell Foundation is not Professor Gates' foundation. The Inkwell that Gates funds is said to be dedicated to reforming the teaching of science and history in inner city schools using genetic and genealogical ancestry tracing."

Henry Gates on Newt Gingrich and Clarence Thomas video

Background:
Henry Gates' Neighbor: White Women Less than Black Men Barack Obama Unpaid