Hutchinson, Earl Ofari 1945- (Earl Ofari)

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Hutchinson, Earl Ofari 1945- (Earl Ofari)

PERSONAL:

Born October 8, 1945, in Chicago, IL; son of Earl (a realty agent) and Nina Hutchinson; married Yvonne Divans, June 2, 1968 (marriage ended); married Barbara Bramwell (in real estate), March 5, 1988; children: (first marriage) Sikivu Hutchinson, (second marriage) Fanon. Ethnicity: "African American." Education: California State College (now University), Los Angeles, B.A., 1968; California State University, Dominguez Hills, M.Hum., 1989; Pacific Western University, Ph.D., 1991.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—Los Angeles, CA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Monthly Review Press, New York, NY, editorial consultant, 1970-71; Mafundi Institute, Los Angeles, CA, instructor in journalism, beginning 1972. KPFK-Radio, former public affairs director; lecturer at colleges and universities; guest on media programs. Paul Robeson Community Center, member of board of directors.

MEMBER:

Black Journalists Association.

WRITINGS:

The Myth of Black Capitalism, Monthly Review Press (New York, NY), 1970.

Let Your Motto Be Resistance: The Life and Thought of Henry Highland Garnet, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 1972.

Crime: Why It Exists, What Can Be Done, Impact! Publications (Inglewood, CA), 1987.

Crime, Drugs, and African Americans, Impact! Publications (Inglewood, CA), 1990.

The Mugging of Black America, African American Images (Sauk Village, IL), 1991.

Black Fatherhood: The Guide to Male Parenting, Impact! Publications (Inglewood, CA), 1992.

The Assassination of the Black Male Image, Middle Passage Press (Los Angeles, CA), 1994, new edition, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1996.

Black Fatherhood II: Black Women Talk about Their Men, Middle Passage Press (Los Angeles, CA), 1994.

Blacks and Reds: Race and Class in Conflict, 1919-1990, Michigan State University Press (East Lansing, MI), 1995.

Betrayed: A History of Presidential Failure to Protect Black Lives, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1996.

Beyond O.J.: Race, Sex, and Class Lessons for America, Middle Passage Press (Los Angeles, CA), 1996.

The Crisis in Black and Black, Middle Passage Press (Los Angeles, CA), 1998.

(With Earl Hutchinson, Sr.) A Colored Man's Journey through Twentieth Century Segregated America, Middle Passage Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2000.

The Emerging Black GOP Majority, Middle Passage Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2006.

Also author of From Black Fathers with Love, 1986. Contributor to periodicals, including Black Scholar, Black World, Présence Africaine, Harper's, American Dialogue, Monthly Review, and Los Angeles Times. Editor and publisher of Ofari's Bi-Monthly, 1982—. Some sources cite author's name as Earl Ofari.

SIDELIGHTS:

Earl Ofari Hutchinson has written a number of books dealing with issues of race and class in contemporary America from a leftist viewpoint. In The Myth of Black Capitalism Hutchinson criticizes efforts by black businessmen to promote free enterprise among poor blacks as a way for the black economic elite to exploit the less fortunate. "This exciting, challenging, fervent polemic," wrote H.S. Camenson in Library Journal, "could only have been written by a young, black, American Marxist."

Let Your Motto Be Resistance: The Life and Thought of Henry Highland Garnet tells the story of a black abolitionist preacher of the nineteenth century who advocated a black return to Africa. Hutchinson's account of Garnet's life "is very much a life-and-times account," according to Norman Lederer in Library Journal, which places his subject within the context of his historical era. A reviewer for Christian Century found the book to be "brief and adequate, and it serves to introduce some notable sermons by Garnet."

Blacks and Reds: Race and Class in Conflict, 1919-1990 examines the sometimes turbulent relationship between African Americans and the Communist Party, which often courted blacks in its efforts to promote a communist agenda. To write his account, Hutchinson spent some five years going over Communist Party records, personal correspondence by party members, and FBI files on the group. "Hutchinson," commented Michael D. Yates in Monthly Review, "does a good job of describing the various twists and turns made by the reds to win the support of the black masses." Writing in Society, Freddie C. Colston observed: "Hutchinson has produced a book that is well documented and chronologically sound, and I recommend it for anyone interested in the multidimensional variables that have impacted upon the black struggle for racial equality."

Hutchinson told CA: "The Emerging Black GOP Majority is a no-holds-barred book that shatters myths about black liberalism, about the Democrats and blacks, makes a deep probe of black historical ties to the Republican Party, and tells why many blacks are and have always been black and conservative. Included are comments about why Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell are not aberrations, why George W. Bush's blacks are the Democrats' worst nightmare, and why the GOP wants and needs blacks to keep winning and winning big. The book examines the explosion of the black evangelicals as a potent political force and reveals the great untold campaign story of 2004: of how blacks helped dump Bush back into the White House."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Black Enterprise, October, 1994, Herb Boyd, review of The Assassination of the Black Male Image, p. 169.

Black Issues in Higher Education, March 5, 1998, Sharon E. Moore, review of The Assassination of the Black Male Image, p. 41.

Booklist, February 15, 1994, John Mort, review of The Assassination of the Black Male Image, p. 1042; December 15, 1995, Lillian Lewis, review of Beyond O.J.: Race, Sex, and Class Lessons for America, p. 672; April, 1998, Lillian Lewis, review of The Crisis in Black and Black, p. 1285.

Choice, December, 1970, review of The Myth of Black Capitalism, p. 1414.

Christian Century, September 27, 1972, review of Let Your Motto Be Resistance: The Life and Thought of Henry Highland Garnet, p. 962.

Library Journal, November 1, 1970, H.S. Camenson, review of The Myth of Black Capitalism, p. 3760; September 15, 1972, Norman Lederer, review of Let Your Motto Be Resistance, p. 2832; January, 1998, Kevin Whalen, review of The Crisis in Black and Black, p. 122.

Monthly Review, October, 1998, Michael D. Yates, review of Blacks and Reds: Race and Class in Conflict, 1919-1990, p. 53.

Publishers Weekly, July 15, 1996, review of The Assassination of the Black Male Image, p. 64; March 30, 1998, review of The Crisis in Black and Black, p. 61.

Society, March-April, 1997, Freddie C. Colston, review of Blacks and Reds, p. 93.

Times Literary Supplement, February 12, 1971, review of The Myth of Black Capitalism, p. 169.