Something there is among admirers of Alex Haley that resists the primary, painful fact: Haley was a dishonest writer and “Roots” was a dishonest book.
If I may differ with Clarence Page (“Alex Haley’s facts may be doubted, but not his truths,” March 10) I don’t think I “missed a larger, more important truth” in my Village Voice report on Haley’s literary crimes. Does Page really mean to argue that Haley’s end (creating a comforting myth for African-Americans) justified his means (serial plagiarism, massive perjury, falsifying history, misrepresenting documents, fabricating Mandinka language fragments, backdating interviews, faking research, wasting a $439,000 Carnegie Foundation grant, etc.)?
The largest truth is that American intellectual life is racist at its core. This explains why Haley’s bogus saga reached the mountaintop in the first place: The white establishment was too guilty to apply normal standards of criticism and Haley’s brothers did not speak out for reasons of solidarity. Such is the poison of race discrimination that questioning the authenticity of “Roots” and the legend of its author provokes a writer as sensitive as Page to use the word “lynchings.”
Finally, I hope I did not convey the impression that I am engaged in a “crusade” to have Haley’s Pulitzer provoked. Although I believe his prize is undeserved, my interest in the matter has not entered the crusade mode. Actually, in my Voice story I quoted Haley’s friend, Walter Anderson, editor of Parade, who said: “I loved Alex Haley . . . but if `Roots’ is a hoax, his prize should be rescinded.”
