PROFILE
c,
Speaking In Tongues
LESLEY PEARL
Staff Writer
rowing up with eight
brothers and sisters
in the 1950s in Mem-
phis, Tenn., John
Greene had only one
firm demand made upon him
by his parents. He must grad-
uate from high school before
getting arrested.
Dr. Greene, chairman of in-
tegrative studies at Michigan
State University, said his par-
ents knew the reality of grow-
ing up poor and black in the
South. And while not formal-
ly educated themselves, the
Greenes valued knowledge
and schooling.
They never imagined their
son would receive a doctorate,
teach Hebrew, lead excava-
tions in Israel and speak more
than 15 languages. Neither
did he.
Upon graduation from high
school in 1962, Dr. Greene
had only one wish — to leave
the Jim Crow South. He en-
listed in the U.S. Army and
was stationed in South Car-
olina, Texas and Alabama.
Dr. Greene said he enjoyed
his work but remained frus-
trated living in an area where
a black man was guilty until
proven innocent.
In 1963 Dr. Greene left for
what he calls "God's country
for a black man" — Germany.
13
A passion for
language
consumes
John Greene.
54 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1992
Europe, he said, was not prej-
udiced like the United States.
He enrolled in his first col-
lege class, studying German
through the University of
Maryland at Frankfurt.
In 1964 Dr. Greene's com-
mand sergeant major enrolled
him in an officers' academy in
Bavaria. The enrollment was
a "thank you for time well
served" gesture. While trav-
eling there, Dr. Greene was
struck by a name he had seen
and heard before — Dachau.
Curious, he pulled over to the
site of the death camp.
"It was a frightening place.
I'm still struck by what I
saw," he said. "It's like spend-
ing time in a funeral home or
a morgue. Death gets your at-
tention. It hovers in the air.
It's an atmosphere which im-
poses itself on you. This was
1964, not 1945, and the place
still smelled like death."
On Dr. Greene's return dri-
ve to Germany, he again was
drawn to Dachau.
"There was a power of re-
turning to this very ugly
place. I didn't want to go back
— I had to go back," he said.
"It was like seeing someone
deformed or terribly ugly. You
don't want to look, but you
can't help yourself."
He came back to the Unit-
ed States and enrolled in an
officer candidate school in
Kentucky, graduating in
1966. He later settled in De-
troit, where his brother lived,
and found a job at the
Chrysler engine plant on
Mound Road. Each day, on
his way to work, he passed
the University of Detroit. In
September 1969 he enrolled
in his first class there.
"I could have risen up the
ranks at Chrysler, but I didn't
really want to. I didn't want
my tombstone to say, 'He
made auto parts,' " Dr.
Greene said.
When he was 26, Dr.
Greene began studying Ger-
man at U-D. One day while
driving to class, he heard
words which changed his fu-
ture. He was listening to
Martha Jean "the Queen"
Steinberg on the radio. Her
guest was an African who
said black Americans wishing
to study the history of Africa
needed to look to Arabic
rather than English.
"I pulled my Toronado over
to the curb. I felt like I had
been kicked in the groin," Dr.
Greene said. "I missed the
black revolution here — I had
been in Germany."
He turned around and
went home, to sit and to
think.
The next day at U-D, he
found that a class in Arabic
would be offered the next se-
mester. Since the class was
too much in his mind to ig-
nore, Dr. Greene enrolled in
the course and dual majored
in German and African stud-
ies.
His Arabic instructor was
Shlomo Marenof, a retired
professor from Brandeis Uni-
versity. Dr. Greene fell on
Arabic with a ravenous ap-
petite, earning him the re-
spect, and later friendship, of
Dr. Marenof.
Hebrew was Dr. Greene's
next challenge. He studied
with Dr. Marenof, who later
provided a scholarship for Dr.
Greene to study archaeology
at Hebrew Union College in
Israel.
"He (Dr. Marenof) was con-
cerned I would only learn
about the women and the
bars in Israel if I wasn't in-
volved in studies," Dr. Greene
said.
Instead he stayed at a dig
site in Gezer, a city adjacent
to a kibbutz dating back to
the 10th century B.C.E.
"There is a saying about cir- CD
cus people having sawdust in
their veins that they can't get
out," Dr. Greene said. "I must
have biblical dirt in my
veins."
Dr. Greene returned to De-
troit, receiving both a bache-
lor's and a master's degree in
1974. He taught linguistics at
U-D for two years before
heading east to Boston Uni- '—
Continued on Page 56