OK, so what is -really- important to Cornel West?
I think this speech reveals the man....It's a great speech, and he is a great man.
Now, when I got the news that my dear brother Barack Obama, President Obama, was going to put his precious hand on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Bible, I got upset. And I got upset because you don’t play with Martin Luther King, Jr. and you don’t play with his people. And by his people, what I mean is people of good conscience, fundamentally committed to peace, and truth and justice. And especially the black tradition that produced it.
All the blood, sweat and tears that went into producing a Martin Luther King, Jr. generated a brother of such high decency and dignity that you don’t use his prophetic fire as just a moment in a presidential pageantry, without understanding the challenge that he presents to all of those in power no matter what color they are. No matter what color they are!
So, the righteous indignation of a Martin Luther King, Jr. becomes a moment in political calculation and that makes my blood boil. Why? Because Martin Luther King, Jr., he died knowing the three crimes against humanity he was wrestling with. Jim Crow – traumatizing, terrorizing, stigmatizing black people, lynching, insultful – not just segregation the way the press wants to talk about.
Second, carpet bombing in Vietnam, killing innocent people especially innocent children. Those are war crimes Martin Luther King, Jr. was willing to die for. And thirdly, was poverty of all colors. He said it’s a crime against humanity for the richest nation in the history of the world to have so many of its precious children of all colors living in poverty, and especially on the chocolate side of the nation, in Indian reservations, in brown barrios, in yellow slices, and black ghettos, then. We call them hoods now, but ghettos then.
So I said to myself, “ok nothing wrong with putting your hand on the Bible.” Even though the bible talks about justice and Jesus is talking bout “the least of these.” But when you put in Martin’s bible? I said, “this is personal for me. This is the tradition I came out of. This is the tradition that is connected to my grandmothers prayers, and my grandfathers sermons, and my mothers tears, and my fathers smile, and it’s over against all of those in power who refuse to follow decent policies.”
So I say to myself, “Brother Martin Luther King, Jr., what would you say about the new Jim Crow? What would you say about the prison industrial complex? What would you say about the invisibility of so many of our prisoners? So many of our incarcerated, especially when 62% of them are there for soft drugs, but not one executive of a Wall Street bank gone to jail? Not one!” Martin doesn’t like that. Not one wiretapper. Not one torturer under the Bush administration, at all.
Then, what you say about the drones bring dropped on our precious brothers and sisters in Pakistan and Somalia and Yemen? Those are war crimes, just like war crimes in Vietnam. Martin Luther King, Jr., what would you say? “My voice hollers out,” and don’t tame it with your hand on his bible. Allow his prophetic voice to be heard. Martin, what would you say about the poverty in America now, beginning with the children, then the elderly, then our working folk, and all colors not just here, around the world. Don’t hide and conceal his challenge. Don’t tame his prophetic fire.
So, that as much as I’m glad that Barack Obama won – I think that brother Mitt Romney would have been a catastrophe, and I understand my brother Newt told the truth about fat vampire capitalism but that’s true for the system as a whole not just Mitt Romney in that regard – but when Barack Obama attempts to use that rich tradition of Frederick Douglas and Ida B. Wells-Barnett? Use the tradition of A. Phillip Randolph? Use the tradition of Rabbi Joshua Heschel? Use the tradition of Tom Hayden and so many others struggling to produce that voice that pushed Martin in the direction that it did? I get upset.
People say, “Oh brother West, there’s Smiley and West, hating Obama.” No, no. We just loving the tradition that produced Martin Luther King, Jr. and were not going to allow it to be in any way sanitized, deodorized and sterilized, we want the subversive power to be heard. That’s what made me think, when you said he was gonna put in his hand on that bible. And I’m praying or him. I’m praying for him. As is Newt – both of us Christians, you Catholic, I’m Holy Ghost funkygut gutbucket Baptist – but we’re praying for him. Putting pressure on.
This is not hate on President Obama, its caring about the things that truly matter.
If he supported ALL that Obama does simply because Obama is also black, that would be racist. And hypocritical.
So West shows not only caring about what truly matters, but he's also incredibly brave as he speaks truth.
Also see~
= new reply since forum marked as read
Have a great day!
Oh wow, y'all sure do crack me up.
One of the foremost black intellectuals in America. A man with 30 honorary degrees who has taught at Harvard, Princeton, Union Theological, and even the University of Paris.
His highly influential Race Matters was published in 1994 and his follow up Democracy Matter in 2004, four years before Obama was even running for the White House. West was already a prominent figure in media a decade before Obama even appeared on the scene.
He was a part of other campaigns prior to Obama as well from Bradley to Sharpton.
Didn't know who he was?! Yeah, my fucking ass!
I think we were waiting together on the same platform sister 
Together we can and together we will!
And No ticket needed he said. Just jump on board. 
Good post, thanks!
who has consistently been in tune with people striving for justice
Thanks Haikugal
But on her daddy's bible -
I believe she was right. As was her brother.
You and me - we can agree to disagree.
I said - you tell no lies.
Here's where you could possibly have dismissed my life experience?
Black women who have/had present fathers (mine died 3 years ago) according to America are 'rare'. So being in this (supposedly) 'rare' experience - She owns her father.
She owns her father along with her siblings. There is no evidence he was not a loving and kind father. There is no evidence he was not 'present'. There is no evidence he ever neglected his children. That creates a loving relationship with one's children.
Her memory of him over rules our (yours and mine) disgust for her homophobic views.
Her father was a Civil Rights hero. But he was still her daddy.
We shouldn't 'lynch' the relationship between black father and black daughter - in this day and age of stereotypes about black men . . . Which drives policies that create a hostile reproductive environment for black women. <-- This is true - not backing down on it. Posted something in the Af Am group this morning.
He has his own daughter - let her own his legacy. Seriously - who knows where she will end up? But I will respect Zeytun's admiration and love for her father regardless of 'what' she turns out to be.
They come from the RIGHT place.
And I know you are gay black man.
And I don't want either of you to think I don't see and acknowledge how AWFUL she is. WHAT she is.
But in terms of her father - she's right. She's absolutely right.
Someone responded to my earlier post but I can't see it...what's going on? Who do I contact? WTF my avatar image has disappeared. 
Welcome to my morning...
On edit:
They're tweaking DU and I hope everything will be returned because there are some most excellent posts missing here.
