Speech by Prof. Cornell West, in one of the meetings in Boston

[Kanary]

I was so pleased to be able to see a speech that really roused and cheered me, and it took place in one of the many satelite meetings taking place now in and around Boston. I haven't had the pleasure previously of hearing this man, but I'm now a fan!

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/27/145200

Tuesday, July 27th, 2004 Cornel West on Bush vs. Kerry, Nader's Bid for the Presidency and the "Niggerization" of America
Mods..... this is an excerpt, and was all one paragraph. I have divided it to make it more readable, but it is not against the rules for length.
(snip)
For me, everybody's brothers and sisters; we gonna be the colorful light of the terrestrial world, one day; so that’s all of us. The last moment for me is what I call the American interpretation of the tragic-comic, which is for me the most profound disposition of a Democrat that shatters all Manichean views of us versus them, melodramatic narratives of victims who have a purity and victimizers who have an impurity, and somehow want to elevate one slice of humanity above the mess, to use Beckett’s term in which we find ourselves. And what is the great American interpretation of the tragic comic? It's the blues. The blues. Robert Johnson, Leroy Carr and Betsy Smith and Ma Rainey. And there's no way that America can deal with its darkest moment in the history, with the exception of the civil war, of its fragile and precious democratic experiment, without wrestling with the blues.

Since 9/11, America has had the blues. First time in the history of the nation all Americans feel: unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence and hated. Vast numbers of white American citizens don't know what to do because they never been hated. They never been unsafe. Never been unprotected. Never been subject to random violence. Well, you know what? To be a nigger in America for 400 years is to be unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence and hated. So now, America's niggerized. Got
the blues. What can a blues nation learn from a blues people who have had to be both victims of American democracy, but also sing
the odes to democratic individuality and community in society, be it a Billy Holiday on the one hand, or be it a Martin King on the other.

What did Emo Teal’s mother have to say in the face of American terrorism, when her baby was lying in the coffin, his head five times
the size of his ordinary head? I don't have a minute to hate, I’ll pursue justice for the rest of my life. That is a level of spiritual maturity and moral depth that has to do with how you sustain a democracy. If the dominant response of black people to American
terrorism was the response of the Bush administration, hunt 'em down no matter what, there’d have been a civil war every generation in this nation. Maybe, in fact, we’ve reached the point now where America cannot make it into the future unless it becomes a wholesale imperial project completely eliminating any of its substantive democratic substance without main stream Americans trying to learn from the best of people of African dissent--not just as exotic objects, or sources of amusement, but as integral voices in a rich, multi racial tradition of voices: black, white, red, yellow, across the board. And in this way, the issue of race and empire has everything to do with whether we actually lose or preserve this fragile experiment in democracy called the United States. And this is in part what the Tikkun community is all about with our multiplicity of voices, like a jazz group. We aren't looking for unanimity. We don't believe in that. We believe in individuality expressed with integrity in such a way that the overlap of our voices constitute a collective performance that accents an ideal bigger than all of us. How wonderful this community is. That's what we are about. Thank you
all very much. (applause).

[sir_captain]

1. It's too bad Cornel

has never really cared all that much about teaching--his purported job, after all. Honestly, the man, while certainly smart and engaging, is far too in love with his own celebrity. If he spent half as much time in the classroom as he does making movies and giving high-profile speeches, I'd have a lot more respect for him...

[AP]

That's bullshit.

What he does outside the classroom has made the contributions he makes inside the classroom more valuable to his students.

Princeton is incredibly lucky to have him.

But perhaps you know one of his C-students who has an ax to grind?

[sir_captain]

8. Oh really?

I know a lot of his students who were awfully disappointed when he simply didn't show up to class for weeks at a time... Me included. Apparently, filming The Matrix was more important than showing up for the students who were paying thousands of dollars to learn from him.

Is Princeton lucky to have him? Hell yeah! Who wouldn't want to have him around? Of course, if one wants to get into the institutional politics, the way he left Harvard was pretty disgraceful. Give me scholars like Henry Louis Gates any day.

[AP]

15. The way Harvard treated him was disgraceful.

Did you have him at Harvard or at Princeton?

And I should repeat for emphasis, on Tavis Smiley, West said that he never missed a single class when he was doing the speaking tour, the album and the film.

He said the only class he ever missed was when his mother was sick (or died) IIRC.

EVERY academic I know would like to be able to make the contributions West makes to the popular culture, and then bring back those experiences to improve the education his or her students receive, and only the most naive of students don't appreciate the value of that exchange.

[sir_captain]

20. Harvard

and I disagree. He made public with the NYT a private conversation that Larry Summers had with him (and many other professors--he was by no means singled out) when Summers became President. Don't get me wrong--I'm not a big fan of Summers either, but this should have been a discussion between the two of them--it was completely inappropriate to move it into the public arena like that. Summers' request, that Prof. West, and other professors, spend more time focusing on their scholarly work, was hardly offensive, though I'm sure Larry didn't ask very politely, which is certainly not to his credit.

[AP]

22. Complaining about it being private is lame. Summers didn't appreciate

what West was doing. He was dismissive of his scholarship. Lots of schools have the problem when it comes to departments and professors dealing with modern culture.

The reason Harvard didn't understand Cornell West is the same reason they don't have, for example, a decent film studies program.

And Summers is a bit of ass.

Did you actually have West? Did he ever miss a class? I seriously recall him saying he never missed a class except for when his mother was sick. If you say he missed a class, somebody is lying.

[sir_captain]

25. I ended up dropping his class

because it ended up getting taught by another professor. He may have been sick--if that's what he says, I;m certainly willing to take him at his word. On the other hand, if he was too sick to miss an entire year of class, which he did at one point, I don't understand how he was well enough to fly to Australia and film a fairly sizable role in two Matrix films...something doesn't sit right there with me.

I agree with you about Summers--he is most definitely an ass. But he was not at all dismissive of his scholarship--the point was that he asked him to spend more time *working* on his scholarship--the very thing that he was appreciated for. And of course, since Summers is his boss, I think he was well within his rights to do that. Yes, I think it was inappropriate for Prof. West to go public with an internal matter and do interviews on it with every media outlet he could find--if nothing else, it showed that he has a very thin skin.

In any case, I told Kanary I'd stop hijacking the thread, so I should honor that. If you want to continue discussing this, why don't you PM me?

[AP]

28. This might as well be public.

For all you know, he bought out that year of his contract, or took it as a sabatical at a late stage -- his name might have been printed in the course catalogue, but I highly doubt Harvard was paying him and he didn't show up when they expected him to show up. And if it were NYU, and he was a film professor offered to direct a Charlie Kaufman movie at the last second, NYU would have no problem making the accomodation because, to them, the value to the school would be clear.

West's activities may have been inconvenient for Harvard, but, this was clearly an issue of Harvard not thinking what West did as being valuable to his scholarship. West disagreed, and so did Princeton. And I tend to think that what West does outside the classroom (as the OP suggests) is extremely valuable.

And I'll just point out, since you never took the class, I'm not sure what your opinion on his scholarship is worth.

It seems like you're mostly mad that you didn't get to take his class. If that was a huge loss for you, you could have transfered to Princeton.

[DrWeird]

31. "fairly sizable role?"

Horseshit. They were walk-ons. And if I'm not mistaken, it was after he left Harvard.

And frankly, distinguished professors have better things to do with their time then teach ignorant, exaggerating undergraduates. That's SOP at most universities, especially Ivy league schools.

[Kanary]

2. sorry you didn't like it..... I did. I have tremendous respect for him

He hit it on the nose.

Sorry you didn't find it that way. Others will.

Kanary

[sir_captain]

3. I didn't comment on his speech

the excerpt seemed fine... I just don't have a lot of use for him personally...

[AP]

5. Unless you're a former student, I don't see how your criticism was

"personal."

[sir_captain]

9. See above post

n/t

[AP]

12. Like I said, that's not personal unless you were his student.

And if you weren't, you have no idea how his teaching relates to the rest of the stuff, and if you were, I still think you're just bitter.

West has never missed a single class in his career, except when his mother died or was sick IIRC (according to West, in a discussion I heard about his teacing on Tavis Smiley).

[Kanary]

13. So you took this opportunity to do a personal smear, rather than

DEALING WITH WHAT THE POST WAS ABOUT.

Then we wonder why the party is in so much trouble.

If this can't get back to discussing the speech, I'll just delete the whole thing. I've really had it with this hateful DU crap.

Kanary

[sir_captain]

18. I apologize

for thread-hijacking--wasn't my intention. I just meant to add my opinion of the person giving the speech to the discussion. I find that some of the things Prof. West has said and done have colored the way I (and many others) view his teaching. I do think that's a relevant point, but I'll leave it be now. Sorry for upsetting you.

[Kanary]

23. Thank you

I do believe DU is in a real state right now, and doing personal attacks rather than actually dealing with issues.

I appreciate your apology, and hope that you can add to the discussion.

Kanary

[seventhson]

4. ?

?

www.tikkun.org

if this man doesn't teach then I am a monkey's uncle

[sir_captain]

14. On this particular subject

I suppose there must be a certain amount of opinion involved.

However, the man gets paid a lot of money for a job which has the nominal purpose of teaching undergraduate students--and he spends far too little time actually doing this, imho.

[AP]

24. I find that so outrageous.

Are you saying he doesn't do his prep? That he doesn't show up for class?

He does his work, and he spends the rest of his time being very engaged in popular culture and then bringing that experience back into the class room.

Universities are ALWAYS giving professors who achieve that way lighter teaching loads, and smaller classes, and tons of grad students so that they can do stuff like that.

This is purely a question of whether you value what West is doing outside the classroom.

There are plenty of NYU film professors who do professional film work and get light teaching loads (and high salaries) because NYU values that out of classroom work. There are plenty of fictioin writers who get the same treatment because they publish books.

Harvard didn't like what West did outside the classroom. Princeton and MANY other universities did appreciate it.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. This is worth reading carefully.

I heard it on DN! and was reminded again of his insight onto the way things work.

[Kanary]

16. Thank you, bumbler

I'm coming to the conclusion that there is so much dissention here that posting ANYTHING has become impossible.

Did you hear the whole thing? I came in part way, and wished I had been able to record it.

Kanary

[ConsAreLiars]

26. Happily I get DN! on Dish and record it on the receiver every morning

so I always can hear/see the whole show, with replays as needed. As you know, the DN! website hosts video and audio for those who missed it, and hearing West speak is well worth the bandwidth (video is helpful mainly for those who aren't yet familiar with him).

[Kanary]

29. I don't get any of those fancy things.... I'm just lucky to be able

to have regular meals. :)

This piece came through on Link, which is one of the few cable channels I get, and I don't usually see it. I just happened to be flipping through....

Do you still happen to have the recording of this one?

My computer is ancient, and I can't watch or even listen to websites.... :(

And I know I can order it, but my next meal is more important. :hi:

Have you heard him very often? He has a lot to say that needs to be heard.

Kanary

[ConsAreLiars]

32. It is a CRIME that access to info is dependent on income!

I'm semi-employed blue-collar, but still "lucky" because my health needs are limited to an aspirin every couple years. If that changes, I'm fucked. You can get more of Cornell West's words at http://www.cornelwest.com/ . DN! just recently began playing on LinkTV as well as FSTV, so even if you don't have the receiver with the hard drive, you can listen to it there. West is on DN! occasionally, not often but way more than anywhere else. He's been on CSPAN a few times also. As for your antique computer, if it is Win98 or later you should be able to get the mp3's at least. Post in the Lounge for help, and PM me if the techy's there don't help.

[Kanary]

35. Crime, indeed...... the same as housing depravation, food depravation

and all the other necessities of modern life.

Yes, I got the text of the speech, as I posted here. I just would like to be able to look at it over and over, as his words personaly delivered were stirring to me.

I thank you for your suggestions, and I know that you want to be helpful, but you will have to take my word for it that it's not just that I'm ignorant...... my computer is dying, and unless one of the Loungers wants to be a saint, they can't do anything except completely rebuild mine, or replace it. I simply don't have the resources that the rest of you take for granted. Trying to download mp3's just crashes my computer, and even if I got it, I wouldn't have a way to play it. OK? This is NOT just me being stooooopid.

As I said, it's not just the words........ I got the text. I just wanted to watch him, as that was powerful to me. I understand you not wanting to share what you recorded, and that is fine. I just can't do the things you think I can do.

I've lived this long with this, and right now I'm just doing well to wake up each morning. I'm grateful I saw that snippet of him this evening. It was my first experience of him.

Kanary

[thebigidea]

7. I generally like West, but...

"First time in the history of the nation all Americans feel: unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence and hated. Vast numbers of white American citizens don't know what to do because they never been hated. They never been unsafe. Never been unprotected."

Er? Cold War? Soviet Menace? Evil Empire? Children raised with "duck and cover" nuclear annihilation horrors?

That seemed to scare an awful lot of white people.

[AP]

10. I think 9/11 stepped it up a notch. The Red Scare was more Scare than...

...anything else.

9/11 actually took Americans beyond just being told to be scared, and made people feel like their lives were genuinely threatened.

I bet a lot of Republicans doing the scaring in the 50s knew that they were blowing tings out of proporiton. I bet they knew that in the 80s too. I bet a lot of Americans feel on 9/11 that they could really die the next day if their government didn't do the right thing.

[thebigidea]

11. If you haven't already, rent "The Atomic Cafe"

[T Town Jake]

38. And Cold-War Democrats, too...

...like John F. Kennedy. It's all too obvious from your posts that you know little about history, at least 20th Century World history, anyway, IMHO. I'd consult a book or two in the future before I posted about such subjects in the future, where I you. I'd start with JFK's acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles in 1960, and work myself forward to his never-given speech in Austin, Texas on Nov. 22, 1963 where he bragged about the extent to which his administration had expanded the funding of weapons systems in the Pentagon to face the Soviet threat. It's interesting reading, though I must warn you that it doesn't lend itself easily to quaint, bumper-sticker, slogans...read (and learn) at your own risk...

[AP]

40. "it's all too obvious"

I'm just trying to suggest a difference between now and then, and if you think there was ever a time in American history when someone from outside America killed 3,000 Americans in one day and when, the next day, every American thought it could happen to them too, then you're the one who needs a history lesson.

[Kanary]

17. It's one thing to be scared of something "out there"

That's bad enough.

It's a whole other thing to be attacked, burned out, lynched, and hunted down.

Kanary

[G_j]

19. that was my thought also

imaginary enemies are another story.

great post, I enjoyed reading him.

[Kanary]

27. Thanks, G_j --- there was soo much there...

I've thought many times how much we have to LEARN from "minorities".... not just "tolerance", or "helping"...... but what they know that we need to learn from them.

This just touches the tip of that iceberg, and I had hoped it could open up that dialogue.

We "white folk" don't have a lock on wisdom.

Kanary

[ConsAreLiars]

21. You're partly right here, but the nuclear threat was not as "personal"

For most folks that was like the threat of meteors or hurricanes or tornadoes. Some freaked and built shelters, others were more fatalistic. It was hyped up more than those natural disasters, but not seen as being targeted at any particular group of USAns. Because the FundiCons have defined this threat for their followers as "us" (white gawdly ubermensch) against "them" (brown infidel subhumans) this threat has a much more personal feel for many.

[thebigidea]

30. Wha? They demonized communists just as much as terrorists

Hundreds of propaganda films were made... communists were the catch-all bogeymen to blame all our problems on. Not at all unlike the current situation.

[ConsAreLiars]

33. The demonizing of the "other" is the same,

but the FundiCons are now telling their adherents that "they" are targetting white Xtians in particular. It's being framed as a religious war of "good vs. evil" - a crusade and a race war. This is different, and this difference is what West was (very insightfully) pointing at.

[Kanary]

34. It's also that there was an actual, physical attack.

That attack took it out of the purely psychological (which is bad enough), and made it concrete.

That's what West was saying....... African Americans lived for all those years with physical attacks, and never knowing when they would be a victim of said attack.

Kanary

[ConsAreLiars]

36. And that actual attack hit a disproportionate share

of the rich white elite. Yes, it hit a lot of poor menials as well, but the WTC was predominately occupied by people who were movers and shakers in the kind of business its name impled. And the fear generated hit peoiple who had previously seen thenselves as privileged and protected.

[Kanary]

37. Perzactly..... as West said, they were "niggerized" in that attack

Suddenly, money alone didn't provide safety and insulation from physical attack.

Quite a come-uppance for those used to priviledge.

No wonder the fear hit such a level.

As West said, it's not necessary for the rest of us to let that fear dictate all that we do.

Kanary

[G_j]

39. "That's what we are about"

<snip>
"We believe in individuality expressed with integrity in such a way that the overlap of our voices constitute a collective performance that accents an ideal bigger than all of us. How wonderful this community is. That's what we are about. Thank you
all very much. (applause)."