To hear a sound clip of Cornel West's speech, press one of the above icons.

ut problems can’t be solved without "open, honest social dialogue," West says. For now, he would be satisfied if people simply began talking. And West will use a wide assortment of cultural references to encourage dialogue about the social structures that propagate racism and oppression. At the University of Oregon, West won over the crowd by paying tribute to the school’s most famous athlete, the runner Steve Prefontaine. He then began his speech with a rhythmic incantation, paying tribute to those who had struggled and continue to struggle against oppression: Sojourner Truth, Marcus Garvey, John Brown, Elijah Lovejoy, Lydia Maria Child, Cesar Chavez, Russell Means, Grace Bogs, James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams and Audre Lorde. There was someone for everyone as his voice dipped in and out of a whisper. Then he encouraged the audience to consider something "distinctively un-American": history.

"Americans lack historical consciousness. We don’t really have a sense of history," West said, resting his hands on the lectern. "Americans don’t want to deal with pain and suffering, and history is very much about struggle, pain, suffering, death."

West wrung his hands. He let the impact of his statement sit with the standing-room only crowd for a few moments. Then he took a deep breath and asked: "What do we say to a nation that fails to fundamentally come to terms with the fact that white supremacy was like a serpent wrapped around the legs of the table on which the Declaration of Independence was signed by the Founding Fathers?. . . It haunted America then, and over 200 years later, it still haunts America."

West cited the L.A. riots that followed the Rodney King verdict as the result of America’s failure to address social problems rooted in history. Issues of class, poverty, existential despair, and social injustice all came together and erupted in what West called a "justified rage." He said that change only occurs when people know where they’ve been. The decision to ignore the historical reality of racial inequality was the catalyst that led to the tragedy of the riots.

According to West, history forces people to examine the very definition of race. In his speech, West said that the "construct of black" evolved from America’s need to subordinate the slaves, to differentiate them from the white mainstream. He contends that before America there was no "black" or "white." Cleopatra was Egyptian; Mark Antony was Roman. But in America, generations of European immigrants could disappear into the white background while African-Americans and African immigrants had no choice but to stand out and bear the brunt of prejudicial thinking. That’s history. To overcome its legacy of oppression, people must organize and talk about what they see.