Cornel West

[QT2]
[QT2]
[QT2]
To hear a sound clip of Cornel West's speech, press one of the above icons.

But getting people to talk can be a dangerous occupation. West raises issues that provoke the very hatred he tries to expose. To silence him, people have made threats against his life. When he lived in Princeton, his house was attacked six times. In Boston, his house and family were attacked five times in seven months. He has installed a home security system but refuses to wear a bulletproof vest--he says it doesn’t go well with his suit. He also refuses to carry any type of personal protection. Guns run counter to his pacifist ideals.

"The worst was the gun in my wife’s face," West said in a January interview. "That’s what really got me upset. She’s not part of this; she shouldn’t have to deal with that. Me, that’s different. But for her, that’s ridiculous." Most attacks take the form of anonymous phone threats or broken windows, West said.

"You’ve got some brothers and sisters out there who are in deep pain and who have a certain kind of sickness in terms of wanting to intimidate and terrorize people. But again, that’s a human thing, par for the course. Anytime you try to come forward and speak out, you know that’s gonna happen."

Like other activists before him, West perseveres despite the threats and attacks. He says he is a "prisoner of hope," which he defines as being "thoroughly convinced that what he is doing is moral and right." It keeps him fighting regardless of the consequences. He wants his words to creep into the hearts and minds of the people he speaks to, argues with, and struggles against. Somewhere down the line, West believes this will lead to a higher level of organizing and mobilizing. Eventually, society may change.

But optimism comes hard for someone who pays attention to suffering. West told his University of Oregon audience that the countless men and women who have dedicated their lives to the fight against oppression have not ended the poverty, racism, and sexism that tear at the of society. Still, as a captive of conviction, West can’t ignore the call to arms: "[It’s] difficult now to engage in any grand hope for fundamental transformations given the social misery in our midst. And yet, in the name of those who came before, and in the name of the most precious idea--self determination, democracy--we must be audacious, we must speak, and we must act--even if it is against the grain and against the odds."

 
Harvard, not Howard?

by Mark Yates

In 1994, Cornel West moved to Massachusetts to join the Harvard Dream Team of black intellectuals. Along with such renown academics as sociologist William Julius Wilson and literary critic Henry Louis Gates, Jr., West helped make the Harvard Afro-American studies program one of the best in the nation. The team meets regularly at Gates's house to discuss poverty, drugs, family breakdown, and other social issues. Their long-term goal is to create a new way of speaking about black advancement without distorting the realities of urban poverty.

Critics wonder why such accomplished intellectuals chose a primarily white institution like Harvard over historically black schools like Howard, Morehouse, or Spelman. West argues that Harvard's visibility as an educational trendsetter provides just the right platform from which to launch his unique form of activism. Furthermore, the Harvard emphasis on research provides nearly twice as much time for responsibilities other than teaching. Since his arrival at Harvard, West's words have left the pages of scholarly journals for more accessible periodicals like The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and The Nation. That mainstream exposure almost guarantees that his controversial message will be heard. And that will get people talking.
 

Additional Resources

[Contents]