Cornel west on Barack

I first heard about Cornell West in college. I'll admit, he was very impressive. I was blown away by him. Tavis Smiley was also doing his
State of the Black Union address and I was a fan of both of them for years.

Ten years go by and many of the speeches and "intellectual" jargon starts sounding the same but yet the black community as a whole kept getting worse. High crime rate, high unemployment, high single parent birth rate, etc. Yet, Cornell and Tavis wanted you to buy their books and tapes.

It was then I truly realized these guys aren't the kind of black men who truly make a difference, these are the kind of men who make their money off of their books and tapes. They are nothing more than black motivational speakers, get people riled up with their speeches but once you leave the conventional halls, nothing gets done.

Black men like CINQUE, who was a captive on the slave ship AMISTAD. He was the one who lead the revolt to kill the white slave traders and return the ship back to Africa. Even though there were many blacks from different tribes and spoke different dialects, he united them for one cause, return to Africa.

The Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots who escorted B-52 bombers over Europe, at that time were thought to be too dumb to be able to fly a plane. Even president Roosevelt was convinced they couldn't do it. It was his wife, Eleanor, who convinced him into going through with the project. To make a long story short, many of the white pilots started REQUESTING the services of the Tuskegee Airman. Many of those black men died during those missions but they were determined to be the very best.

Toussaint L'Overture led a slave revolt that fought the French for 12 years before the blacks got their freedom. I repeat ... TWELVE years.

This is just a few examples of black men, from all over the world, who figured out what they wanted to do, put together a plan and JUST DID IT.

The fact that Obama is a politician is mute. It was his belief in himself that kept him going even when every study and common sense said it couldn't be done. NOBODY, black, white, male or female believed this country would elect a black president. That didn't stop Obama though.

Black men with BRASS BALLS, the kind who has a vision of what he wants to do, put together a plan and JUST DO IT. Put all that "intellectual" talk together and make it happen. If you can't, then SHUT THE HELL UP!!

Thank God for black men like Obama.

 

ArmyRanger, Cornel West is a college PROFESSOR, not someone peddling books for no reason.

Change starts in the mind first, then through action.

If you don't think Cornel West has seriously imprinted an entire generation of leaders of every race and gender throughout his college tenure, you're mistaken.

He grows the minds of men and women, who in turn become the architects who change society.


You can't have a movement without teachers or intellectuals who articulate in words and speech the meaning behind actions.

Action without thought is anarchy.
Action preceded by introspection becomes revolution.

 

I dig what you are saying but we as a people always tend to look at thing either/or. What you present able is a debate that has been going on long before you and I...or Obama...or Dr. West. (i.e. Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B DuBois).

they were both wrong and both right

you I believe at the same time wrong and at the same time right. You can not have a change without the intellectuals and the learned scholars....nor can we have a change without the brutha in the trenches...

And lets keep in mind the member of the Tuskegee Airmen were some of the most educated black men in the community. I had the pleasure of meeting LTCOL Span Watson personally. I was his escort during the WWII memorial dedication ceremony. Yes....he was bruthat that did what needed to be done, but he was also a very educated brutha.

We need them both and that is often were we fail. The street bruthaz don't trust the educated bruthaz...and here in 2011 the batter between the Vocation and the talented 10th still rages...

 

ArmyRanger, you are one of the very few black men I could sit down and talk with for hours. You hit the nail on the head. LEADERSHIP is the key. Achieving goals and setting priorities in reaching focused objectives is what made such men as Benjamin O Davis, Jr such an inspiration. I have great respect for the black men who put their lives on the line to advance others. They are so few, they are indeed a rare breed of men.

 

bruh...

...you need to meet more people.

 

We wouldn't even notice Cornell West if he never attempted to look like Frederick Douglas.

 

Cornell West is saying nothing different than Socrates, Plato or any of the other great philosophers in history. You are truly mistaken if you think Cornell West is coming up with anything new.

Most of the black men of action that I mentioned are all very educated men. I have a college degree myself. I was never against an education.

I don't know you or any of the other guys on this board. But I do know what it takes to make you a well respected and admired man. There comes a time when you have to man up. You can speak forever on a subject, talk the talk, but you have to eventually walk the walk before people really start to respect you.

You're correct, Cornell West is a college professor. However, he took it upon himself to challenge Obama. It was his choice to step outside his environment and attack Obama. Just like Cornell is going to have his followers who are educated, Obama is also going to have his.

Obama is a Harvard Law school educated man. He is also the only black man to ever be elected president of the Harvard Law review. W. E. B. DuBois was also a Harvard educated man. I'd put these educated men up against Cornell, Tavis, Eric Dyson and anyone else and they would be able to hold their own.

The reason I respect men like Obama or DuBois is because they got an education then went out and tried to walk the walk. Are they going to make mistakes??? Yes. Are they going to be wrong with some of their views??? Yes, we are all human.

Don't get black history wrong, many of the actions carried out in history WERE well thought out by educated people. Martin Luther King had his Phd. When they were using students for sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement, their actions were well thought out. They knew how many seats were in a store or cafe. They planned for the students to sit in shifts, one group would sit for four hours then they would be relieved by another group later on.

Thurgood Marshall had fought before the Supreme Court in 1947 for the right for blacks to ride in the front of the bus and WON. That was how blacks were able to sit in the front of the bus during interstate travel. This was how the FREEDOM RIDERS started.

In the 50's, when Rosa Parks was arrested for riding in the front of the bus, the NAACP had already targeted the illegal discrimination practices of the Alabama bus system. Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense unit used the supreme court case that Marshall won in 1947 to defeat Alabama's illegal practices.

There are many, many examples of well educated blacks that made a difference in the black community.

Cornell West need to just stay at Princeton and just concentrate on teaching whatever it is he teaches. Yeah, he is going to have his followers but like I stated earlier, long after all of us are dead, many people will be studying about how Obama accomplished what he did. Cornell West and Co. won't even be a footnote in history.

 

so obama voluntarily decides to make these bills? he automatically knows every issue and solves it without public pressure or anything of the sort....obama must be god........he must have fixed the immigration issue and ended the prison industrial complex as well.

 

where did he blame obama? i believe he criticised bo's inaction.

 

true that....might i also add that every accomplishment is the execution of a well-thought out plan.

 

ha hah hah! they could get matching tinfoil hats.

 

:smt043:smt043:smt043

 

I think we could. You seem to be one of the few here who understands the big picture.

 

Its very obvious you have never been a first. When you are a black pioneer, everything you do will be put under a microscope. You had better be cautious and think everything through.

Go read about Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. It was because of his outrageous ways that got a lot of innocent blacks killed in race riots because of the Great White Hope fight against Jim Jeffries in 1910.

This is why Joe Louis had to be so reserved when he became champion. Now, Muhammed Ali was probably one of the most colorful fighters ever but it was Joe Louis who paved the way so Ali could be like he was, not Jack Johnson.

 

I'm a BHO supporter, but not an apologist.

He's not running as POTUS the way he ran his presidential campaign, as a progressive change agent who would change politics in D.C.

IMO Barack is too pragmatic, too circumspect and worried about exercising his authority as POTUS.

I'll give you an example, the Republicans have blocked roughly 60% of every single one Obama's top federal appointees. So what does BHO do? Nothing.

He lets the process drag and run its course, stalling his political agenda.

Bush and Clinton would have recessed appointed every one of those top federal nominees and given the opposing political party the middle finger.

This isn't the 1940s and BHO isn't Jackie Robinson. He's too conciliatory to the opposition party instead of pushing through his own agenda.

It's one thing to desire the Oval Office, it's another issue if the title of POTUS is too great a burden for you to bear.

There's an expression in sports, 'the game was too big for x-player'. Everytime I run that phrase through my head, I think of Barack. Sometimes it seems the job is too big for him because he's too busy catering to the interests of others instead of the people who got him elected.
Millions of Americans voted for BHO not to perpetuate the status quo, but instead to be the 'change agent' he ran as in the 2008 Presidential campaign.

Equating his predicament to Joe Louis or Mohammed Ali is the wrong analogy because BHO has been empowered by the majority of the American people and even the world community expected him to become this revolutionary figure, but that's not him.

Going along to get along, too bad the highlight of his presidency will be putting a bullet in Bin Laden's skullbone.

Bold leadership is what this country needs, not a guy who's too busy avoiding stepping on landmines.

 

I tell you, even though there are opposing views, which are excellent to stimulate thought, I have to hand it to those few on this site for their brillant and most enlightening views that get you to think. We need more like you guys who can think other than sex.

 

well put, well put!!

 

I think you simply have not been paying attention. If you haven't seen bruthaz like swirl, terrar, BigBroW, Mr.F , karmacomaand others have debate (hated and respectful) such as this...

...I love this convo, but bruthat its nothing new. Not by a long shot.

You just haven't been paying attention.

 

To each is own.

 

hey, what was the inspiration for changing your name and what does it mean ?