AND WHY
IS HE SO ANTI-OBAMA?
Cornel West:
race baiting, self-described “activist” & “intellectual”
wants
President Obama charged as a “war criminal”
(Saturday February 16,
2013. Princeton, NJ) Outside the insular
confines of academia’s ivory towers and the even smaller elite cadre of
“African- American Studies” professors, self-described Black activists,
intellectuals, and fans of the Tavis Smiley radio program, the overwhelming
majority of Americans are unacquainted with Cornel West and well they should
be. Currently Dr. West is a professor at
Princeton University, a rather prolific author of semi-original works dealing
with race, gender, and class in America and in particular voices, in his arrogant,
racially skewed, opinion, his belief that the United States is a "racist
patriarchal" nation where white supremacy continues to define everyday
life.
West is a member of that
slender slice of African-American, affirmative action benefiting pseudo-philosophers
more rabblerouser than thinker; more charlatan than legitimate scholarly
author, more radical activist than dedicated advocate for any cause. His main cause apparently is to advance his
own skewed perspectives on racial and societal matters while enriching himself
by hawking his books and charging exorbitantly high speaking fees to “preach”
his message and “educate young brothers and sisters” about the “true nature” of
our culture as he myopically views it from his lofty perch.
One might assume that a man
who proclaims to be an advocate for racial equality and especially dedicated to
the plight of Black America, Cornel West would be a strong supporter of this
country’s first African-American president but you would be mistaken. West has never been a true backer of
President Obama and in print and in speech he derisively refers to our
president as “Brother Barack”. It seems
that West has a litany of complaints about Barack Obama and his latest accusations
reveal just how deep his animosity for Obama is.
Prior to the second
Inauguration of President Obama Dr. West assailed him for planning to use
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Bible to swear the oath of office. West contended that Obama didn’t “deserve to
use” Dr. King’s Bible because Obama’s experience as a Black man in America was
uniquely different from that of the rest of Black American men. This is an odd allegation considering the
fact that Cornel west has about as much in common with the rest of Black
American men as he does with white Jewish women on Long Island. West is a product of the affirmative action
programs that provided him entry into Harvard for his undergraduate degree and
ultimately onto the faculty at that prestigious Ivy league school.
West is on the faculty here at
Princeton University since his dismissal from Harvard in 2002 for his “sub-par
performance, failure to conduct any original research or produce peer reviewed
writing”, all of which are essentials for faculty members at such a university. Then Harvard president, Larry Summers,
dismissed Dr. West also citing the fact that West spend an inappropriate amount
of time away from his duties at Harvard to promote and enrich himself by
hawking his books and collecting large speaking fees.
Earlier this week West made
the news with his wild accusations that President Obama should be tried as a
“war criminal” because of the number of deaths related to drone strikes in
countries the Administration has targeted known terrorists and their encampments.
The
United States military goes through great lengths to avoid injuring or killing
innocent people. “Collateral damage” is
the undignified euphemism to describe such unintentional deaths and each one is
a tragedy. Professor West may serve
his students and followers better if he were to focus on the reasons President
Obama in his role as Commander-in-Chief approves of the tactical and strategic
utilization of the unmanned aircraft called drones. Instead, the rabble-rousing, flame throwing
“intellectual” has chosen the lowest common denominator in a very complex
equation to attack the President, an African-American man who does not seem to
meet the strict criteria of what he considers an African-American man imposed
by Professor West. Even the most cursory review of West’s writings, lectures
and speeches show that “Blackness” is a favorite topic for the esteemed
Professor.
While Dr. West and his
opinions occupy a far outpost of legitimacy, he is not totally alone on the
fringe. There are other Ivy League
schooled and employed African-American “intellectuals”, “activists”, and
“thinkers”, who have made their reputations and careers by being “professional
Black” provocateurs. Characters like
Michael Eric Dyson and Henry Louis Gates have at one time or another headed a
university “Black Studies” department or, using the more recent politically
correct vernacular, “African-American Studies” programs. These were positions created to fulfill the
mandates of affirmative action as well as by a strain of academic liberals with
some oddly acquired sense of “White Guilt”.
That slavery is an indelible stain on the soul of this great nation is
undeniable; that 400 years of slavery in America created a legacy that contributes
to this day to some of the very real, serious dysfunctions in the
African-American community writ large from coast to coast. Despite profound endemic problems in “Black
America” all the African-American Studies professors in the country have done
nothing of substance to enact change, to bring their high powered intellects
and influence into the communities that suffer most. No, they spend their careers in the scholarly
assembly of lists of all the problems, all the ills, all the injustice,
poverty, despair, violence, unemployment, under-education, and helplessness in
those communities. Perhaps they are
unable to offer suggestions and recommendations and actually work towards
improving the lot of their “brothers and sisters” but they are so far removed
physically, mentally, geographically, financially and in every other way from
their beleaguered “community” that they would not know where to start.
President Obama has done more
to elevate the spirits if not the prospects of a generation of
African-Americans simply by having been twice elected to the highest office in
the land than Dr. West has or will ever accomplish. The ascendancy of Barack Obama is precisely
what makes West fume. After all he and
his ilk have made their careers exploiting the conditions and circumstances in
the African-American population and much of the wind has been blocked from his
sails with an African-American in the White House, twice elected by significant
if not impressive majorities. Black
America alone did not place Obama in the White House, a broad coalition across
all demographics did.
If anyone should be held
accountable for “war crimes” it should be Dick Cheney and his imbecile side
kick George W. Bush. It is their legacy
of an ill-conceived military doctrine of preemptive war and the host of
extra-constitutional policies and tactics that should be investigated; the
current President inherited that host of toxic weeds overgrowing our historic
military philosophy. But that is beside
the point here; Dr. West and his ignorant, hostile rhetoric and thinking is the
point.
The election of Barack Obama
did not automatically eradicate the problems in Black America; it did not bring
them more jobs, better schools, health care, or housing. It did however bring Black America and all
Americans the very real positive message that anything is possible. In a nation as young and dynamic as ours,
despite the anger, rancor and bitter partisanship that has come to define the
political process and holds the legislative process hostage, our first Black President
represents truths far beyond the details of his own unique journey. One might think that African-American
intellectuals, activists, professors, and philosophers all across America would
celebrate his presidency but, if they listen to Dr. West they would be sadly
mistaken and that, in and of itself is sad.
Dr. West should be ashamed of himself but men like him lack the
capability to be shamed.
TAGS: CORNEL WEST, WAR CRIMES, PRESIDENT OBAMA, BLACK AMERICA, AFRICAN-AMERICAN
STUDIES PROGRAMS, PROFESSIONAL BLACKS,
LINKS:
Copyright The Brooding Cynyx 2013 © All Rights Reserved
