First Posted: 1/15/2009
PEMBROKE - Cornel West said he came to The University of North Carolina at Pembroke on Thursday to talk about some difficult issues - racism, poverty, inequality and injustice - topics the noted author said America would rather sweep under the rug.
But until such issues are confronted, America will never be the democracy it should be, he said.
“Wrestle with the night-side, the underside, the death, the subjugation, the discrimination, the lynchings,” he said.
West, a Princeton professor, was on campus as part of the university's Distinguished Speaker Series and the school's celebration of Black History Month.
“I hope I say something tonight that thoroughly unsettles you, unnerves you, unhouses you because that is what Black History Month is all about,” he said.
In an hour-long talk that included as many references to Socrates and the Bible as it did to rappers Tupac Shakur and 50 Cent, West urged about 1,200 people to “evaluate and then evaluate the evaluation.”
West said America got a taste of what it is like to live as the object of hatred and in fear after 9/11. But unlike leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, this country has not chosen to turn the other cheek.
“Don’t recycle hatred and bigotry,” he said. “A tooth for a tooth leaves us all toothless. There are ways to preserve your humanity while you seek justice.”
In fact, West said Americans are too busy trying to get rich to even deal with such issues.
“We are a death-dodging society, a hotel society,” he said. “We would rather sit in our vanilla suburbs watching our big TVs.”
He added that is why so many people chose not to examine their lives or the real history of this nation.
“We love intelligence, but fear intellect because intelligence gives us status, but intellect slows us down. Americans are afraid of intellect because it puts the underbelly of American democracy under the light.”
He added that many blacks who have become rich and successful suffer the same amnesia as their “white brothers and sisters.”
“Today freedom too often is about materialism,” West said. “We have people strutting around like peacocks. But the peacock struts because he can't fly. There is a difference between success and greatness. If you are successful, who do you serve … who have you helped?”
Eye-opener
Many of those who came to see West were high school and college students holding copies of his books. Some, like the Rev. Mac Legerton of Pembroke, were old friends.
“Hadn't seen you in a while,” West said as he waved to Legerton from the stage. “I see you're still on the battlefield.”
Others came from far away as Wilmington and Greensboro.
“I'm speechless,” said James Mohammad of Raleigh. “It was refreshing. Powerful. Eye-opening. He did just what he said he would. He shook things up.”
The speech began an hour late because West's flight into Fayetteville was delayed. He got a standing ovation as he walked onto the stage - one of several he received during the night.
“He got here late, but his talk was right on time,” said Melody Cole, who came with a group of students from the Youth Opportunity program in Maxton.
