On the evening of May 29th, CNN's Anderson Cooper had a rather revelatory and spirited conversation with one of my own personal HEROES, Cornell West. Mr. West's iconoclastic mind is so revered, the creators of the famed MATRIX films (The Wachowski Brothers) drew much of their inspiration to create their fantastical world from his famed teachings!
Given the current state of the World we all find ourselves trying to navigate, I decided to transcribe their entire conversation. All in the hopes that it might spur some form of productive inspiration within the entire New Age Nerd community...........
Anderson Cooper: (Primetime CNN Anchor... Addressing his guest, Dr. Cornell West) Our next guest practices Public Philosophy at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University: Dr. West, umm....I'm glad we are talking tonight. (from the May 29th protests stemming from George Floyd's horrendous murder at the hands of Minnesota's police department) What are your thoughts watching these images tonight around the country ... people in the streets..and the... the
horrific images we saw of George Floyd and what is happening.....?
Dr. West: I just want to begin by extending my condolences to the... umm.. Floyd family. They exemplify spiritual nobility and that is very important. Long history of 400 years of black people having to come to terms, with these kinds of vicious murders and assassinations and attacks!
(now referencing Mr Cooper, with his partner, the adoption of their newborn baby)
Dr. West: (to Anderson Cooper) Now I know I haven't seen you Anderson since little brother Wyatt Morgan made his appearance. (referencing Anderson Cooper's new son Wyatt) In the midst of all this ugly greed, and hatred and corruption, it is also very important to celebrate birth and reverence here. But I think what we are really experiencing here brother, and I say all this in deep honesty and deep sadness. Because you know I have been trying to bare witness for over 53 years in telling the truth and trying to say something about the least of these... but I think we are witnessing America as a failed social experiment. And what I mean by that is that the history of black people for over 200 some years in America has been looking at America's failure. It's capitalist economy, could not generate and deliver in such a way in which people could live lives of decency. The nation state, its criminal justice system, its legal system could NOT generate protection of rights and liberties.
And now our culture, of course. It's so market driven; anybody for sale, everything for sale. It can't deliver.....the kind...the kind of really real nourishment for SOUL....for meaning....for purpose. And so when you get this perfect storm of all of these multiple failures... at these different levels of the American Empire..... and Martin King already told us about that! When I saw all those pictures there in Atlanta...I could see Martin right there in Atlanta........Saying, "I told you about militarism! I told you about poverty! I told you about materialism! I told you about racism in all of its forms. Whatever forms it takes! I told you about xenophobia!"
And what we are seeing in America now is these chickens coming home to roost! You are reaping what you sow! And in this instant, you have brother George, (George Floyd, whose despicable death has set forth a new generation of protest toward a new paradigm in Social Justice) where it is so clear, it is a lynching.... at the highest level. Nobody can deny it! And I thank God that we have people in the streets. Can you imagine this kind of lynching taking place, and people are indifferent? And people don't care! People are callous! You have just a few people out there with signs up!
I recall those moments in which during the Reagan years..... there was just a few of us out there!
In the 60's, you had masses out there. Now you got a younger generation of all these different colors and genders and sexual orientations! Saying, "We won't take it any longer!"
But you know what is sad about it tho brother..... at the deepest level?! It looks as if the system cannot reform itself!
We have tried black faces in high places! Too often our black politicians, professional class, middle class, become too accommodated to the capitalist economy. Too accommodated to the militarized nations state! Too accommodated to the market driven culture; tied with celebrity status, power, and fame..... all of that superficial stuff that means so much to so many fellow citizens! And so what happens?! What happens is...we got a neo-fascist gangster in the White House; who really doesn't care for the most part!
You got a neo-liberal wing in the Democratic party that is now in the driver's seat with the collapse of brother Bernie (Bernie Sanders).....and they don't really know what to do.....because all they want is....show more black faces...show more black faces ....! But so often times these black faces are losing legitimacey too! Because the BLACK LIVES MATTER movement emerged under a black President, a black Attorney General, and a black Homeland Security and they couldn't deliver! You see!
So that when you talk about the masses of black people, the precious poor, and working class black people; poor and working class brown and red, yellow! Whatever color! They are the ones who are left out! And they feel so thoroughly powerless, helpless, hopeless, and then you get rebellion!
And we've reached the point now of a choice between non-violent revolution....
and by revolution what I mean is.... the Democratic sharing of power, resources, wealth, and respect!
And if we don't get that kind of sharing, you are going to get more violent explosions!
Now the sad thing is in this neo-fascist moment in the White House, you got some neo-fascist brothers and sisters out there, who are already armed! They show up at the US Capitol! They don't get arrested. They don't get put down! The President praises them.....
Anderson Cooper: (Interrupting) That's the extraordinary thing. You have these white weekend warriors showing up. As if they are former special forces ops; which they're not! Busting' into the State House, and the President praises those people. And yet, everybody else is a thug to the President.
He quotes a white sheriff from the South in...I don't know....in '67 or maybe '68....I mean... that's...if you wrote that in a movie.....people would say, there is NO WAY that the President of the United States would quote a Southern sheriff on the night that a great city (Minneapolis) in this country is seeing people in the streets!
Cornell West: (Cutting Back In) That's exactly right! But keep in mind, he is being true to himself! He is saying what he really feels in his SOUL! You see what I mean.
Because we have to recognize to...... cause just like Tupac Shakur, I got some THUG in me! I know I got some gangster in me! And as a Christian I got to fight that everyday! What does that mean?! That means we got to call out people for who they are.... a neo-fascist THUG in the White House calls my brothers and sisters in the streets ....THUGS...! So the question becomes, 'How do we keep alive moral, spiritual standards. Keep alive being in contact with the humanity of all of us across the boards. But recognizing we are living in a moment of massive economic capitalization. A nations state that has failed us.A criminal judgment system that has failed us to be fair. And the only response we have is from Samuel Beckett.
"Try again, fail again, fail better! Try again, fail again, fail better!"
But the question is we must fight! Even in the moment in which we have a failed social experiment, we must fight!
BE SUPER HEROIC!
LOVE -- SERVE -- INSPIRE
Jeffrey Louis Martinez
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