Last week, the College of William and Mary's Center for Student Diversity hosted its annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration. The event was sponsored by the Linda and Timothy Burke Endowment for Diversity Programming, the Forum, the Sadler Center, the Office of Student Affairs, and University Relations. The theme of the program was Realizing the Beloved Community, something that Dr. King held near and dear to his heart.
This year's speaker was none other than Professor Cornel West.
Director of the Center for Student Diversity, Dr. Vernon Hurte, said that Dr. West is "one of the greatest voices of our time." Dr. West graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1973 and currently serves as a professor at Princeton University. He has authored 19 books and edited 13 more. His most popular works are perhaps Race Matters and Democracy Matters. West made his film debut in The Matrix Reloaded and has created 3 spoken-word albums. He is the recipient of 20 honorary degrees. Hurte described West as having a legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to justice. [West is also a 'hugger,' making it a point to hug every person in the program who said a kind word about him before speaking including William & Mary President W. Taylor Reveley.]
Like a true philosopher, West's theme for his speech was, "What does it mean to be human?" He argued that such a question was troubling, as it ought to be and that Dr. King focused on it through out his life.
"Which Martin do we want to remember?" West asked the audience, saying that King was so complex yet his legacy is frequently sanitized. Keep in mind King's complexity, Dr. West urged the audience.
"Profoundly prophetic," West described King as a man who lived by line 38A of Plato's Apology:
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Calling such examination a painful process, West said that it takes courage and that being human ought to make us humble. No matter how accomplished we become, being human should be a humbling experience. West continued, in that it is not a matter of color, national origin, sexual orientation, religion or nonreligion, examining one's own humanity is often a daunting process. However, West concluded that Dr. King grappled with this task until his untimely death in 1968.
In order to reexamine humanity, West distinguished between higher education and schooling, positing that students come to the university to be educated and not to be schooled. Furthermore, West linked King to the idea that "learning how to die is learning how to live" and Seneca's proverb:
He who learns how to die is to unlearn slavery.
West argued that when one lets go of a dogma or doctrine, a person dies [mentally] in order to be reborn into a better person. For King, the dogma of white supremacy was the most insurmountable institution with which he had to deal.
Despite the institution of slavery and later institutionalized Jim Crow, West argued that a battalion of what he referred to as "artistic geniuses" emerged. He described it as, "disproportionately chocolate but some of them vanilla too." Among King's battalion predecessors were Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass. Among his army were Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, and others. West believes that King arrived in 1929 during a civic death of African Americans because, although they contributed to the labor force, they had no rights or liberties as Americans.
In regard to love, West said that King exemplified love, because learning how to think for oneself and love others is key to arriving at an answer to the "What does it mean to be human?" inquiry. West believes love is connected to our humanity and is especially difficult for a people who have been taught to hate themselves.
"Justice is what love looks like in public," he said, as King was an extremist of love. "Love is the steadfast commitment to the well-being of others."
Jim Crow, according to West was slavery by a different name and American terrorism against American citizens. Nonetheless, King preached that one can be a force of good alongside other forces of good. West exemplified this point with Mamie Till, the mother of a young boy who had been murdered by white racists. At her son's open-casket funeral, she told that world, "I don't have a minute to hate; I will pursue justice for the rest of my life."
What does it feel like to be hated? West said that September 11th, 2001 showed many Americans "what it is like to be Black in America." He argued that King's eulogy at the funeral for the 4 Little Girls should have rang true, that we have the "capacity to love others even as we are hated."
Upon his death, King was still fighting for issues facing the poor. King was focusing on opposing the Vietnam war and at the time he was shot, 72% of all Americans disapproved of him with 55% of African Americans disapproving. Currently, West, who has done teach-ins with the Occupy Movement, said that King would say we "can love the 1% and hate injustice."
Unlike during King's time, West believes that too many intelligent people living today are far too concerned with "culture capitalism," "stimulation, titillation, and status," instead of having the soul stirred.
Again bringing King's legacy to the present, West opined about what King would think of having a Black president. He noted that the White House was primarily built by slave labor and that Barack Obama as President is not the fulfillment of King's dream but merely a fulfillment of that dream. West railed against claims that with a Black President, American is post-racial. "America is not post racial but less racist - and that is progress," said West.
West thinks that the Jim Crow of the current era is the prison industrial complex as well as unfair drug policies. He argued about the need for living wages for all workers, just as King did before his untimely death.
Coming to a close, West concluded that King, "cast light on our [current] darkness" and that as an artist, who was, at his core, concerned with arriving at the truth, paid the ultimate price for speaking that truth. Despite all of that humanity, West finds that there are few leaders today who exemplify virtue the way King was able to do so.
What does it mean to be human? Being human is to embody love and in the words of King, to see "injustice anywhere as a threat to justice everywhere."
What does it feel like to be hated? West said that September 11th, 2001 showed many Americans "what it is like to be Black in America." He argued that King's eulogy at the funeral for the 4 Little Girls should have rang true, that we have the "capacity to love others even as we are hated."
Upon his death, King was still fighting for issues facing the poor. King was focusing on opposing the Vietnam war and at the time he was shot, 72% of all Americans disapproved of him with 55% of African Americans disapproving. Currently, West, who has done teach-ins with the Occupy Movement, said that King would say we "can love the 1% and hate injustice."
Unlike during King's time, West believes that too many intelligent people living today are far too concerned with "culture capitalism," "stimulation, titillation, and status," instead of having the soul stirred.
Again bringing King's legacy to the present, West opined about what King would think of having a Black president. He noted that the White House was primarily built by slave labor and that Barack Obama as President is not the fulfillment of King's dream but merely a fulfillment of that dream. West railed against claims that with a Black President, American is post-racial. "America is not post racial but less racist - and that is progress," said West.
West thinks that the Jim Crow of the current era is the prison industrial complex as well as unfair drug policies. He argued about the need for living wages for all workers, just as King did before his untimely death.
Coming to a close, West concluded that King, "cast light on our [current] darkness" and that as an artist, who was, at his core, concerned with arriving at the truth, paid the ultimate price for speaking that truth. Despite all of that humanity, West finds that there are few leaders today who exemplify virtue the way King was able to do so.
What does it mean to be human? Being human is to embody love and in the words of King, to see "injustice anywhere as a threat to justice everywhere."
