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Dr. Cornel West with Amy Goodman

Wednesday 25 June 2003
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Dr. Cornel West has been described as one of America’s most vital and eloquent public intellectuals. Dr. West was recently appointed Class of 1943 University Professor of Religion at Princeton University.

We are living in one of the most frightening moments in the history of this country. Democracies are quite rare and usually short-lived in the human adventure. The precious notion of ordinary people living lives of decency and dignity—owing to their participation in the basic decision making in those fundamental institutions that affect their life chances—is difficult to sustain over space and time. And every historic effort to forge a democratic project has been undermined by two fundamental realities: poverty and paranoia. The persistence of poverty generates levels of despair that deepen social conflict; the escalation of paranoia produces levels of distrust that reinforce cultural division. Race is the most explosive issue in American life precisely because it forces us to confront the tragic facts of poverty and paranoia, despair and distrust. In short, a candid examination of race matters takes us to the core of the crisis of American democracy. And the degree to which race matters in the plight and predicament of fellow citizens is a crucial measure of whether we can keep alive the best of this democratic experiment we call America. — from the Epilogue of Race Matters © 1994 Cornel West

I think anytime we talk about transforming in capitalist society, we are talking about a process not a particular event so you can’t talk about a socialist revolution. You can’t talk about revolution per say in that way I think we are talking about various means by which we are able to convince the demos, which is to say convince the significant number of fellow citizens that they have a right to a life of decency and dignity that they are not able to live now, and it’s changeable because certain priorities are promoted, certain choices are made. The result would be a fundamental transformation if in fact, one could convince persons that the most powerful and most wealthy ought to have some public accountability be it wealth tax, be it more progressive income tax, be it workers having some voice in investment decisions within those entities and enterprises and so on. That’s what I actually mean by fundamental social change.
— Cornel West, in a 1997 interview with Henry Louis Gates, Professor of the Humanities and Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies, Harvard University

In the hearings, the image of Clarence Thomas that emerged was one of an exemplary hedonist, a consumer of pornography, captive to a stereotypical self-image of the powerful black man who revels in sexual prowess in a racist society. Anita Hill appeared as the exemplary careerist addicted to job promotion and captive to the stereotypical self-image of the sacrificial black woman who suffers silently and alone. There was reason to suspect that Thomas was not telling the whole truth. He was silent about Roe v. Wade, his intentions in the anti-abortion essay on Lewis Lehrmann, and the contours of his conservative political philosophy. Furthermore, his obdurate stonewalling in regard to his private life was disturbing. There also should be little doubt that Anita Hill’s decision to testify was a break from her careerist ambitions. On the one hand, she strikes me as a person of integrity and honesty. On the other hand, she indeed put a premium on job advancement—even at painful personal cost. Yet her speaking out disrupted this pattern of behavior and she found herself supported only by people who opposed the very conservative Republican policies she otherwise championed, namely progressive feminists, liberals, and some black folk. How strange she must feel being a hero to her former foes. One wonders whether Judge Bork supported her as fervently as she did him a few years ago.
— from Race Matters © 1993 Cornel West

If you are interested in purchasing Cornel West books or his hip-hop C.D., “Sketches of my Culture”, send an email to lexlibris@earthlink.net. If you mention Lannan Foundation they offer 10% off or free shipping.

Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of Pacifica Radio’s daily newsmagazine Democracy Now! which airs daily on over 400 stations in North America. Goodman has interviewed several Lannan guests including Noam Chomsky, Eduardo Galeano, and Robert Fisk.

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