Cornel West talking:
there will never, ever be peace without justice. There will never be calmness without accountability. There will never be order without fairness. So when I hear the authorities call for peace and call for calmness and call for order, I say, yes, but it’s not the absence of tension. It’s got to be the presence of that justice and accountability and that fairness. When I hear the authorities—even President Obama says, well, the attack on the police is an attack on all of us. I said, OK, but an attack on black people, especially black youth, is also attack on all of us. If, in fact, the attack on the police is an assault on all of us, then when the police unfairly maims and murders civilians, the police is killing on behalf of all of us. Well, I don’t want the police killing on behalf of me. I want the police to be treated with respect and fairly, and I want black youth and brown youth, black men and black women to be treated fairly.
And that’s why I came here to Cleveland. I’ve come here. We’ve already marched with Brother Malik Zulu Shabazz, with my precious black nationalist brothers and sisters. We marched Ninth Avenue all the way to—from 12th Avenue all the way to 71st Avenue, Second Ebenezer Baptist Church, Reverend A.L. Owens. I’m here with Reverend Jawanza Colvin at the great historic Mount Olivet Institutional Baptist Church. We’re going to have a gathering with Sister Nina, our dear sister Nina, who’s here, who’s just magnificent in terms of her presence, you know, here in Cleveland.
Nina Turner. And then the AIDS Healthcare Foundation last night, with Raheem DeVaughn and Mary Mary and The Roots. You know, and, see, 49 years ago yesterday was the death of John Coltrane. And for me, that’s crucial, because it’s really about a love supreme, it’s really about the giant steps that we have to take. But we have to hit the streets. We’ve got to preserve the resistance and let the young folk know, see the tears of our dear sister, the aunt. You know, stop the killing. Stop killing black people. Stop killing working people. Because it’s not just a racial thing. They’re killing a lot of white brothers and sisters, too, but it’s disproportionately chocolate. And, yes, you’ve got to stop killing the police, but we’re in this together. We got social neglect. You’ve got economic abandonment. Every day, you’ve got poor black people who are wrestling with unbelievably oppressive conditions. And we’ve got to be able to speak candidly and honestly about that and come up with some ways of rechanneling a lot of this rage and anger.
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Cornel West
a professor at Union Theological Seminary. He endorsed Bernie Sanders for president last summer and was appointed by Sanders to serve on the Democratic platform committee. He is author of numerous books, most recently Black Prophetic Fire.
— source democracynow.org