But what I'm really sick and tired of are people like Cornel West pretending to represent the progressive movement while launching personal attacks Rush Limbaugh could only dream of on the most progressive president in history. I am really sick and tired of people like Cornel West pretending to represent African Americans and people of color, and especially, poor people of color in this country while running around the country doing "poverty tours" to sell books and a radio show. I am beyond sick and tired of Cornel West and Tavis Smiley and their partners pimping outrageous statements to the media to generate controversy, and I am sick and tired of people like Amy Goodman accepting such pretense without question.
I will tell you what, Cornel West. I am also sick and tired of you using the color of your skin to throw out publicly derogatory words that even the harshest right wing Neanderthals on the airwaves would avoid. "Niggerization?" "Obama plantation?" The use of those terms aren't simply indicative of your vile hatred - the very same thing you purport to be against - against the president, they are the mark of a coward. You know that if you use those terms as a black man, that most others will not step into that territory, and so by default, you'll "win."
The new generation of leadership and the new coalition of Americans that this president represents and was elected twice by are not color blind. No, we are race conscious and we are class conscious. But really, we are conscious of privilege, and we're better at understanding not just the institutional prejudices but also the institutional privileges - something you, Cornel West, are an utter failure at. However, we refuse to let the color of our skin - or other identity politics - define who we are. We are Americans who realize that our strength is in our diversity.
We display our strength when affluent white college students demonstrate in favor of the Dream Act and immigration reform. We display our strength when the California chapter of the NAACP becomes the first non-LGBT organization to endorse a 'No' vote on Proposition 8. We demonstrate our strength when men and women band together in the south to protect a woman's right to choose. We show our strength when people from all races, rich and poor, old and young, take to the streets in solidarity with a young slain man and his family that none of us personally know.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/07/why-cornel-west-is-threatened-by-obama.html
Mahalo for the graphic, DI.. Bittermen west and smiley are shark hunting as we type.
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