Introduction by Chris Hedges
LeighaCohen on Nov 15, 2014
Image by James Stewart via Flickr
[…] In his new book, Cornel West, together with distinguished scholar Christa Buschendorf, provides a fresh perspective on six revolutionary African American leaders: Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Ella Baker, Malcolm X, and Ida B. Wells. He examines the impact of these men and women on their own eras and across the decades. He not only rediscovers the integrity and commitment within these passionate advocates but also their fault lines.
West describes Douglass as a complex man who is both “the towering Black freedom fighter of the nineteenth century” and a product of his time who lost sight of the fight for civil rights after the emancipation. He calls Du Bois “undeniably the most important Black intellectual of the twentieth century” and explores the more radical aspects of his thinking in order to understand his uncompromising critique of the United States, which has been omitted from the American collective memory. West argues that our selective memory has sanitized and even “Santaclausified” Martin Luther King Jr., rendering him less radical, and has marginalized Ella Baker, who embodies the grassroots organizing of the civil rights movement. The controversial Malcolm X, who is often seen as a proponent of reverse racism, hatred, and violence, has been demonized in a false opposition with King, while the appeal of his rhetoric and sincerity to students has been sidelined. Ida B. Wells, West argues, shares Malcolm X’s radical spirit and fearless speech, but has “often become the victim of public amnesia.” […]
Dr. Cornel West & James H. Cone in Conversation-“Black Prophetic Fire”
From the archives:
The Ordination Service for Chris Hedges, with Cornel West
Black Prophetic Fire: Cornel West on the Revolutionary Legacy of Leading African-American Voices
Cornel West: We are Calling for Fundamental Transformation of U.S. Capitalist Society (Must-see)
Dandelion Salad 
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Great heart and generosity of spirit!.
I learned about the 10,000 food gardens for Africa project today http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/pagine/eng/orti/cerca.lasso?-id_pg=265
I think it is utterly brilliant, even Michelle Obama likes it ~ or so we are told….
What type of liberating agency could we envisage for the Americas, South to North? Cornel says 62% of US incarcerations are for soft drug offences…this is sheer domestic tyranny, just another form of indentured slavery, cheap labour.
I heard the majority of young Native Americans actually spend their youth locked up.
I think people are being driven crazy from what they are forced to consume, pickled alive by this predatory cult of corporate dominance, that profits from toxic garbage packaged as food, all to induce a hallucinated psychotic state of frantic hysteria called free and democratic Western “civilization.”
Isn’t it time to call the bluff of this abysmal diet of poisonous lies? At least then there’d be an outside chance people would be able to recognize their rightful minds, enabled by healthier habits born of the rational principle of self-determination within communities of intent….
My own view is, nothing will go right until we acknowledge the indigenous truths of the sanctity of the Earth.
The Sun always rises in the East.
Thanks for the link, David. Fabulous program. Community and individual gardens needs to grow (pun intended) everywhere in the world. The people do need to take back their food source.
The US and other govts are responsible along with the corporations that they have merged with in dumping too cheap of food on the markets making the local farmers not able to compete price-wise. Yes, we need to help out when people are dying of starvation, but then it has to stop so the local farmers can take over feeding their people.
Hear…hear !!