The Linguistic Problem With Cornell West's Attack on The President

FROM JJP POSTER COOP:

coop10

It took me a minute to put my finger on exactly why Cornell West’s comments about President Obama disturbed me so much; but I think I’ve figured it out. It’s not so much what West said or even that he said it. It’s HOW he said it-- carelessly and cavalierly flouts black speech codes.

We know the history of and the necessity for encoded black speech. Early one we knew that to survive we had to “wear the mask,” Early on we knew that to survive we had to possess a “double consciousness. “ And early on we knew that to survive we had to construct, perfect, and deploy coded speech to communicate within, over, under, around, and through an ever-pervasive and destructive whiteness.

Black coded speech, signifying speech, served a double purpose: direct discourse to deceive whiteness, and indirect discourse – a black linguistic dog whistle, if you will, to convey the actual intent. Black speech codes covered the gamut from Negro Spirituals to acts of Uncle Tom-ing; yet, however seemingly disparate the tactic, the goal was the same, to prevent whiteness from invading black linguistic space, a space necessary for self-preservation and racial advancement.

Thus, to ensure that such a goal would come about, black speech never let its guard down in the presence of Whiteness, because it knew that not only would its linguistic space be violated, but that its codes would be broken and appropriated , morphed into
something unrecognizable and unable to be reclaimed.

Which is why I find West’s comments so puzzling. West’s proffers a presidential critique, which is all well and good. But, it’s a critique that has as its subject a black speaker and as its object, a black man, so one would think that black speaker would employ black speech codes because black speaker understands how his words regarding black object might be misappropriated. But black speaker does no such thing. Instead black speaker puts forth commentary unaided by no protective black speech codes and a dog whistle that Whiteness hears, amplifies, and utilizes for its own agenda.

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Tavis Smiley & Dr. Cornel West Talk Politics on New Show

Tavis Smiley & Dr. Cornel West launched a new radio program this weekend branded as "Smiley & West". I actually enjoyed the commentary. It was interesting to hear Dr. West on the other side of the microphone.

Tavis Smiley fell out of favor with me over the past couple of years. His rantings and attacks against President Obama regarding a "Black agenda" represented the last straw. I thought then, and still believe, that his position was somewhat misguided, especially considering the existing political realities. I think we need a class discussion rather than a discussion that is framed in terms of race. If you always make race the issue....you lose the nations attention. Five decades ago MLK understood that the next battle would be economic justice and that it had to be framed in the context of class. This was why he pushed his poor peoples campaign.... it was not just a "Black peoples campaign" (although Blacks were a main focus)...but a poor peoples campaign. MLK's vision was so great that it allowed him to be far ahead of his time when it came to issues like poverty and economic justice. How Tavis Smiley and Cornel West so easily miss this point is a mystery to me.

But in the radio program, it sounded as if Smiley was reluctantly beginning to recognize his mistake. I still don't care much for his style or his political approach... but he is still an excellent interviewer. I see the new show being useful.... as long as he doesn't allow his personal views to pollute the program.

Listen to the first show: (5 minute interlude...program picks up again @ 6 min. mark).

Dr West Speech from Chicago

Dr. West gave his annual (February) speech over the weekend from Chicago's St. Sabina Catholic Church. Of course I didn't agree with everything he had to say. But I generally agreed with his comments about Obama's economic team and their policies so far. Nothing really new here.... but he gave a decent speech as usual...although this was not as good as his three previous speeches. I did like his comments about the plight of Black communities being tied to the wider plight of the U.S. and his comments about the culture becoming even more shallow. He also called a few people out... which caught me a little off guard.

You can watch here, or listen.

BTW.... should there be a "Black Agenda"? And if so.... what exactly should that agenda be? If you watch the speech you will know what I am referring to.

I don't think there should necessarily be a "Black Agenda" per se. There is not much in terms of policy (nothing significant at least) that the government would be able to do just for Blacks or just in minority communities. The policy would have to be applied to classes of Americans (regardless of race) and would have to work for people across the board within those class groups...including for Blacks. That's the only realistic way to get things done from a policy perspective. I think we have to start moving away from race or raced based politics and move towards class based politics.

Blacks should turn to their local officials and members of Congress and ask why their communities are failing and to seek State/Federal relief. But as I have been saying for years, the CBC doesn't work in the best interests of its constituents. The CBC should be disbanded IMO.

Too many Blacks are (wrongly) holding on to this outdated myopic 1960's, 1970's, 1980's view of the relationship between race and politics.

Cornel West Would Rather Be In "A Crack House Than the White House."- Kneegrow, Please

Hat tip: The Black Snob

From HuffingtonPost:

Thats What's Wrong with Black People
Elon James White
http://thisweekinblackness.com |
http://elonjamesisnotwhite.com
Posted: June 11, 2009 06:29 PM

If you happen to have perused the latest Rolling Stone you might have come across an interesting comment by celebrated Black academic Dr. Cornell West:

That's not my calling. Yeah, brother, you find me in a crack house before you find me in the White House. I'll go into the crack house before I ever go that far inside.

Dr. West was answering a question about whether he would ever accept a position in the Obama adminstration's White House. On the surface this might seem like the rebel response. No, he won't join the institution that is holding down Black people across the land. He is a free thinker who will not be bound by a country who still doesn't take the plight of all of its citizens seriously.

Or you could see this for what it is. Sheer lunacy.

Dr. West is a part of a group of Black intelligentsia that sees it as their job to step up and police President Obama on his dealings on Blackness. West, Tavis Smiley, Michael Eric Dyson and others see themselves as the voice of the Black plight and will not allow Obama to ignore the very people that got him into office! With constant cries for racially charged fixes for issues within the black community, they stand at the sidelines with their noses held in disgust at his lack of true understanding, or better yet, lack of actual caring about the issues of, as Dyson keeps yelling, the people who put him in office.

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Dr. Cornel West Takes Obama to Task On Economic Policies

In comments from this weekend, Dr. West calls for more of a fundamental shift in economic policy, criticizing Obama's effort to hold on to the traditional economic architecture. Where are the bailouts for poor and working class Americans? (I sure could use a bailout right now... a student loan bailout.... because I purchased an education that I couldn't afford).

While I tend to agree with Dr. West, I also understand that for practical purposes, Obama may see the corporate Wall Street elites who helped crash the financial system as having the solutions for getting the system running again. I personally disagree with the choice of Geithner and Corporate elites serving in the Administration. But Obama obviously sees a practical benefit from their participation.

I think there probably has to be a balance....at least for the moment. I agree that long term, this Country has to invest more time and resources improving the lives of working people. On the other hand, Obama must first fix the economy. In the short term, fixing the economy may require Obama to get cozy with the elites who West rails against.

Dr. Cornel West Unplugged!

Or should I say plugged in?

Hear Dr. Cornel West giving his annual address at the St. Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago earlier this month.

I don't agree with everything Cornel West has to say or believes... but he usually makes a cogent argument in his speeches.

He takes the gloves off in this one :)

Enjoy!

Listen Here (you may need to turn off your firewall temporarily so that the audio will load)

Cornel West Speech, February 3rd, 2008

Cornel West gave his annual February address at St. Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago, Illinois last week.

Listen Here

A Discussion With Dr. Cornel West

Dr. Cornel West talked about American society, race, politics and class, at a recent event hosted by the New York Times. He was interviewed by columnist Frank Rich.

This event took place earlier this month, and was part of the New York Times Arts and Leisure Weekend, held at The Times Center. The program runs for approximately 1 hour.

Watch Streaming Video

Watch Here (video is in two parts, and will automatically switch over from beginning segment to the main video. Allow video to load).

I'm not too happy with Dr. West's recent efforts to fraternize with organizations like BET and the rest of the Black elite. These are organizations that have not been working in the best interests of Black Americans....not even in the interests of helping the image of Black Americans. This is interesting considering the fact that Dr. West is known for his criticism of the likes of BET.

He has gone down several notches on my list of the few major Black figures and scholars who I respect. But (as of right now) he is still someone who I enjoy listening to. He is one of the few major Black figures who is offering a positive, thoughtful message about the issues that the Country faces, and especially the issues facing Black Americans.

Charlie Rose Interviews Dr. Cornel West & Tavis Smiley

Interview took place a few weeks ago.



They devote much of the segment to "The Covenent" - The so-called list of the top issues facing African Americans. I never bought into "The Covenent" because for the most part it ignores the issues of Personal responsibility, family, parenting, values, education, and the Cancerous & self-cannibalistic Black Popular Culture, particularly Hip Hop culture & the issue of Black on Black crime.

I have always felt that there was no point in trying to deal with the issues of the Covenent without first dealing with the intra-racial issues listed above. This is especially the case if there is going to be a comprehensive approach to dealing with the biggest issues impacting most Black Americans. The Covenant, as is, offers only a band-aid to the problems in so-called "Black America". Without dealing with Black on Black violence, the degredation of the image of Black people which is usually perpetrated by Black people, the lack of family values... & lack of even the concept of family itself, the lack of Fathers, the lack of value and emphasis on education (and a general plague of anti-intellectualism)... the other Covenant issues won't mean much. In fact, the Black elite establishment has been raising the Covenant issues for years and have made little progress on the whole, because the core issues that I mentioned have never been tackled head on. The "Black Establishment" continues to ignore the negative impact of degenerate Hip Hop music and culture on young Blacks. In fact, the establishment often embraces the poisonous values that are celebrated in the Rap culture. Can this go on for much longer?

I agree with Dr. West on several of his general ideas, but I also disagree with West, Tavis Smiley and others from the old traditional Civil Rights school of thought on many issues. Many of these figures believe that somehow the Government can come in with a program and money to fix the problems that I have mentioned. That is not the case. These are problems that cannot be fixed by the Government. I am sure that Tavis Smiley and Dr. West are not oblivious to this fact. But at the same time, they may be reluctant to air dirty laundry for fear of losing Black support. This situation leads to more pandering by Tavis Smiley & others, rather than any push towards real solutions... because the parties in so-called "Black America" cannot agree on what the problems are. Unfortunately Black folks (not all, but many) don't want to hear about the dirty laundry. And they certainly don't want to clean it. Instead, they would rather continue to ignore that these problems even exist. And in fact, the so-called "Black Community" has moved to new standards, or a new normal in terms of what is acceptable behavior, an acceptable lifestyle, acceptable parenting, etc. This has had devestating consequences, because it has had the effect of speeding up the Black Race to the bottom instead of slowing it down.

Tavis Smiley's "Covenant" approach puts the cart before the horse. I tend to support the side of Bill Cosby, Alvin Poussaint, John McWhorter, Juan Williams and others, regarding the need for so-called "Black America" to deal with important intra-racial issues.

This was still a great interview from Charlie Rose... they spoke about other issues as well. I don't agree with the Black litmus test nonsense either. I think Black folks have to get away from this kind of thinking.

On Clarence Thomas - I Wonder What His Grandfather Would Say Now

Clarence Thomas gave an interesting interview on 60 Minutes this week...and he covered everything from his upbringing to his thoughts on race. I learned some interesting things that I had not known about the man. He is definitely an interesting character and he remains as controversial as ever.

Since I have gotten older I find myself falling somewhere in the middle on Thomas. On one hand I find his vehement opposition to all forms of affirmative action as being a little hypocritical. I myself don't like the idea of affirmative action in certain forms, such as quotas for example. However, affirmative action in its most healthy form reaches out to more minority workers, provides better access to interviews and knocks down barriers so that minorities can compete on a more even playing field. That kind of affirmative action (outreach, etc) is healthy. Quotas are not. And when it comes to affirmative action in education, I am more open to providing minorities with a shot. Although, again... I don't support such decisions being made simply on the basis of filling a quota. The student should show the ability to perform. But Thomas seems to reject all affirmative action and sees all of it as something negative, even though he benefited from it. In other words, it was as if he was saying that he regretted his success...or that he regretted the path that he took to become successful.

I am also more sympathetic to his views on being pigeonholed or put in a box and being expected to act, and think a certain way (by all, but especially by other Black Americans), simply based on having brown skin. Personally, I have always hated that.

On the other hand, he seems to understand the place that African Americans hold in history and understands the Black struggle and the struggle of the poor, and claims to help the poor & disadvantaged, yet his actions on the Court don't seem to correspond with his own understanding of (and experiences with) that struggle.

I also never believed that he was the best qualified person for the job of Supreme Court Justice, nor the best qualified African American. He was a candidate of convenience. As the 60 Minutes interview points out, there did not seem to be a serious competitive process for the position. George H. W. Bush (much more intelligent, and savvy than his dreadful Son), seems to have made a strategic choice of sorts by picking Thomas. Bush needed to put a Black face on his Conservative agenda. But then again, I wonder if Thomas was even the best qualified Black Conservative at the time.

As you can see, (as I mentioned) I fall somewhere in the middle on this man. After seeing the 60 minutes piece I should have been left with a clearer picture about him, but he is even more of a puzzle to me now than he was before.

One positive thing that Thomas (and others like Condoleeza Rice) shows to the American public...is that Black people in this Country are not a monolith...that we don't think alike.

One problem with the program was that the host did not challenge Thomas on his record on the court.

Below is the 60 minutes piece with Justice Thomas (with 2 additional parts). And below that I have included an interesting Roundtable discussion hosted by Tavis Smiley. His guests are Marc Morial, Farah Jasmine Griffin, and Dr. Cornel West.

Part 1




View Part 2

View Part 3

Now for the response from Tavis Smiley and his special PBS Roundtable on Clarence Thomas

LISTEN TO PROGRAM