Monday, February 12, 2007

I like Cornel, but wait a minute..



As a person who is only but a mild aficionado of the Star Wars science fiction saga, I sure do use a lot of terms from those movies as if I was the biggest geek this side of having Han solo pillowcases and describing extremely chilly weather as "Hoth cold". The few scandalous women of ill repute more than 10 years my junior, who I had the pleasure of pre-ejaculating on while inappropriately singing my rendition of Nora Jones' song "I don't know why you didn't cum!!", I like to call those ladies "Padawan burners". This woman that I once dated kept a very messy genital region, so hairy in fact that I felt like she was preparing to audition for another sequel to "Teen Wolf" and failed to inform me, I got in the habit of lovingly calling her "My little wookie" as a term of endearment. We won't even get into all the physical altercations I've been a part of, where I uppercutted some asshole and as he was on the ground I'd proudly state "The force isn't strong with this one!!!" The last of my Star Wars references are three individuals that I have given the title of "Yoda", based on their expertise on subjects that I'm interested in, I feel that I'd do myself a service if I learned from these particular gentlemen. First we have Manny, my fight Yoda, an ex-Navy Seal with extensive training in all forms of combat and survival training. I go to him whenever I want to learn how to cripple some bastard in three moves, shoot and kill a motherfucker from 200 yards out during a torrential downpour, or how to perform an emergency tracheotomy on someone with a McDonald's issued butter knife. Then we have selfra, my friend and Hip Hop Yoda, whenever I get too big for my britches and feel that I know more than anyone else on the planet about Hip Hop, I give dude a call and get humbled in record time.

The last of the Yoda's is Cornel West, similar to the way that you lose I.Q points whenever you hear Cam'ron utter a single sentence, it is my humble opinion that you actually gain I.Q points if you simply happen to be in the same state in which Mr. West is speaking. Many people claim that West does nothing but babble incoherently, but those detractors only say that because their tiny brains can't fully grasp what brother West is saying, its a akin to someone claiming a rapper is "too lyrical" when in reality they are just too intellectually lazy to look things up that they don't understand. Yes, if couldn't tell by now I'm a fan, one who believes that if Mr. West wasn't a god fearing man he'd melt the minds of mere mortals on a regular basis, just because he could.

The clip above is from the "Annual Forum of the State of Black America" conference held in near-by Hampton Virginia, where many of the nations most gifted black minds came together to discuss a plethora of issues plaguing the black community. It was good hearing some of these brothers and sisters speak, but in the back of my cerebral cortex I thought to myself momentarily "That's all black folks do, is talk!" Anyway, in the clip Dr. West says some things that I agree with, like him wondering why Barack chose that particular day to announce his candidacy when he's been asked for an entire year to be on that very panel, that's a fair question. But what I don't agree with is the premature questioning of his integrity, how deep "his love for the people" is, the possibility that he'll take black folks for granted, his sacrifice, for Christs sake Cornel can we give brother Barack a chance to prove himself to us first? I mean, really, you backed John Kerry a couple of years ago, and I don't think I'd be the only one who thinks that Barack has shown us more of himself in the little time that he's been in the public's consciousness than John Kerry has the past fucking decade or so. If Barack takes black folks for granted, or sells his soul to some special interests group, if it even comes out that he's a fan of B.E.T, rest assured that black folks will let him know at the ballot box if he ever becomes the democratic nominee. Until then, relax Yoda.

But I completely disagree with West chiding Barack about "walking a tightrope" and taking subtle shots at him for courting the white vote. I mean, he is a black man running for the highest office in the country, not only is the rope he's walking on the width of dental floss, but he has to carry a black population on his back while pulling off the nimblest of feats. By the way, of course he has to court the white vote, how else is he going to win? For Christs sake man, he's trying to win the god damned presidency of the United States, not Freestyle Fridays!! Unlike Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, men who's jealousy comes out as they both claim that we shouldn't get all excited about Barack, I feel that West speaks from his heart. Unlike Jackson and Sharpton, individuals who are the equivalent to back-up quarterbacks when it comes to black leadership in this country, I feel that Cornel would actually put his ass on the line and take a hit for the team. I just disagree with him, that's all, and his ass shouldn't be surprised if I ask him to move something with his mind whenever I meet him.

12 comments:

Shimada Boyce said...

Preach!

Anonymous said...

You make such good social commentary, Humanity Critic, but must EVERY post contain a reference to you beating down someone or your penis?

I am a real C. West fan by the way, but I appreciate your point about giving Obama a chance.

Anonymous said...

At first I couldn't remember what blog turned me on to Amy Winehouse but it was definitely yours. Good lookin out!
(Actually the Ghost song did but I assumed it was a sample and unlike u I didn't do my research)

I just found these Amy links & wanted to share.

AOL Sessions (7 Live Tracks)
http://rapidshare.com/files/15178381/Amy_Winehouse_-_AOL_Sessions.zip

and

BSides and non album tracks-
http://rapidshare.com/files/4775271/Amy_-_B-sides.rar

Njoy~

Enigma said...

Agreed. I keep reading and listening to black folks who have a problem with Barack (sp?) and I say the same thing, he is suppose to represent the whole country as president, he has not even put his agenda out there for us to support him. I will not support him just because he is black. I want him to tell me what he is gonna do and how and I will judge from that. However, I am proud that he is running and is a viable candidate. It is like we forgot that we DO want somebody who will take a chance like we are angry or upset that he has decided he will. It is ridiculous. Let's hear what the man has to say first.

BLESSD1 said...

yeah...I've heard QUITE a few folx bad-mouthing him....BLACK folx at that, and I just don't understand why. As far as I know, he hasn't pissed on anybody, or bragged about getting shot 9 times on a record. Hell,....he hasn't even cried about not winning a Grammy. What's all of the fuss about?

Anonymous said...

Come on DUKE...Cornel is a HUSTLA with a thesaurus- the love child of Jerry Seinfeld and Malcolm X...how can you be revolutionary about NOTHING? I was once bamboozled by the Frederic Douglass 'I've read so many books, my brain ran out of space, so I store knowledge in my Afro' hairstyle but once I started you know, actually READING his books, I found nothing more than a scholar whose primary talent is for somehow being able to tie anything to his revolutionary Christian Marxism. What does it mean when you are 'America's foremost academic' yet you haven't put forth any programs or platforms that have some how changed the state of things in any measurable manner? What is Cornel's body of work in the community? Would Cornel leave his tenured post to work at an HBCU?

Yeah, hold your breath on that, Cousin.

Anyway just dropping a note. Hope all is well for you.

*Previous two sentences translated into Cornelspeak:

"There have been eons of moments, if we process time in the same manner that a Red-winged bottle fly of Southern Rhodesia, ahem, Zimbabwe
connects to *THIS* time space continuum. EONS, taken from the latin root EO, which means, *raised eyebrow* Floridian Amusement Park ride. These eons have passed and been processed since you last cast your gaze on the visage of my *VERY* words that I speak to you...hexidecimally. It is within this context that we look to join together in a Hegelian mindset of gladness and tidings, a projected *VISIOOOON* of wellness that I *SPIRIT*...to you.


Peace

SoundOff said...

When I was in High School, Mr. West taught a class on Political Science. I actually met the man and didn't know the prominence he held untill years later. Now back on the subject...West is just looking into the subject a little more deeper than you my brother. He's just trying to see where Obama's money trail is coming from because ultimately the money rules the Politician.

SoundOff said...

When I was in High School, Mr. West taught a class on Political Science. I actually met the man and didn't know the prominence he held untill years later. Now back on the subject...West is just looking into the subject a little more deeper than you my brother. He's just trying to see where Obama's money trail is coming from because ultimately the money rules the Politician.

Anonymous said...

today i was sitting at a bench eating my lunch, at the campus of UCLA where im a student...anyways i heard a group of whites students( the surfer-nerd type) singing "aint nothing like a gangsta party", and i thought to myself hip is sure dying....than i heard them keep singing "drinking that gin and juice" and i knew for sure hip hop was dead...i laughed the entire time as the white girl in the group stared at me

Anonymous said...

Well, I am no Barak fan, being from Chicago I am not too found of most Democrats from Cook county, but I will say that people, even Dr. West, need to cut the brother a break.

Anonymous said...

You know, Maya's Brother is on that next level format right now, and I'm feelin' it. The questions he lays down have to be knockin' my mentals upside the head right now. I'll have to let em' marinate, then, get some more clue on Cornels' hustle.

This one cat I've known since HS hit me up asking me to joint Team Hilary, for no other reason that she would be the first woman to become the president. He then asked me to endorse Obama as VICE president because he'd be the first with that flavor.

We need to slide away from firsts, especially since it's inherent tokenism masquerading as progress. It's a stretch on the mentals to believe that an achievement of firsts can really equate to progress at all. I'm not clued enough on Obama right now to say that I could vote for him.

TRUTH? I won't be votin' for that cat simply because he's Black. That's not enough anymore. If he's down with some issues I can relate to, that's a whole other hustle -- in which case I could support him.

I dig the Yoda analogies, HC. Cornel is to be respected, but, like anyone, we can't just blindly follow some cat because his afro is tighter than our own. You dig?

Eyez said...

cornell west is a toy.