Dr. Cornel West’s lecture entitled “Race, Justice, and Freedom in the 21st Century”, was a verbal smorgasbord of sympathy and encouragement for those of us who feel uninvited to the feast, which has been termed “The American Dream”. Minorities, women, the gay and lesbians alike, of various age groups and walks of life were packed into the college church at DePaul University, in Chicago, to hear a sermon for the new millennium given by the distinguished Harvard professor.
    On this momentous occasion, Dr. West was presented with The Frederick Douglas Distinguished Lecturer Award, which honors the legacy of the aforementioned for perseverance in justice and freedom. Dr Sandra Jackson, Director of the Center for Culture and History of Black Diaspora* at DePaul University, was the presenter.
    Dr. West’s recollection of American historic events and dates was very impressive and enough to boggle the mind. Connecting those events, as he did, to the practices of racism and oppression that exist today, was even more impressive. Apparently there exists in America today, “Home of the Free”, forms of racism and oppression that have been in existence since before the civil war. It was not hard for those of us who feel oppressed and ignored to decipher the method and tactics being used today in order to perpetuate our feelings of inferiority. But Dr. West goes on to explain how “humiliating it is to a race to be denied a sense of history, and not allowed to bury its’ dead. Dealing with race in America means having to deal with all forms of death: psychic death, social death, spiritual death. Burying the dead with dignity allows the connection between the past and present to remain unbroken but America is a death denying, death dodging culture that wants to be young and innocent forever. These are the signs of an infantile mind and an adolescent sensibility.”
    This comment took me completely by surprise. I’m sure there were many of us in the audience of who felt that our particular heritage had somehow been either amended or overlooked completely. For the first time, after hearing those comments, I felt that my frustrations had been properly verbalized.
    Dr. West demonstrated his understanding of race in America by stating that Black people aren’t the only race who feel ignored. Throughout his lecture he spoke of the struggles of the American Indians, the Hispanic people, the Asians who were forced to leave America, and the African people who are experiencing something other than Democracy in Africa. He also spoke of the gay and lesbian population and the terrible injustices they continue to experience. Dr. West even dared to fault Jesus Christ and Dr. Martin Luther King for their homo-phobic and sexist points of view. Shocking!
    Dr. West goes on to comment on how “America encourages its population to enjoy the benefits of living in a free society while forcing us to forget the past horrors and mistakes committed by us and against us”. We as a society are slowly persuaded to push the dirt under the rug keeping us, as a nation in a perpetual state of denial. Instead of looking at our past mistakes and using them as guides in forming a better future, we would rather behave as though some events never happened.
    As a requirement, many students enroll in various history classes, which describe, among other things, the many struggles and brutalities that were once endured by their ancestors. It may be quite natural for a student to feel a sense of kinship and satisfaction towards these struggles, and to the people who experienced them first hand. Dr. West points out, “If we want a better history, we will have to work for it. A tradition is not something you can simply inherit: it is something you must acquire and obtain. Your heritage will be what you love well, if you love capitalism well, then so will be your heritage”. It is clear that if we as nation want to achieve racial equality and economic fairness then we will have to start the tradition of such a goal, and not expect it to simply occur on its' own.
    With all of the violence that young adults have observed and, for many, lived through, Dr. West has deemed this the “Brutality Age”. He goes on to say, “If we are pretending to not be affected by the social instability of the world and continue to remain in our seemingly sheltered communities, we will suffer the terrible consequences.” This comment was particularly fitting, being the church that this lecture was held is located in a very sheltered part of Chicago. Lincoln Park is not a suburb but rather a significant, vibrant, and growing part of the city itself. Sheltered by the invisible walls of racism, which keep out to an extent, the crime and poverty which plague so much of the surrounding areas, Lincoln Park is home to many of Chicago’s wealthy and upper middle class residents, as well as DePaul University.
    On the subject of wealth in America, Dr. West expressed his disapproval of the way the nation’s wealth is distributed. “When 1% of the population own 38% of the wealth, there is a problem”. Needless to say that this 38% is severely lacking in minority representation. A ray of hope, as far as wealth and minorities are concerned, is found within the “Hip Hop” culture, a multi-million dollar organization made up young diverse talents with a style and attitude popular with America’s youth. They have formed a culture and tradition suited to their interests and talents. Dr. West believes that this culture was formed to compensate for the support and nurturing not received from the older generation “who have not been receptive to the lifestyles of Americas’ youth. In a sense, they have had to invent a role model to follow and mold when needed.”
    For the most part Dr. West’s lecture focused on the American Dream and how it is “causing people to hate themselves for not being what the media projects. We have become the victims of sick marketing, which is unable to raise our children, and unable to guide us as a country to racial equality.” “Tenderness is pushed aside and no longer important in our lives. Performance is key: how well you did and what your ratings are.”
     The effects of the media are so hard to avoid that it is not difficult to understand how so many of us become addicted to its’ images. We see what is presented to us lessening our skill to evaluate what is actually occurring. Our love for money and prestige has caused many of us to compromise our traditions, our experiences, and most of all our culture. "When you think you are white because of your skin color, you know you must be in America". Dr West's comment evoked a round of applause from the audience. For only in America is everyone so eager to denounce their heritage and cultures in order to be considered "white". This gives tremendous insight into the condition of American mentality.
     In parting Dr. West encouraged his audience to "Keep alive the tradition of struggle, for ours is a struggle of elegance, decency, and dignity".
There was a question and answer session following the lecture to which Dr. West contributed more of his insight and wisdom to an already inspiring evening.
 
 

*Diaspora; (dispersion; a migration; the dispersion of an originally homogeneous people). The mass dispersion of peoples of a common culture or national origin is commonly referred to as a diaspora. Historically, these movements tend to be forced or involuntary. They may be the result military occupation, systematic persecution, servitude, enslavement, or laws by which the dominant society defines an ethnic group as marginal, undesirable, or subordinate. These movements also tend to reflect pervasive regional or global forces that separate peoples of common origin form their homeland (real or imagined), leaving them to think of themselves as exiles. Such is the case of the African diaspora which began in the early 16th century and displaced tens of millions of Africans from their ancestral continent to various sites in the New World. Definition taken from:  (http://educate.si.edu/migrations/rasta/terms.html)