Dr. Boyce Watkins: Attacking Cornel West Doesn’t Solve Anything

Dr. Boyce: Attacking Cornel West Doesn’t Solve Anything
Written by Dr. Boyce Watkins
May 18, 2011

If a man is offered a piece of stale bread for dinner, he’s probably not going to want to eat it. If you were to then say, well, “stale bread is better than horse manure,” this won’t make the stale bread taste any better. When given the choice between bad food and horrible food, some people would just rather not eat or try to eat someplace else.

But this is what black America is being fed when they are told that they should passionately support the Democrats simply because the Republicans are going to be worse. The meal is being fed, in part, by elitist liberals like Melissa Harris Perry at Princeton University, a darker-skinned staple in the white liberal establishment and fully-indoctrinated member in the Barack Obama fan club. In a recent article where Perry works diligently to dismiss the political and scholarly relevance of Dr. Cornel West (a huge mistake on her part, since West earned his stripes when Perry was still in high school), she reproduces the same rhetoric that Ivy Leaguers utilize to somehow convince rank-and-file black folks to start seeing things that simply don’t exist. The same political magic trick was used when the administration got a tiny militia of black Harvard Law Professors to campaign on behalf of Elana Kagan for the Supreme Court in spite of her undeniably racist hiring record – this is how Harvard and Yale folks take care of one another. Notice that our entire Supreme Court is full of Ivy League graduates; the elite protect their power by manipulating the minds of poor and working class Americans.

What disturbs me most about the calls I’ve received from the White House and others who somehow believe that we are helping the president by resigning our right to free speech, is that the political types in Washington are more concerned about who gets blamed for the problem than they are about solving the problem. After Dr. Wilmer Leon and I spoke about the seemingly unproductive relationship between the Obama Administration and the Congressional Black Caucus, most prominent critics of that conversation could only ask, “Why are you blaming Valerie Jarrett for canceling meetings with the CBC?” Most interesting is that I spoke to Dr. Leon because he could provide an objective opinion on political strategy without any of the selfish agendas that drive those who either reject or support the president outright. Dr. Leon makes it clear that if you spend all of your time either hating the Obama Administration for no reason or popping champagne bottles because you think we’ve hit Juneteenth Part II, you are not using your political voice in an effective way.

So, perhaps those who are quick to implement the “stop snitching on Obama” policy on Cornel West should stop trying to counter his argument by telling West to remain silent. Instead, he should be silenced with relevant and meaningful action on the part of the Obama Administration. Spinning, twisting and reshaping the conversation means nothing when black unemployment continues to rise, mass incarceration decimates our people and our children are not being educated. You can either get angry at someone for calling you fat, or you can take your fat butt to the gym. Unfortunately, it’s easier for Washington types and elitist liberals to use political double-speak than it is for them to point to concrete evidence that working and middle class black people (the bulk of whom experience rampant and unregulated discrimination in the workplace) have a reason to be excited about the next election. Whether they should reject President Obama vs. his Republican counterparts is debatable; but whether they should reject all of Washington is undeniable.

Please read the full article at:

http://newsone.com/newsone-original/boycewatkins/cornel-west-obama-tavis/

"a huge mistake on her part, since West earned his stripes when Perry was still in high school"

How dare this younger female question the great Cornel West?

:rofl:


Who is this Boyce guy, other than an age-ist idiot?

Appearances. So it's bad MHP shows up on MSNBC but cool that Watkins appears on MSNBC CNN Tom Joyner Wendy Williams blah blah blah.

But it's good to know the post-middle age patriarchy is looking out for itself, whatever its color.

Well, I think the admission that you never heard of the Black "idiot" Boyce demonstrates your knowledge of politics and culture in the Black community.

Perhaps we can persuade you to share your wisdom and vast knowledge on Black politics with us.

But, I think you'd rather step up to the plate and add Boyce to a new character assasination campaign without having actually read the statements of Boyce or West!

Isn't that right?

simply because she's younger than another tenured Princeton faculty member.

Which tells me what a jerk he is.

Why do you suggest I didn't read his statement? I was able to quote it because I read it -- along with West's, which has appeared on DU several times, and Perry's. And hers is the one that makes the most sense, because it is grounded in the facts of the real world -- not Princeton's ivory tower (or AOL's ether world).

Did you read it?

was in not deferring to the older guy.

"In a recent article where Perry works diligently to dismiss the political and scholarly relevance of Dr. Cornel West (a huge mistake on her part, since West earned his stripes when Perry was still in high school)"

That -- and already having read West's whole essay -- was enough for me.

So he attacks her race and Ivy League status to defend another Ivy Leaguer who attacked the President's race? Yes, Tavis Smiley is a snake.


Jamil Smith at The Maddow Blog


There was so much offensive and wrong with West's criticism, he's becoming a cariacature.


President Obama has put policies in place to address hunger and homelessness.

"first major federal antipoverty effort in decades"

Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness

HUD MAKES AVAILABLE $61 MILLION TO SIX APPLICANTS TO PROVIDE QUALITY AFFORDABLE HOUSING, REVITALIZE NEIGHBORHOODS

Govt announces plan to reduce health disparities

Second Chance Act

Theses are the kinds of programs West should be talking up to increase awareness and funding, and to hold the administration accountable.

Instead he claims to be speaking for the poor blacks, calling the President a "puppet," while admitting he has no contact whatsoever with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Some advocate.

The personal level was ONE of two things he attributed to Obama, primarily being that he worked for Obama's election and here this person didn't and he was gifted a ticket while West a loyal supporter was not.

The rest of that personal issue is told here:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/the_obama_deception_why_cornel_west_went_ballistic_20110516/

“What it said to me on a personal level,” he goes on, “was that brother Barack Obama had no sense of gratitude, no sense of loyalty, no sense of even courtesy, sense of decency, just to say thank you. Is this the kind of manipulative, Machiavellian orientation we ought to get used to? That was on a personal level.”

Then he goes on to discuss the "political and ideological level" in the rest of the article.

been skewered. Move on to something else. West has been beat like a dead horse.

Cornel West's Disgust with Obama Should Not Make Him a Pariah
By Kevin Gosztola
Kevin Gosztola is a multimedia editor for OpEdNews.com and a writer for WLCentral.org. He is currently serving as an intern for The Nation Magazine.
May 18, 2011

Harris-Perry claims West has offered "thin criticism." Rather than pick apart his many critiques of Obama, she opts to attack his right to be outraged. She chooses to assess his association with his friend Tavis Smiley, host of "The Tavis Smiley Show" on PBS. And, she decides to cast his political transformation as a result of his delicate ego being damaged.

In her critique, she glosses over the appointment of his "neoliberal economic team," which included Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner. She doesn't address the appointment of neo-imperial elites like Dennis Ross. She ignores one of his most damning charges, which is that President Obama, like former President Bill Clinton, has helped to renew Americans' faith in the American project--presumably the same project the Bush Administration was expanding--through the use and exploitative manipulation of progressive populist language.

The urgency to West's words is disregarded entirely. That West appears to be genuinely distressed by the fact the greed of "Wall Street oligarchs and corporate plutocrats" persists and a "serious discussion about public interest and common good that sustains any democratic experiment" hasn't happened seems to be of little concern to Harris-Perry.

There would be little reason to mention these details, which are overlooked, if it weren't for the fact that it is articles like this, especially ones coming from respectable and well-educated individuals like Harris-Perry, that have the power to turn people like West into a pariah. And, turning outspoken critics on the left into pariahs when they become too critical of power is something the liberal class in this country has managed to do for the past decades.

Please read the full article at:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Cornel-West-s-Disgust-with-by-Kevin-Gosztola-110518-626.html

Most people stop digging when they realize they're in a hole. You'll be in China soon.

Most people will make up their own minds about what he had to say.

These attacks on someone for speaking their mind, remind me of what we so condemned when ever anyone in the Bush administration dared to contradict something coming from the WH. I remember them well and they are as abhorrent in democaric administration as they were in a republican administration.

The author offers a sane solution for the WH when they are criticized. These attacks just make Cornel West's points seem true, and the reaction to this OP actually proves the author's point.

I remember when the WH rather than attacking a critic, invited him to the WH for beer, after which the story just went away.

Whoever is advising this WH right now should be fired.

:kick: and rec'd which most likely will not register, absolute proof of what the author is saying.

West should not be made a pariah.
He put forward his opinion. Which is his right.

Sid

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

I think it's being unrec'd by people who think the article sucks!

Us blacks are too stupid to see through Obama.

You get to ignore his points AND you get to ignore all the people who agree with him or make similar points.

It's efficient. :)

I'm sure.

And surely one can make an argument against Obama without calling him racist names. Too bad Dr. West did just that.

Never mind, you know we won't see eye to eye on this either.

:sigh:

between talking inside of a group and talking outside of a group.

:sigh: :facepalm: :vapor:

lol

Because if I wasn't his intended audience, I'm not sure why I keep getting hit with the story. I do get talking inside a group, and it always gives me pause. It's okay if a black man says N.... as long as he's funny about it. Isn't that the way the inside group thing goes?

I wouldn't take it personally. Other people have conversations all the time and in doing so, don't intend to harm you.

And, no, that isn't how the "inside group thing" goes unless you are focused on the N word.

West's audience isn't sequestered inside, more is the pity. Never mind, EFerrari, as I said we won't find agreement here. 'sall good.

in some way?

Now there's some good old bright shining Democatic values!

... there was more here, but I'm standing here on the outside, so I took it out.

If the point is lost in the middle of it all, what's the point?

"West's audience isn't sequestered inside, more is the pity.

Never mind, EFerrari, as I said we won't find agreement here. 'sall good."

If you're going to talk "inside group" talk, maybe that's the group you should be talking to. That's what I meant. And if I think that such inside group talk causes more harm and more division and more us vs. them mentality, then I think that. I can see where "inside group talk" can be valuable inside the group in a warm, fuzzy, you get it kind of way. I can also sense harm in it from the outside in ways that I haven't quite come to grips with in my own mind yet.

If there is a message, the "inside" part of it got in the way for me. That's all.

That is where you live.

But it sure reads as a non sequitur from here. Like ... no duh! or something.

the idea that groups that you aren't a part of will have conversations is the bridge.

I hope those don't "hit" you too hard.

I'll recover from the blow. Thanks for your concern.

Is thinly veiled anti-Semitism okay now because it's part of some strange attack on Obama? I know that if West substituted Latinos for Jews, you wouldn't let it stand.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/the_obama_deception_why_cornel_west_went_ballistic_20110516/

“He feels most comfortable with upper middle-class white and Jewish men who consider themselves very smart, very savvy and very effective in getting what they want,” he says. “He’s got two homes. He has got his family and whatever challenges go on there, and this other home. Larry Summers blows his mind because he’s so smart. He’s got Establishment connections. He’s embracing me. It is this smartness, this truncated brilliance, that titillates and stimulates brother Barack and makes him feel at home. That is very sad for me.

If West wants to criticize Obama's policies, fine. But when he implies Obama is not black enough (whatever that means) or that he feels most comfortable around white men and Jews (which should come as surprising news to Michelle), it destroys whatever argument he was trying to make.

It's also noted in that link that West felt slighted because Obama didn't pay extra attention to him. I'd say that also speaks to West's character.

How that translates into anti-Semitism for you, I don't know. What West is saying and what appears to be true is, Obama cannot overtly call on black leaders without paying a political price in this country and at this moment. Whether you are comfortable in that discussion or not, it is one that is taking place.

But more broadly, I really don't see how attacking West's character works for you while what you hear as West attacking Obama's doesn't work for him.

West was referring to the ethnicities of Obama's inner circle while simultaneously trying to construct an argument over class warfare. Bringing up Larry Summers', etc., heritage is a curious and offensive way to make that argument.

He could have easily made the class warfare argument without mentioning upper-class whites and Jews (feeding into the greedy Jew stereotype) and questioning Obama's blackness.

But more broadly, I really don't see how attacking West's character works for you while what you hear as West attacking Obama's doesn't work for him.

Simple. Because West goes off on a weird racial tangent and destroys any argument he had. I'm simply quoting his own words back to you. Had West simply made his case on legitimate merits, I could try to understand his argument and not attack his character. But when he brings up the racial issue without provocation, it *does* speak to his character, and it does leave him vulnerable to people calling him out on it.

I find it amusing that some of the biggest Obama detractors like West say the most outlandish things about him, yet when they're called on it, DU pretends they're innocent children who got their feelings hurt.

but "the racial issue" is an ongoing conversation in this country. It may make you uncomfortable but that doesn't mean it is illegitimate.

And infantilizing people who disagree with you doesn't make your case.

How does West breaking down AAs into "free blacks" and "not so free blacks" help the issue?

How does saying Obama isn't black enough because he had a culturally and ethnically mixed background help the issue?

How does West shoehorning race onto an issue he could have made a point of without it help the issue?

And I don't know how to break this to you, but I am fully aware of real racial issues, particularly due to the fact that I am also a minority.

And infantilizing people who disagree with you doesn't make your case.

I did no such thing, and being condescending to someone (assuming I didn't know/wasn't comfortable with racial issues) doesn't make your case, by the way.

It reads like a statement of fact to me.

of stuff,just like white people do?

:)

thoughts based on individual experiences! All over the political spectrum,astounding!

Cornel West Blasts Obama As a 'Mascot of Wall Street'
By: John Carney
Senior Editor, CNBC.com
May 18, 2011

In an interview with the website Truthdig, Princeton professor Cornel West calls President Barack Obama “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats.’’

“I was thinking maybe he has at least some progressive populist instincts that could become more manifest after the cautious policies of being a senator and working with Lieberman as his mentor,” he says. “But it became very clear when I looked at the neoliberal economic team. The first announcement of Summers and Geithner I went ballistic. I said, ‘Oh, my God, I have really been misled at a very deep level.’"

What's fascinating about West's turn again Obama is that it's not at all based on Obama changing political direction. Obama ran as a middle of the road candidate. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards both ran to Obama's left in the Democratic primaries. On the campaign trail, Obama often blasted opponent Senator John McCain's economic policies on the grounds that they were not fiscally conservative enough.

"If John McCain’s policies were implemented, they would add $5.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. That isn’t fiscal conservatism, that’s what George Bush has done over the last eight years. Not only can working families not afford it, future generations can’t afford it. And we can’t allow it to happen in this election," he said in June of 2008.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/43080122

Whatever.

Obama has critics. Is that news? It should not be--especially here where he is skewered incessantly.

Seems like a concerted effort to distract from his post OBL bump.

People can't be happy.

Who knew copy/paste would become such a marketable skill?

Sid

What a command of the English language you have. How many years did it take to develop such a keen ability to articulate?

:nopity:

I see no reason to attack West.

First, this is a free country and he is entitled to his opinion.
If what he writes make sense, I will make note of it.
If what he writes does not make sense, I will make note of it.
I will weigh the plus and minus; more plus than minus, I will continue to read.
more minus than plus, I will stop reading.


West is a heterodox public intellectual; his job is "speaking truth to power".

Obama has a completely different job: he has power.
The two have nothing in common. I do not expect West to have any use for Obama.

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

Good for Melissa Harris-Perry.

Sid