Interview and Article by Keisha Mitchell.
Activist, author, educator and esteemed intellectual Dr. Cornel West has been a consistent catalyst and a coveted voice in the conversation for social and political equity for African descendents domestically and diasporically for the last 4 decades. Born to a mother who was a teacher and a father who was a contractor for the Department of Defense, Dr. West learned early on the impor-
tance of education and the relationship it had with social and political freedom. Heavily involved
with the demonstrations and organizations of the Civil Rights era as a youth in the 60s, Dr. West
chose the path of scholarship after his high school graduation in 1970, and attended Harvard,
Princeton, and Yale throughout his educational career . He has also served as a professor at all three
Ivy Leagues as well as the University of Paris. During his time at Yale in the mid 80s’ (while in his
twenties), Dr. West found himself at the center of many protests regarding apartheid and South
African injustice, one of which actually landed him in prison. 30 years later, Dr. West has shown
no sign of slowing down, nor does he display a lack of fervor for the correction of social injustices.
Currently still a Professor at Princeton University and author of the new book “Black Prophetic
Fire”, Dr. West is champion for a world of love and awareness that everyone can live in. The Editor
Magazine spoke with Dr. West to ask his thoughts on the state of Americas’ educational system, and
what responsibility does he feel like todays’ youth have in making the next change .
TE: In doing research on your background, it would seem that education/activism have been always been apart of your life. Would you speak to your early en-
counters with education and how did having a mother who was a teacher shape your desire to learn?
CW: Well one I wanna begin with the definition of education which is “the formation of attention”. You’re taught how to attend to the right, and I early on
had in that in my family, and in my church (Shiloh Baptist Church). Most of us attend to superficial things, education is attending to substantial things,
most of us attend to fleeting pleasures, education tries to get us to attend to the enduring joys in life; the issues of truth, beauty and goodness, those are the
things that endure. Instant gratification, body stimulation, that’s what the culture tries to get us to attend to. Martin luther King, John Coltrane, Fannie Lou
Hammond, Ella Baker, they were attending to those right type of things. And education is about that right type of attention, and I was blessed to get that
early on and keep in mind it was a gift to me, as a Christian I call it grace. And I can use that right type of attention to try to educate others get others to attend to truth, justice, compassion and love.
TE: What do you feel are the origins of the persistent paucity in adequate educational resources in urban environments?
CW: Well one of the things is we live in a society where Black children do not have the same value as White Children. We live in a white supremacist cul-
ture. We’ve got to focus on our young precious black folk and say “You must care, have confidence in and respect yourself.” And we older folks must make
sure we love them and care for them and give them the right type of attention. And part of our problem is they’re uncared for and unattended to. That’s
just not within the black community, but within the larger society. But for 40% of Black children to be living in poverty what you;re saying is you don;t
care if they live in poverty because you don’t want you;re children living in poverty. If 40% are going to decrepit schools, what you’re saying is there lives
have less value, and you don’t care about them. And there is something sick about that actually.
TE: What is the greatest threat our students face?
CW: I think it’s the culture of superficial spectacle. Most of our young people are taught to be obsessed with what appears to be so cool and rich, and glitz
and blitz. We see it in our music where it;s just a matter of trying to stimulate bodies to make money rather than nurturing souls to make the world a bet-
ter place. See that’s the difference between singers these days and [singers like] Curtis Mayfield and Nina Simone. They didn’t just make music for the glitz
and blitz. They needed the money, but the money was subordinate to what the issues were; telling the truth, trying to get people to wake up, shatter their
sleep walking and believe in themselves. I think the thing with education is it’s the backdrop for the culture. And the whole culture is what Wu tang say?
It’s all about this Cash Rules Everything Around Me” And it’s true. I don’t wanna downplay money but when it becomes the end all and be all ...well, my
folks use to say if you view life as a gold rush then you end up worshipping a golden calf. And when you worship a golden calf you’re not getting out of the
wilderness because even if you win in a rat race is the winner is still a rat. You know what I mean? And then they try and undermine not being a rat, but
being a human being who cares for other people.
TE: Obviously there is no need to elaborate on how many abundant channels of information are available to the current generation as opposed to our predeces-
sor. What is our responsibility i(n your opinion) to appropriately and effectively navigate those resources and then to apply the information we have access too?
CW: Well see I think part of the problem is that you can actually find yourself undergoing backwards development in the face of a whole host of possibil-
ities if you haven’t cultivated yourself to make the right choices. If you can go on the internet and listen to John Coltrane and Dubois but at the same time
be obsessed certain crypto pornographic videos then most people will, because they haven’t cultivated themselves enough to do what’s actually best for
them. They’re doing what’ best them as it’s been designed by the powers that be that they continually put out there. See the powers that be ain’t throwing
James Baldwin or Malcolm X at us (mmm-hmmm). They’re throwing neo-pornographic videos for the folks that just want stimulate their bodies, rather
than cultivate their minds. I’m a libertarian people have a right to watch what kind of videos they want as long as it doesn’t bring targeted towards chil-
dren. I don’t believe in censorship, but I also don’t believe if you have a large selection of possibilities in front of you that people are always going to make the right choice.
TE: In a generation so finitely interconnected (via social media), why do you feel like there is a lack of mobilization where activism is concerned?
CW: Well the wonderful thing is we do have activism escalating as a result of Ferguson and Trayvon Martin, Jena. You got the organization of Black
Struggle in Missouri, The Dream Defenders, and magnificent black womanist organizations in different cities. You might not see it on television, but t’s
operative. You’re just not seeing it at the national level like in the 60s’ and 70s’ and it’s much more difficult there because once you get to the national
level, they sell out. Most of our national leaders these days have simply sold their souls for the money, and the power and the access you get so over-
whelmed you get seduced. Local levels people are not as interested in seducing them, so they can keep they’re focus. Thats one of the big differences be-
tween today and the 60s’; Everybody know that Malcolm, Martin and Fannie Lou Hammond and Ella Baker and the folk, they wouldn’t sell their souls.
That’s just the kind of persons they were. [Kind of] Muslim Malcolm was, kinda Christian Martin was.
Not just a black thing, its a human thing, you’ve got to have your spirit intact.
TE: What affect will the current state of education for minorities have in the long run domestically and internationally?
CW: Anytime we talk about globalization, we have to talk about the dominant form of globalization, and the dominant form of globalization
in my view is what they call “Neo liberal Globalization” It puts a premium of three social tendencies; financialize, privatize, militarize. So the
financialize means put the big banks on top everybody needs to gain access to the big banks for some type of financial source because the gov-
ernments are running out of money and are being more controlled by big money anyway. Then you privatize and get away from the emphasis
on the public life (because so many black people are in public schools and public housing) so you got to get away from the public spaces in
order to get into private spaces tied to the big money. And then you militarize (you control) people in the public space. Police, public schools
looking more and more like airports where you need security , you militarize the curriculum, so it’s all discipline kick kids out of school the
first week of school because they’re not paying attention which disproportionally pulls black kids into the prison complex. And of course thats
just the beginning of the move to wards the new Jim Crow because the life of young black people will be under police surveillance. So you’ll
be watched if you don’t get shot by the police like in Ferguson and other places. So when you look at it that way you ask yourself what does
one do? Well if you’re forced to privatize, then you put public conversations and public interests at the center of your conversation. Part of the
problem of privatization is that it’s individualism. We consciousness must be at the center of any freedom struggle.
TE: If you could wave a magic wand what would you add to this country’s educational structure, what would you subtract?
CW: I think that waving a wand that eliminated poverty and promoted self love amongst Black folk...shoot. We’d be on the way. Whatchu talk-
ing about? We’d be singing that “Ain’t no stopping us now” For the most part Black folk suffer from too much poverty and not enough self love.
If I could eliminate poverty and inject self love into every single Black person in the United States, I’d be one happy Black Man. I’d break dance
for the rest of my life. But when 40% of our precious babies living in poverty, it’s hard to conceive what kind of future one might have.
TE: What is the one thing you think the world should know?
CW: The struggle for Black freedom is not a commercial, and the Kingdom of God is not an advertisement it’s a way of life that you’re willing
to live and die for. ...[And] We do have an ecological crisis. Climate change is real. The majority of human kind are precious (most of them).