I’ve become to appreciate the voice and posture of Dr Cornel West more and more in recent years.
He recently shared his thoughts on the assassination of Osama bin Laden with his co-host Tavis Smiley on their radio program.
Powerful words that challenge our thoughts of love, justice and retribution.
“I am just not convinced that through killing and more murder that you can stop the killing and more murder.”
“I don’t believe in moral regeneration through violence, or the ethical revitalization through the celebration of violence.”
“You and I take seriously the legacy of Martin Luther King…it means then that we must be dissenting voices in the middle of a moment of such self celebration and self congratulation, to say quite explicitly that justice does not come out the barrel of a gun.”
“So when the President says ‘justice was done’ — no, no, no, no. It was retaliation and revenge. Now, there is a sweetness in revenge because people are hurt. People are wounded. But we must be spiritually mature enough to know that justice cuts much deeper than that. And that’s what Martin Luther King Jr. has been trying to tell us.”
“When black people were lynched, there’s no justice when you shoot the person who lynched them or drop a bomb on the family of the folks who lynched them. Justice in this case has to do with ensuring that people find meaning in the loss of their loved one — not by killing others but in the memories in the legacy of who they were. There is not justice on this side of the Jordan in this sense; that you are never going to get back what you lost.”
“You and I are legatees of Martin Luther King, and really we need to say quite explicitly, as Christians, we are going to be viewed as anti-American, anti-patriotic. Martin Luther King was called the same thing. Dorothy Day was called the same thing. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was called the same thing… We’re anti-injustice.”
“If to be an American means to engage in moral regeneration through violence and to celebrate killing, I refuse to succumb to that kind of vulgar idolatry.”
“Justice is a dangerous word – you can’t just throw that around!”
“Let justice be done on the south side of Chicago. Let justice be done for working people. Let justice be done for women dealing with domestic violence. Let justice be done on Wall Street so we can keep track of this vicious greed… let justice be done Mr. President.” – Cornel West
“War is the enemy of the poor” – Tavis Smiley
Dr. West you do have a different perspective than the most of the country… and I thank you.
Listen to the full conversation.
UPDATE: Dr West clarifies his position even further in a follow-up segment.
