His name is Cornel West. If you're unfamiliar with this guy, you're missing out. Full of insight, reason, tenacity and soul, he's the professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton, and quite the orator. You can catch him in the film Examined Life, and he was also on the Colbert Report recently (as well as a few other times). Oh, did I mention he was in the Matrix? Are you sold yet? Brother West's pretty much a boss. Plus, his talk was great; he focused specifically on race relations in the US, but also talked about love (he's a man of love) and blues. Been admiring him for probably 5 or so years, so I'm really glad I got to see him speak. If you get the chance to see him, take it.
"I cannot be an optimist but I am a prisoner of hope."
"This generation has not been loved enough. In my neighborhood growing up, I couldn't get away from neighbors looking after me. Now we've taken the 'neighbor' out, and we just have the 'hood'. In a 'hood' it's survival of the slickest. It's a Hobbesian war of all against all. More guns, more drugs. FAMILIES are weaker, fathers are weaker, mothers are poor. Market forces are eating at the family through 100, 200, 350 channels to some orgasm machine. Nothing wrong with orgasms, but you need to have a conversation sometimes."
Keep on keeping on, Brother West.
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