Highlights on "Niggerization," Revolution, Unity, Honesty, Leadership, Poverty

DU must recognize.

Please take the time to understand the underpinnings of both black and white Democratic Socialism that brings Bernie Sanders and Cornel West together.



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I've been reading The New Yorker for thirty years, and as far as I can remember, this is the first time in many years that I've seen TNY attempt to tap into right wing thinking in the present. Sure, it's examined past right wing activity, but not present.

Putting my mocking of Trump's campaign slogan aside, this article represents, to me, a sitting up and taking notice by the East Coast intelligentsia. ( I hope my excerpts below don't exceed the allowable.)

More to the content: Donald Trump has tapped into not only racist sentiments within his party, but also deep dissatisfaction in the base over Republican neglect of their interests. This article opens up ideas held by conservatives about what a future America might look like. While the title hints at the "fearful and the frustrated," there is a signal optimism presented about conservative politics that bears examining.



















http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/31/the-fearful-and-the-frustrated

On the occasion of Cornel West's endorsement of Bernie Sanders, here is a basic understanding of why West endorses our guy. Thomas Paine is not only Bernie's but our forebear, too.

West's understanding of Paine's views of religious and ideological dogma clarifies the best of America's revolutionary sensibility for The People. As they all indicate, we have an uphill struggle before us.

I highly recommend the rest of the video, but want to foreground West's words here for Bernie supporters.

Attempted transcript of Cornel West's thoughts on Paine. Watch from the 3:19 minute mark to the 9:29 minute mark:

"...his conception of himself at 37 was that he was willing to die to endure that he would act honorably, think critically...

...that was revolution in form...spoken in The People's colloquial style... we don't have today are intellectuals who haven't been seduced by the professional managerial (?) as a subculture of the university who are fundamentally committed to the plight and predicament of ...everyday people... poor people...and who view their calling, not their career as an organic connection with their struggles...no matter how strong...or weak... Now there are some intellectuals who do that...fewer and fewer.

Why? Because what Thomas Paine didn't have to deal with is the backdrop of impending ecological catastrophe, the backdrop of possible nuclear catastrophe, the fashionable character of being cynical and despairing even as you are highly, professionally approved and recognized...no willingness to pay a cost, no willingness to take a risk, no willingness to cut radically against the grain.

And of course he suffered the consequences... He died...six people at his funeral, two of them black because of that critique of African slavery, the first piece he wrote...it was fundamentally committed to a critique of white supremacy, very rare among highly visible white intellectuals...

Brother Chris is rare, Rick Wolff is rare...I'm not just talking about a symbolic gesture, I'm talking about fundamentally committed to your analysis where white supremacy is an integral factor among other crucial factors and then you make the connection among your organic connections.

That's the kind of brother Thomas Paine was. And it is very, very difficult to build on his legacy even though we have to acknowledge just how crucial that challenge is.