Martin Luther King Jr. Once said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
On January 16th, Dr. Cornel West, the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary, visited the University of Arkansas to build on Dr. King’s theory of love.
Better known to many as Brother West, the modern-day philosopher graduated Magna Cum Laude in three years from Harvard before going on to obtain both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Princeton. West teaches courses in Philosophy of Religion, African American Critical Thought, and a wide array of subject’s philosophy, politics, cultural theory, literature, and music.
Following a moving performance by the University’s Inspirational Chorale, West made his way to the stage with effortless style and charming panache. He spoke, unapologetically, on the ideas of integrity, honesty, decency, and above all… love.
“A saint ain’t nothing but a sinner who looks at the world through the lens of the heart,” said West as he engaged in a Q&A session moderated by Haley Tucker, the current President for the Black Alumni Society Scholars.
West spoke with raw power that resonated throughout the Faulkner Performance arts center, “Anyone who falls in love realizes it’s not a spectator sport. Love is a form of death; something has to die so that you can emerge transformed and transfigured.” His poetic odes to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were met with praise, applause and much appreciation as the people soaked it all in.
There was certainly a theme throughout West’s speech – one of music and its sway over the soul – “Music helps us to see deeper, to feel deeper and to become more courageous,” he said.
West described how musical reference plays a fundamental role in everything; including race relations. And that it, “allows humanity to overlap no matter what the politics are.”
“Martin was himself, an artist. His language. His rhetoric. It was art,” West said. “What do artist do? They dig deep into the dark corners of their soul to unearth and unsettle their minds and to authorize a different world!”
West told the audience, that as people, we must be honest about the standards we know we can achieve and that Dr. King set a standard of “giving and giving that most of us cannot expect to meet.”
West has written 20 books and is best known for his works, Race Matters, Democracy Matters, and his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. His work portrays his passion to communicate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.– a legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice.
“Justice is what love looks like in public. The two are not identical, but rather they are inseparable,” he said, “and in order to love you must have courage.”
When asked about his “brand”, West responded with “I have a cause. Not a brand. You don’t live and die for your brand.”
West described social media as a form of spiritual decay that puts a focus on creating a façade to look important. He quoted his own grandmother, saying, “Peacocks strut only because they cannot fly,” before imploring the audience to instead, soar like eagles.
West complimented Arkansas for giving much to the world but also issued his own challenge, “What will the state do and how will that translate to the people? What choices are you making. What kind of a human being are you going to choose to be before the worms get your body and someone else gets your soul?”
“Each day is a blessing, and each breath is a breakthrough,” he said as spoke directly to the younger generations. “To be soulful is to be gentle and kind and sweet. Use your success for service to one another and live for something beyond your ego. We’re in it together and we need one another. Learn how to receive as well as give.”
As West closed out his Q&A with “Every saint has a past, just like every sinner has a future,” before he stepped into the crowd to enjoy a final performance by the Inspiration Chorale as they sang, We Shall Overcome.
West has partnered with MasterClass.com to provide teachings on several influential courses including a class with Pharrell Williams on Empathy, MasterClass’s first-ever multi-instructor class on Black History, Black Freedom & Black Love, as well as West’s standalone class on Philosophy. Visit www.cornelwest.com.
Photos: Shane White
