West GS ’80 tells of transformation

Before the event, many students expressed their excitement about getting to know West in a more personal context. Julia Blount ’12, who took AAS 201: Introduction to the Study of African American Cultural Practices with West her freshman year, said, “Cornel West is a very interesting, very animated and very well-spoken character. I’ve been curious to hear about how he became the Cornel West that we know.”

Ashton Miller ’13 also said he was interested in West’s personal history. “He changed from ‘Robin Hood’ to the scholar he is today. That makes it more real,” Miller said. “Anyone can dream of being in his position [and being] of such distinction in academia.”

The event opened with a presentation by students from the Cornel West Academy of Excellence, a nonprofit organization for minority at-risk boys in second through sixth grades. The students pledged to “always stand for what is right in times of despair” and reminded the audience that children are the future.

African American Studies professor Imani Perry read three excerpts from ‘Brother West’ that described moments that were critical to West’s transformation: his refusal to pledge allegiance to the flag in third grade, his years at Yale and his teaching experiences at Princeton.

His memoir revolves around “the tradition that begins with family,” West said. Thanks to his family, he said, he “found himself with the wind behind his back.” He emphasized that the power of love — both the love of his parents and his love of justice — have been integral to his life. “Love is no plaything,” West explained.

West added that he is “in love with the world of ideas, which connects to [the] struggle for justice.” West also said, “Justice is what love looks like in public.”

The memoir is not only a look back on his involvement in social justice, he said. “The story was a source of my strength. It made me honest about what really, really mattered, which was family and Christian faith,” West noted.

Another significant inspiration for West was — and continues to be — music, he said. “Music is a catastrophe expressed lyrically,” West said, also describing music as “response to catastrophe, but a refusal to succumb to bigotry and hatred.”

The event, which lasted about an hour and a half, was an exciting opportunity to connect with West, several audience members said.

Perry, who has worked with West as both a graduate student and a colleague, said West was “a model of integrity at every level, and as a student it was great to have as a model someone as dedicated to being a scholar as him who was also committed to social justice, humanism and social responsibility.”