Anytime, anywhere. Cornell west was a keynote speaker at an event hosted by the Muslim Legal Fund in plano, texas. Hes running in the 2024 president ial race as an independent candidate. He talks about the war between israel and hamas. The need for balance and morality and spirituality in the name of progress and justice. This is just over 30 minutes. Come on, now come on, come on. We love you, brother. Lord, lord, lord. There is a sweet spirit in this place. This is a very special occasion. I would not want to be in every other place in the country than here in dallas tonight. I want to salute each and every one of you for the work you have all done. In the language of johnny coltrane, you are being forces for good and pass, present and the work that i know you plan to do. I want to begin by saluting my dear brother. Give it up for this brother. So much eloquence. Eloquence as wisdom speaking. He is a young brother with an old soul. He has a golden heart. He has a brilliant mind. He represents so much of the best of the islamic tradition in the United States. That makes a difference. A crucial difference. We know about the vicious stereotypes when it comes to our muslim brothers and sisters. As well as a sense of humor. You can tell, he has a lot of style. Doesnt he have a lot of style . Oh, yes indeed, indeed, indeed. My beloved wife, dr. And and po never been to texas before. He said, i want to see what its like. I said, you are coming to the best in texas. Dont confuse it with some of the other parts of texas. I want to let you know my mama is from texas. That is irene b west. She is from a Major Metropolitan Center named orange, texas. Anybody knows orange nose it is a little small town. My brother who was still alive was born in port arthur, texas. I also know the best of texas. I think of texas i dont think of what many of my fellow citizens think of texas as projected on the mainstream press. I think of my mama, irene b west , who had an Elementary School named after her. I think of Chris Clifton west, my brother. Meaning that im already deeply blessed to be in contact with some of the best of not just texas, not just america. Im talking about the best of the human spirit. S just be honest. We human beings are wretched species too often. Much of our history is a history of organized greed and institutionalized hatred and indifference to the suffering of Vulnerable People going back to the beginning. And yet there is this possibility, this potential if we so choose as wretched people to be wonderful, to be visionary, to be committed to love. To be committed to justice. I want you want to give it up to this brother here. He is the son of senator nina turner. We love you, brother. He was on the stage absolutely. Let me get back to my wretchedness. The possibility of interruptions. The possibility of disruptions of greed and hatred and domination and occupation and subjugation and degradation. That is what we are here to talk about. How do we become more fortified to be countervailing forces against all forms of organized greed, institutional hatred, and indifference. I come from a people, a great people at our best, black people who have constituted so much of the moral conscious. America founded on stolen land of precious indigenous brothers and sisters. They dont have to be in the room. They dont have to be in the room for us to be in solidarity. Then the enslavement of my own people over hundreds of some years. One of the great students of those of the 60 that we call brown and jamail and hamid still incarcerated but still bearing witness. To be the moral conscience of america, we can dish it out every generation. I just interviewed with the dallas metropolitan. The same tradition, my brother, in the face of all the organized hatred here comes frederick douglass. Here comes ida b wells, here comes marcus garvey, here comes tony morrison, here comes james baldwin, here comes john cole train. You talking about a love supreme. Every 2 1 2 days for 50 years in the United States in the state of texas. With any other state in the country what does that have to do with the muslim brothers. Its got everything to do with the unprecedented moment in the history of the american. For the first time in the history of this nation, the muslim community, our precious islamic brothers and sisters, are moving to the center of the discourse and constituting a crucial part of the moral conscious of america. That is part of the challenge. Thats why the Muslim Legal Fund give it up for our sister. That is why your leadership make such crucial difference. The Legal Defense fund with Charles Hamilton houston and so many of those freedom fighters. Who wouldve thought in 1964 when america still had a white supremacist immigration act in place, were so many of you could not even come to america because you had to be from western europe to get here with the white supremacist immigration act of 1924. Theres magnificent human beings all over the world. Lets look at pakistan and bangladesh. Things are going to change when i used to come through texas in the 1960s to see my daddy and my grandmother, i did not see too many muslims around. I did not see too many folks from bangladesh or the middle east. How come . White supremacy immigration policy was still at work. The 65 immigration act open those doors. Who would have thought in 2024 we are the very litmus test of some sense of morality in the overwhelming vulgarity and beastie reality. It becomes fundamental criteria with what it means to have some morality and spirituality not just in america but in the world. If you are silent on that then shame on you. When we look around not just at another generation, and you look around the folks that are willing to straighten their backs up, not in the name of hatred and revenge. In the name of love and justice. We stand with our palestinian brothers and sisters because we love palestinians and we believe a palestinian baby has exactly the same value and significant as anything in the world no matter what color. No matter what gender. Whether it is in texas, whether its in gaza, whether its in sudan. Across the board. Yes, indeed. I see my dear brother david, give it up for my dear brother david and his magnificent wife. We have gone 35 years as brother richards and father richards. I was blessed to write books. We have so many memories together. Among our precious jewish brothers and sisters, magnificent spiritual renaissance and awakening. If not now the whole wave of jewish brothers and sisters. It is never just a function of what religious identity is black people were courageous enough and visionary enough for an indictment of White Supremacy and organized greed. An indictment of institutionalized and organized in solidarity. When we talk about any of our community, as well as the history of Martin Luther king jr. And mohammed ali. I say that in all honesty because as a black man, ive still got some gangster in me. Ive got to fight it every day. When we talk about our other muslims, other christians, talk about jews and some secular folk , they all have some gangster in them. Look at what is going on in iran right now. Muslims mistreating other muslims. Where is our moral consistency . Where is our ethical constancy . Are we really connected with the humanity of others . Lets never be so narrow in our allegiances and loyalties that we are blind to other peoples suffering. Thats where we find ourselves too often in the middle east, too often in the white house,. A palestinian life has the same value as a jewish life. That is deeply racist. Im thoroughly convinced there is a genocide taking place right now with palestinians occupying and massacring jewish babies and jewish innocent people will have a very different take on it. That is not just hypocrisy. That is complicity to organized greed and institutional hatred coming out of the white house. So they would be not only in solidarity. It is a moral and a spiritual issue. The Biden Administration would probably be providing assistance to the jewish version of moss hamasand call them freedom fighters. I am still oldschool. I support resilience. The persistence in that resilience has to have a morality. Dont kill innocent folks or babies. I dont care where they are. I dont care what color they are. If you dont fight a war, fight a war against combatants. I am oldschool revolutionary christian and the legacy of Martin Luther king jr. And i will fight but most importantly i will always be in solidarity. I recognize every form of resistance and resilience. Sometimes it is violent. Sometimes it is nonviolent. Absolutely but there has to be a morality. There has to be a spirituality even of the oppressed. As we engage in our discourse let us not in any way simply become minions of the gangsters that would use military force against innocent people and the cowards in the white house and the United Nations who enable it. A lot of people have asked, you are wanting for running for president and you call the president a war criminal. I said, thats right. I dont hate biden. I pray for his family. You have to take responsibility for your actions. You tell iran that they are fully responsible for providing arms to other nations and you are fully responsible for providing arms for genocide and ethnic cleansing and supporting apartheid and acting as if its the beacon of democracy. Where is the morality . Where is the spirituality . We are full of righteous indignation. That cannot simply be symbolic. We have to not just to speak truth to power, not just to the relatively powerless. We have to be willing to speak the truth to ourselves. What kind of human being are we going to choose to be . That is the great question. Hebrew scripture says, walk humbly with thy god and spread that message and that lovingkindness. Spread the commitment to the welfare of the orphan and the widows and the fatherless and the motherless. Be there with the oppressed and the enslaved just like the israelites and hebrews. What does jesus do . He rents out the largest edifice west of rome for 300 imperial troops. He has ragtag disciples. He runs out the changes anyway not because he hates the rich because he cant stand greed. He is in love with people, especially the least of these. Especially oppressed people. Building on christianity. S form a space where the christians and the jews and the muslims can live together because there is no god but when god. No idolatry here. Let every nation state, every flag under that god. These days it is hard to find people who are serious about their religion. Martin luther king used to stay say, i would rather be dead than afraid. I would rather be a corpse than a coward. When we think of our work, the legal front and the medical front and social front, artistic front you should remember Martin Luther king jr. In the paddy wagon. His father told me, he said brother west i saw my son. He could not walk a straight line. All he could say was, this is the cross he must bear for the freedom of our people. The cross is not something you talk about. The cross is not even something you bear. Sometimes you end up on that cross. Look at all of those in gaza right now. Bearing that cross. Their spirit is alive in this room. Their spirit is still strong in this room. We will never ever forget their resilience and sacrifice wherever you go. You can be black on the south side of dallas. There is spirit. Our best in human beings is never crushed. Such a crucial role to play and thats why they are coming together with the black freedom struggle connected to the critique of the american empire with its greed and hatred and scapegoating of the most vulnerable. Bringing together of those various groups of all that are willing to say we are going to be. We are going to embody the moral conscience of this nation and you will have to take those 100,000 votes in michigan is just the beginning. That is just the first step. That is just the embryonic moment. That is not just of politics. Dont believe the hype when you hear media talking about now we have another Interest Group and calculation of what they are going to do. We are a higher level than that. Are talking about morality and spirituality. We will never allow anybody to use the bodies of our palestinian brothers and sisters in gaza to play political tricks and ask if they can move as if they are pieces on a chess board. It is clear you are standing up for somebody. It must be organized greed. It must be money. It must be the whole organization turning their backs on suffering of the palestinians. It is not antisemitic. No not at all. It is the truth. Aipac does not put palestinian suffering in any way about part of their repression. We tell the truth about them. We have nothing to do with the hatred of jews. It has everything to do with our love for palestine. That is what it is. Thank god, dallas, ground zero of the emerging muslim spiritual awakening renaissance taking place. They are going to be black, jewish, some of them are going to be atheist and agnostic. Some of them are just as serious about fighting oppression is anybody else. That is my tradition. That is the blues. Nobody loves me but my mama. That is bb king. Thats the blues. Everything is against you. Billie holiday, talking about that. The idf, tara down. American troops in vietnam, terrorism. People killing innocent though, terrorism. Lets be consistent. If you are a jazzman we are looking for more look at miles davis. Saying we will now here. He has earned his role in the band. White brother playing the saxophone. Two white brothers. He says he is in the band. Being in the band, you have earned your position with the willingness to contribute. When they look at you withs part of the Muslim Legal Fund that means being there over and over. He is our brother. Hes in the band. I willing to sacrifice and pay a cost. Im committed to truth and love. Thats what its all about. That is the force against the hatred and greed that has dotted the landscape of the history of humanity. I just thank god that you all are in the band, stay in the band, keep fighting. Keep loving. Keep telling the truth. Keep seeking justice. Keep the focus on the suffering. Then authorize a better future. Dont let anybody tell you that its going to be a question of the two state solution where palestinians are still marginalized and subjugated and they are to be happy with that situation. The two state solution seems to be big at the moment because theres too many southern colonial expansion us and settlers that are already taking it. What we want is to ensure that there are certain nonnegotiables. That is palestinian dignity and equality and Jewish Security and safety. We want security and safety across the board. We want palestinian dignity and equality to. We dont want this two state solution push down our throats. We want to ensure that there is dignity and equality and make sure that our jewish brothers and sisters understand there will never be another genocide for palestinians, jews, armenians, for anybody. That is the truth that we need. Thank you so very much. Stay strong. I want you to feel this love. I want you all to make some noise. Let him feel your love. God bless you. God bless you. It was great to hear you. We were so excited to hear you speak. I am blessed to be here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You remember me . How are you doing. Blessed to see you. I think, lets get a photo of you two together and i will sneak in and photo bomb. Thank you. Thank you so much. I am a fan. Anyone that can take on sean hannity, i have followed you for years. God bless you. We appreciate your support for humanity. I like the way you call everybody brother and sister. That is the way it should be. Thank you, my dear sister. Thank you so much. I am going to mike you. Also, my sister is saying hello. She met you decades ago. Her name is ethiopia. We have to get the signal here. You go eat now. Tonight, a look at the role of software and Defense Department systems and how to deploy it for rapid innovation. Watch the subcommittee hearing in its entirety at 8 00 eastern on cspan 2 or online. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government. We are funded by these Television Companies and more including cox. Cox supports cspan as a Public Service along with these other Television Providers given you a front row seat to democracy. In the weeks that lie ahead, the famous and influential men and women are going to have a lot to say in the view of society in which we live today. American history tb will air the 10 part series free to choose with milton friedman. He coproduced the series with his wife and fellow economist. It first aired on Public Television in 1980. They also wrote a bestselling companion book of the same name. They take us to locations important to the u. S. And world economies to advocate free market principles and limited government in social policy. Other topics include welfare, education, protection and inflation. Watch free to choose on American History tb. Congressional Budget Office director released the Agency Budget and Economic Outlook report for the next 10 years. He talks about growth productions, the deficit,
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