Dr. Cornel West and Solutions to Nihilism in Black America

Throughout Dr. West’s article he speaks about Nihilism and how if it continues the black race will continue to struggle and diminish. But he gives a glimmer of hope at the end of the article where he says, “Work must get done. Decisions must be made. But charismatic presence is no legitimate substitute for collective responsibility. Only a charisma of humility and accountability is worth of a leadership grounded in a genuine democratic struggle for greater freedom and equality. This indeed may be the best-and last-hope to hold back the nihilistic threat to black America.” As I mentioned in a different blog an individual must take steps to change things and make their cause a noble one. A perfect example of that is Malaak Compton-Rock. In the Black in America article “Brooklyn kids give back in South Africa.” It talks about how Compton-Rock chose students from a struggling community in Brooklyn to travel to South Africa and become student ambassadors. Through a program called Journey for Change Compton-Rock is giving children who would typically never see outside of their community a chance to expand their minds and see how other children live and make it from day to day. I’m not saying that in order to make a difference you have to be a globetrotter and donate thousands of dollars to the needy, but just start however you can. With the technological advances available today you can use Facebook, MySpace and many other social networking sites to make your voice be heard.

Dr. Cornel West and Black Nihilism's Impact

Dr. West defines Nihilism first as “the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and (most important) lovelessness.” Later in the article he says that mainly Nihilism is a disease. When I think of Nihilism I think of obstacles that have been put in place to deter and even in some cases stop the development of African Americans as a people. But I would like the reader to also consider the strength of one. If you don’t want to seek out a solution or listen to someone else’s ideas then we are going to slip further and further down the path of destruction. A good illustration of this point is from an article from Black in America entitled “Commentary: Raise a Ruckus, make a difference.” According to the article people became upset when an episode of Black in America aired that showed the negative side of the experience and the issues of black people in America. It illustrated children dropping out of school and black me who were in prison. Please consider why this made so many people upset and if you yourself would be upset? It is because we have been programmed to turn the other cheek and not look our problems in the face, and when someone brings those issues to the front it gets a negative reaction out of people. This is the main problem that I mentioned earlier the fact that we are not willing to change things even though they are staring us in the face. Instead of just going along with the norm in many cases we should do what the article says, raise a ruckus and make our issues more than just something mentioned in conversation or something that is viewed as an everyday occurrence that will eventually go away. Don’t make it simply go away, deal with it and fix it.

Dr. Cornel West and Crisis in Black Leadership

Dr. Cornel West speaks about there being a crisis in black leadership. He gives examples of largely popular leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as problematic in the ways that they choose to portray themselves in the public. But for my connection I chose to use examples on a less public platform. In the Black in America article “Commentary: Good schools aren’t only for rich kids.” Steve Perry got the idea to open a charter school that would cater a good education to all kids but mainly African American children. When only in the beginning stages of getting the school together he stated “ I assembled an all-black team. My plan was to put black educators together, and we would show’em. Brothers and sisters were gonna opens a successful charter school. Black educators serving black kids.” In the article he goes on to admit that that was a major mistake because “Talent and communication have no color.” Like many of us, Steve Perry put a color on an agenda that should have only called for qualified professionals based on a resume and not on the color of their skin. This black leader fell into the classic pitfall of just wanting to go against the grain and prove that black people can accomplish major goals but he forgot the main focus from which he started, to provide an excellent education to children. It is really up to an individual when pursuing a dream to stay focused and let their deeds speak for them. But it is also the responsibility for those on the outside looking in (those who attend the meetings and go to see these public figures speak) to evaluate themselves and make sure that they are supporting someone who has an objective that first off is that they want to see come to reality and that the person is going about getting these objectives met in the right way.

Dr. Cornel West and Politics of Conversion

In the article “Nihilism in Black America” Dr. Cornel West speaks about politics of conversion which he defines as, “A chance for people to believe that there is hope for the future and a meaning to struggle.” For young people like me who grew up in schools learning about the great Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X these examples can become somewhat repetitive even though there accomplishments were great. So for an illustration I decided to use an article on Tyler Perry from the Black in America website. The article talks about how Perry had struggles to get his plays the proper respect that he knew he deserved and how even at one point he was homeless. But through it all he became a successful writer, actor, director, and producer and this is the kind of example that can really speak loudly to not only young people who have to deal with a lot but adults as well, particularly African Americans. Here we have a man who had countless amounts of doors slammed in his face and someone who had to test their own morality and face ignorance when “White Hollywood” doubted him. He now owns all of his finished products and creative rights to his productions. He is a leader who gets things done not becuase he wants to prove people wrong but to fufill his purpose of inspiring those who have struggled.This is what needs to be brought to the forefront when it comes to politics of conversion, those like Perry who know both sides of the story and can give a realistic spin to the glitz and glamour that so many people are hypnotized by.