Unquote” West

The Tank became a fan of social commentator and author Cornel West after reading an article on the former Black Panther and campaign advisor to President Obama in a recent issue of “Rolling Stone.”

Here is an excerpt by journalist Jeff Sharlet:

“The future, [West] says — the democracy he dreams of, the democracy we have yet to achieve — demands prophecy, piety ‘and the poetic. And by poetic I don’t mean a person who writes verses.’ He draws the word out like an English don. ‘I mean all those who exercise imagination and get us outside of our egocentric predicament! Give us a sense of awe and wonder! So we become concerned about something outside of our own little bubbles, our own little slices of reality, our own little professional managerial spots‘ — West makes that sound like a filthy word, then pulls up in a hard pause, hunches down to the edge of the stage and whispers slowly: ‘our own little iron cages.’ He stands. ‘There’s a lot of material toys in the cages. But you’re still in prison. And poets allow us to shatter those bars.’ “

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