Black Empowerment

Cornel West declares, “A specter of despair haunts America. Wealth inequality and class polarization are escalating. This bleak portrait is accentuated among African Americans. The fragile black middle class fights a white backlash. And the besieged black poor struggle to survive. Nearly thirty years after Dr. King’s murder, black America sits on the brink of collective despair.” He concludes this stirring speech by promising, “I simply say to each and every one of you, I plan to go down fighting, precisely because of those who came before.”

Recorded at Roxbury Community College.