Book Read Free

Democracy Matters

Page 20

by Cornel West


  Day, Dorothy, 154, 215

  Dead Prez, 183

  Dean, Howard, 2, 64–65

  Debs, Eugene, 53

  Declaration of Independence, 43, 47–48, 52

  deep democratic tradition, 15, 63–105, 109, 110, 142, 199–200, 207, 212

  Baldwin in, 67, 68, 78–86, 96, 97, 98

  Emerson in, 67, 68–78, 80, 86, 91, 94

  Melville in, 67, 68, 86–92, 94, 95–96

  Morrison in, 67, 68, 79, 87, 93–101, 102

  Twain in, 67

  Whitman in, 67, 77–78

  DeLay, Tom, 169

  demes, 206

  Democracy and Tradition (Stout), 159

  Democracy in America (Tocqueville), 45–46, 192

  democratic globalization movement, 178–79

  Democratic Party, 2, 3, 4, 26, 65

  paternalistic nihilism in, 31–36

  demos, 68, 138, 206, 207, 208, 210, 211, 212

  Demosthenes, 205–6

  despotism, democratic, 45–46

  Dr. Dre, 183

  Dorsey, Thomas, 86

  Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 31–32

  Douglass, Frederick, 22, 73, 92, 158, 217

  Dover, K. J., 208

  Du Bois, W. E. B., 45, 67, 77, 78

  Dutch empire, 42, 54

  Dyson, Michael Eric, 187

  Edelman, Marian Wright, 102

  Ehrenreich, Barbara, 103

  Einstein, Albert, 126

  Eisenhower, Dwight D., 116

  elderly people, 34

  Ellerbee, Linda, 187

  Ellington, Duke, 91, 217

  Ellison, Ralph, 19, 79, 90, 99, 202, 217

  Emancipation Proclamation, 49

  Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 22, 67, 68–78, 80, 86, 91, 94, 212–13

  Eminem, 183

  European Union, 8–9

  evangelical nihilism, 30–31, 33, 60–61

  Exodus, Book of, 214

  Fadl, Khaled Abou El-, 133–34, 138

  Falwell, Jerry, 165

  Farrakhan, Louis, 197

  fascism, 54, 55

  “Fate” (Emerson), 76

  Federalist Papers, The, 211

  Fire Next Time, The (Baldwin), 81–83

  Fitzgerald, Ella, 218

  Forbes, James, 168

  foreign aid, 59, 117–18

  foreign policy, 5, 10, 12, 85, 110, 123

  Founding Fathers, 15, 152, 210, 211

  Four Black Men Who Mean Business (4BMWMB), 185–86

  Fourteenth Amendment, 51

  France, 42, 54, 114

  Franklin, Benjamin, 44

  “Freedom of the Intellectual in Greek Society, The” (Dover), 208

  free-market fundamentalism, 3–5, 7–8, 9, 13, 27, 40, 51, 54, 146, 158–59, 178, 204

  backlashes against, 52–53

  Friedman, Thomas, 124

  Fugitive Slave Act, 48, 73, 91

  Gandhi, Mohandas, 157

  Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., 190, 191

  Genesis, Book of, 79, 114

  Gibson, Mel, 124, 169–71

  Ginsberg, Ruth Bader, 6

  Glaude, Eddie, Jr., 187 Global Citizens Campaign, 178–79

  globalization, 22, 61, 204

  democratic, 178–79

  protests against, 2

  Gorgias, 207–8

  Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, 180

  gratification, culture of, 175

  Great Depression, 54–55, 56–57, 154

  Greeks, ancient, see Athenian democracy

  Greider, William, 102–3

  Griffin, Farah Jasmine, 187

  Ha‘am, Ahan, 125–26

  Habakkuk, Book of, 113

  Hansberry, Lorraine, 67, 79

  Harrington, Michael, 33

  Harvard University, 74, 189–200

  Afro-American Studies Department of, 190–91, 193, 199

  University Professors at, 191, 196

  Harvard University, Summers-West encounter at, 189–200

  issues discussed in, 190–94, 196

  media coverage of, 194–97

  “Hater Players,” 181

  Hauerwas, Stanley, 161–62, 163

  Healing Israel/Palestine (Lerner), 112–13

  Heeb, 121

  Heschel, Abraham Joshua, 115, 215

  Heschel, Susannah, 121

  Hewlett, Sylvia Ann, 187

  Hill, Lauryn, 182

  hip-hop, 15, 59, 85, 92, 174, 179–86, 199

  author’s CDs of, 185, 196

  Constantinian vs. prophetic, 182, 183–85

  first stages of, 179–81

  racist stereotypes in, 181

  recording industry and, 181–82, 183

  suburban white youths and, 181, 183

  underground, 183, 185

  Hip Hop Temple, 184–85

  History of the Peloponnesian War (Thucydides), 42, 211

  Hitler, Adolf, 54, 55

  Hoenlein, Malcolm, 123

  Holiday, Billie, 85

  Honey and the Hemlock, The (Sagan), 206

  Hoover, Herbert, 71

  Hosea, Book of, 18, 113

  Huerta, Dolores, 103

  Hussein, Saddam, 58, 61, 111, 129, 137, 141, 142

  Ice Cube, 181

  Iceman Cometh, The (O’Neill), 55, 87

  Ice-T, 181

  ideological polarization, 7, 38, 65, 101, 202–3

  Idolatry and Representation: The Philosophy of Rosenzweig Reconsidered (Batnitzky), 124–25

  indigenous peoples, see Native Americans

  industrialism, 51, 153

  “Intellect” (Emerson), 76–77

  International Monetary Fund, 59

  Internet, 4–5, 29

  Invisible Man (Ellison), 79, 90

  Iran, 111, 128–29, 136, 202

  Iraq, 128–29

  Kurds in, 142–43

  Iraq, invasion of, 6, 13, 29, 35, 36, 58, 61, 101, 204

  postwar period of, 110, 141–42

  protests against, 178

  Isagoras, 206

  Isaiah, Book of, 18, 113, 114, 214

  Islam, 16, 17, 19, 105

  clerical, 129, 135–37, 139

  first state of, 139

  fluidity of, 135–36

  intellectuals of, 133–34

  Judeo-Christian tradition and, 132–33, 141

  justice in, 138

  legalistic thought of, 134–35, 138, 139

  modern literature of, 130–32

  Muslim democratization efforts in, 138–41

  new democratic identity in, 107–8, 128–43

  polyvalence of, 135

  revitalization movements in, 129–30, 134, 143

  tolerance in, 139

  women of, 134, 139

  “Islam and the Challenge of Democracy” (El-Fadl), 133–34, 138–39

  Islamic fundamentalism, 12, 129–30, 146

  Isocrates, 207–8

  Israel, 10–11, 36, 108–28, 136, 137, 141, 143, 146, 164–65, 197

  evangelical Christian support of, 124

  military force of, 11, 118

  Six Days’ War of, 137

  U.S. foreign aid to, 59, 117–18

  U.S. military aid to, 116–17, 127

  Yom Kippur War of, 117, 165

  see also Palestinians

  Israel Policy Forum, 121

  Jabri, Mohamed Abid al-, 133

  Jackson, Mahalia, 85

  James, William, 77, 78

  Jay-Z, 183

  jazz, 16, 22, 62, 79, 85, 87, 91–92, 93, 216

  Jefferson, Thomas, 43, 47–48, 87

  Jeremiah, Book of, 18, 113, 114

  Jesus, 19, 157, 159, 201–2

  Emerson’s view of, 74–75

  Roman execution of, 147–48, 150, 151, 169–72, 214–15

  Jesus and the Disinherited (Thurman), 157

  Jewish Peace Lobby, 121

  Jewish Peace Network, 121

  Jews, Judaism, 54, 55, 105, 164–65

  American, 11, 110, 112, 118–24, 126–27, 165
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  anti-Semitism and, 10, 11, 40, 110, 123, 124, 128, 139, 169, 170–71, 197, 199

  blacks’ relationship with, 199

  in civil rights movement, 19, 84, 119, 127

  idolatry and, 120–28

  Islam and, 132–33, 139, 141

  lobbyists of, 122–24

  media influence of, 123–24

  new democratic identity for, 107–28

  organizations of, 121–23

  prophetic witness of, 16, 17–19, 21, 112–15, 119, 121–22, 213–16

  prophets of, 18, 113, 114

  rabbinical 135, 170

  Roman empire and, 148, 151, 159, 169–71, 169–72

  see also Israel

  Jim Crow, 50, 51, 53, 56, 58, 92

  Johnson, Lyndon B., 29, 33–34, 84, 116

  Johnson, Robert, 20

  Kane, Cheikh Hamidou, 131–32

  Kanye West, 183

  Keeping Faith (West), 188

  Kerry, John, 35–36, 61

  Khomeini, Ayatollah Ruhollah, 136

  Killer Mike, 183

  Kim Jong Il, 137

  King, Martin Luther, Jr., 5, 19, 22, 57–58, 60, 79, 86, 92, 155, 157, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 169, 215, 217

  Kings, First Book of, 89

  Kool Herc, 180

  KRS-ONE, 85, 174, 180, 184

  Ku Klux Klan, 53

  Kurds, 136, 137, 142–43

  Kushner, Tony, 102

  labor movement, 34

  Lakoff, George, 73

  Lerner, Rabbi Michael, 112–13, 115, 121, 122, 197, 199

  liberation theology movement, 166

  Life of Poetry, The (Rukeyser), 63, 78

  Lincoln, Abraham, 49–50

  Second Inaugural Address of, 50, 157–58

  lobbyists, 35, 36, 122–24

  “Lost Ones,” 182

  Lott, Trent, 122

  Lucian, 19

  Luke, Gospel According to, 201–2

  McKinney, Cynthia, 122

  Madison, James, 211

  Mahan, Alfred Thayer, 109

  Majid, Anouar, 133, 140–41

  Manifest Destiny, 14, 51, 91

  Mansfield, Harvey, 192

  Many Thousands Gone (Baldwin), 84

  Master P, 183

  Matrix films, 187

  Mays, Benjamin E., 156–57 M’Baye, Mariétou, 131

  media, 2, 28, 29, 203

  ethical breakdown of, 36–37

  Jewish influence on, 123–24

  market-driven, 7, 36, 38

  sentimental nihilism of, 36–39, 60–61, 195

  sex and violence in, 175

  Summers-West encounter in, 194–96, 197

  Web coverage in, 37

  youth culture and, 175–76, 187–88

  Melville, Herman, 22, 25, 48–49, 67, 68, 86–92, 94, 95–96

  Meno (Plato), 17, 208

  Mernissi, Fatima, 133

  Micah, Book of, 113, 114

  Middle East, 10–12, 60, 101, 104–5, 107–43, 146

  Arab regimes in, 10, 110, 111, 116, 128, 129, 141

  oil reserves of, 109–10, 116, 117, 128, 141

  origin of term, 109

  secular nationalist movements in, 129, 135, 136–37, 143

  see also Islam; Israel

  Milbank, John, 161, 162–63

  militarism, see aggressive militarism

  military-industrial complex, 57

  military spending, 58–59

  Miller, Arthur, 102

  Million Man March, 197

  mimes, 210

  Mobley, Mamie Till, 20–21

  Moby-Dick (Melville), 48–49, 89–91, 96

  Monoson, S. Sara, 209

  Monroe Doctrine, 51–52

  Moral Majority, 165, 166

  Morrison, Toni, 22, 37–38, 67, 68, 79, 87, 93–101, 102

  MoveOn, 178–79

  Muhammad, Prophet, 19, 139, 140

  Multilateral Development Banks, 59

  Murdoch, Rupert, 124

  Murray, Albert, 202

  Nader, Ralph, 103, 193

  Naipaul, V. S., 131

  Nasser, Gamal, 116–17, 129

  National Parenting Association, 187

  National Public Radio, 187

  Native Americans, 13, 40, 69, 73, 88, 104

  expansionist subjugation of, 13, 14, 43, 44, 45, 50–51, 149

  Manifest Destiny and, 91

  voting rights of, 33

  neo-soul movement, 183

  New Jewish Agenda, 121

  Nick News, 187

  Niebuhr, H. Richard, 145

  Niebuhr, Reinhold, 211

  nihilism, 16, 21, 25–62, 87, 88, 115, 142, 148, 159, 161, 162, 163, 167, 210, 218

  evangelical, 30–31, 33, 60–61

  market forces in, 27–29, 39–40, 78

  in Moby-Dick, 48–49, 89–90, 96

  paternalistic, 30, 31–36, 60–61

  political, 27–40

  racism and, 40–62

  sentimental, 30, 36–39, 60–61, 195

  of youth culture, 176–77

  Nobody Knows My Name (Baldwin), 79

  No Name in the Street (Baldwin), 1, 79

  Notes on the State of Virginia (Jefferson), 47

  Ogletree, Charles, Jr., 195

  oil, 109–10l, 116, 117, 128, 141

  O’Neill, Eugene, 55, 67, 87

  Orthodox Union, 123

  Other America, The (Harrington), 33

  Ottoman empire, 8, 54, 109

  Outkast, 179–80, 183

  paideia, 39, 41, 91

  Palestinians, 10–11, 36, 85, 108–28, 137, 197

  democratic leanings of, 142, 143

  suicide bombers of, 10, 110, 113, 115, 116, 119

  Paris, 180

  Parker, Charlie, 85

  parrhesia, 16, 39, 209, 210, 211

  Passion of the Christ, The, 124, 169–71

  Pass-the-Mic tours, 187

  paternalistic nihilism, 30, 31–36, 60–61

  Patriot Act, 6, 29, 202

  Peretz, Martin, 123–24 Pericles, 42, 206

  Perry, Imani, 183

  Pfleger, Father Michael, 168

  Pharrell, 183

  Pierre (Melville), 87–88

  Place of Tolerance in Islam, The (El-Fadl), 138

  Plato, 16, 30, 201, 207, 208, 212–13

  philosophy of, 209–11

  “Plato, or the Philosopher” (Emerson), 212–13

  Plato’s Democratic Entanglements (Monoson), 209

  Playing in the Dark (Morrison), 95–96

  political correctness, 7

  political leaders, 2–3, 4, 12, 64–66

  black, 65–66

  disaffection engendered by, 64–65

  marketing of, 25

  nihilism of, 27–28

  political nihilism, 27–40

  Poor Righteous Teachers, 180

  populism, 52, 53

  Prince, 185

  Princeton University, 193, 195, 198

  progressivism, 52, 53

  prophetic witness, 41, 49, 50, 55, 57, 62, 141, 213–18

  and Constantinian vs. prophetic Christianity, 147–72, 215

  and Constantinian vs. prophetic hip-hop, 182, 184–85

  definition of, 114-15

  of Judaism, 16, 17–19, 21, 112–15, 119, 121–22, 213–16

  justice in, 17–19, 113–14, 214–15

  Prophets in the Hood (Perry), 183

  Proverbs, Book of, 17

  Psalms, Book of, 214

  Public Enemy, 180

  Pynchon, Thomas, 20, 102

  Quintilian, 73

  Race Matters (West), 1–2, 26

  racism, 1–2, 14, 15, 74, 87, 90–91, 164, 181, 196–97, 199, 216–17

  Baldwin and, 78–86

  Middle Eastern, 116

  nihilism and, 40–62

  Rainey, Ma, 20, 91–92

  Rakim, 180

  Ramadan, Tariq, 133

  Randolph, A. Philip, 92

  rap music, 173–74, 179–86

/>   see also hip-hop

  Rauschenbusch, Walter, 153

  Rawls, John, 138, 160, 161, 162, 163

  Reagan, Ronald, 31, 165, 166–67

  Reconstruction, 50

  Red Record, A (Wells-Barnett), 156

  Republic (Plato), 30, 207, 210–11

  Republican Party, 2, 3, 4, 26, 32, 35, 36, 65, 164–65

  evangelical nihilists in, 30–31

  “Richard Wright’s Blues” (Ellison), 19

  right wing, 9, 10, 37, 38, 123, 124

  Christian evangelical, 2, 124, 165, 168

  conservative rhetoric of, 73–74

  religious, 66, 161, 165

  robber barons, 51

  Roman empire, 8, 10, 19, 42, 73, 211

  Christianity in, 147–48, 150, 151, 159, 169–72, 214–15

  Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 33–34

  Roosevelt, Theodore, 33

  Rorty, Richard, 160–61, 162, 163

  Rosenzweig, Franz, 107, 124–25

  Rove, Karl, 32, 61

  Rukeyser, Muriel, 63, 77, 78

  Rushdie, Salman, 131

  Saadawi, Nawal El, 133

  Sagan, Eli, 206

  Said, Edward, 107–8

  Salih, Tayeb, 131

  Samuel, First Book of, 18

  Season of Migration to the North (Talih), 131

  Second Message of Islam, The (Taha), 108, 140

  secular liberalism, 159–61, 162, 163

  secular nationalism, 129, 135, 136–37, 143

  segregation, racial, 53, 58, 157

  self-medication, 176

  “Self-Reliance” (Emerson), 69–70

  sentimental nihilism, 30, 36–39, 60–61, 195 September 11 terrorist attacks, 6–7, 8–10, 12–13, 20, 21, 40, 61, 202

  Shadow and Act (Ellison), 79

  Shakur, Tupac, 67, 181

  Shapiro, Harold, 195

  Sharon, Ariel, 115, 197

  Sharpton, Al, 193

  Shaw, Lemuel, 91

  Simmons, Russell, 184

  Simple Past, The (Chraibi), 131

  Sims, Thomas, 91

  Sketches of My Culture (West), 185–86

  slavery, 14, 37–38, 40, 42–44, 45, 48, 69, 88, 92–93, 149, 157

  emancipation of, 49–50, 73

  in Massachusetts, 43–44, 91

  Smiley, Tavis, 187, 188, 195

  Smith, Bessie, 20, 91–92, 217

  Smith, J. Alfred, 168

  Snoop Dogg, 181

  Social Gospel movement, 153

  Socrates, 15, 16–17, 30, 79, 201, 204, 207, 208, 212–13, 217

  Socratic questioning, 16–17, 21, 30, 31, 41, 49, 50, 55, 57, 62, 80, 81–82, 118, 141, 158, 204, 207, 208–18

  Solon, 205–6

  Song of Solomon (Morrison), 97–98

  Sontag, Susan, 102

  Sophists, 16, 17, 30, 207–8

  Sophron, 210

  Soroush, Abdokarim, 133

  Souls of Black Folk, The (Du Bois), 78

  Soviet Union, 8, 55, 56, 109, 116, 129, 166

  Staub, Michael C., 119–20

  Stein, Gertrude, 77, 78

  Stoics, 18

  Stout, Jeffrey, 159, 163

  Street Knowledge (West), 185–86

  Sulzberger family, 124

  Summers, Lawrence, see Harvard University, Summers-West encounter at Supreme Court, U.S., 6, 45

 

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