The Panopticon Review: Dr. Cornel West Speaks Directly To President Obama via Video--January 20, 2010 -- (A Statement On the First Anniversary of Obama's Administration)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Dr. Cornel West Speaks Directly To President Obama via Video--January 20, 2010 -- (A Statement On the First Anniversary of Obama's Administration)

Dr. Cornel West

On the cusp of the upcoming midterm elections on November 2, 2010--in what promises to be a crucial and historically pivotal ideological litmus test of President Obama's administration, agenda, and program--I thought it would be wise for us all to step back 10 months ago to the first anniversary of the President's ascension to power and reflect on the prescient remarks of an important leftist scholar and activist who in fact did strongly support the President's successful candidacy in 2008

All,

Profound and very necessary remarks by Cornel--as usual. If Obama wants to truly succeed as a "progressive reformer" he will listen very carefully to both the spirit and letter of Dr. West's plea and boldly act upon the substance of what he says--for his sake and ours...

Kofi

Click on Link below to view Video:

Cornel West's note to Obama - January 20, 2010

Nina Simone (1933-2003)

"There's no other purpose, so far as I'm concerned, for us except to reflect the times, the situations around us and the things we're able to say through our art, the things that millions of people can't say. I think that's the function of an artist and, of course, those of us who are lucky leave a legacy so that when we're dead, we also live on. That's people like Billie Holiday and I hope that I will be that lucky, but meanwhile, the function, so far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times, whatever that might be."

Editor's Bio

Kofi Natambu, editor of The Panopticon Review, is a writer, poet, cultural critic, and political journalist whose poetry, essays, criticism, reviews, and journalism have appeared in many literary magazines, journals, newspapers, and anthologies. He is the author of a biography MALCOLM X: His Life & Work (Alpha Books) and two books of poetry: THE MELODY NEVER STOPS (Past Tents Press) and INTERVALS (Post Aesthetic Press). He was the founder and editor of SOLID GROUND: A NEW WORLD JOURNAL, a national quarterly magazine of the arts, culture, and politics and the editor of a literary anthology NOSTALGIA FOR THE PRESENT (Post Aesthetic Press). Natambu has read his work throughout the country and given many lectures and workshops at academic and arts institutions. He has taught American literature, literary theory and criticism, cultural history and criticism, film studies, political science, creative writing, philosophy, critical theory, and music history and criticism (Jazz, Blues, R&B, Hip Hop) at many universities and colleges. He was also a curator in the Education Department of Detroit’s Museum of African American History. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Natambu currently lives in Berkeley, California with his wife Chuleenan.

The Panopticon Review

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Dr. Cornel West Speaks Directly To President Obama via Video--January 20, 2010 -- (A Statement On the First Anniversary of Obama's Administration)

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