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Black America Web
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Black America Web
Prophesy Deliverance—Why Morehouse Men Need To Hear From Dr. Cornel West
Dr. Marlon Millner pictured with Dr. Cornel West. Photo courtesy of Dr. Marlon Millner In the coming days, I will return to the red clay hills of Georgia to gather and celebrate hundreds of Black men who will graduate from Morehouse College, the nation's only historically Black college or university dedicated to serving male-identified Black students. It will be an especially momentous occasion—and not just because I will celebrate my 30th reunion as a proud 1995 graduate. The moment matters because graduates, families, faculty, and alumni alike will be challenged by a compelling and critically insightful commencement address by Dr. Cornel West. Dr. West is one of our nation's leading public intellectuals and a scholarly activist. There might not be a better person for this moment than Dr. West. With his longstanding commitments to social analysis, historical understanding, cultural criticism, political engagement, and progressive faith, West offers both a personal and public narrative of human maturation that my young, newly minted brothers will need for this critical moment in our world. When I was at Morehouse, some of the most important books I read were not books for classes, but books I read on my own. The authors that gripped me included poets and Black arts scholars Haki Madhabuti and the late Nikki Giovanni, theologian, the late James Cone, Black feminist, the late bell hooks, esteemed legal scholar and civil rights activist, the late Derrick Bell, and perhaps most importantly, Dr. Cornel West. I recall denying another Morehouse student their copy of a required course text by buying Race Matters in the campus bookstore. As a freshman, I eagerly read this book by the Union Theological Seminary professor, then on his way to Harvard University. My mind, heart and vocabulary all expanded as West grappled with a set of ideas, social practices, and the historical unfolding of the intractable hegemonic conditions of political subjugation, economic exploitation, moral degradation, and cultural dehumanization, which produced the nihilistic conditions of lovelessness, meaninglessness and hopelessness for so many Black people—then and now. Cornel West visited Morehouse in 1992, and he was honored by the college. He signed my book: 'Stay strong in the struggle, dear brother!' Those words compelled me to years of study, service, and struggle at Morehouse. West's book framed for me a life of the mind, committed to being a Black prophetic Christian intellectual rooted in grassroots movements, solidarity with other marginalized people, and deep and broad democratic commitments to serve, empower, and enable all to thrive with human dignity and possibility. While Race Matters may be West's best-known book, one of his earliest, Prophesy Deliverance! An Afro-American Revolutionary Christianity , might be his most important and most compelling for this moment. A year ago, I openly criticized my beloved alma mater for inviting then-sitting President Joseph R. Biden to deliver the commencement address and to receive an honorary degree. In an open letter to faculty, asking them to vote to deny the president an honorary degree, I said, 'When I studied at and graduated from Morehouse College in 1995, I was deeply shaped by the lives of former President Benjamin Elijah Mays, and alums Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. While Morehouse monumentalizes those persons on campus, there is no better monument to their lives at this moment than the moral courage to challenge a sitting United States president.' Those words, true then, are especially true now that Donald Trump has been re-elected president. Source: Pacific Press / Getty Cornel West has been one of the most consistent and compelling voices highlighting America's ongoing complicity in the triple evils Dr. King identified as racism, militarism, and hypercapitalism. Dr. West, in his own 2024 bid for the presidency, engaged in a campaign of truth, justice, and love. He boldly condemned the killing and capturing of hundreds of Israeli citizens by Hamas, and the United States' unilateral arming of Israel to prosecute a war beset with atrocities of killing tens of thousands of Palestinian non-combatants, and displacing and starving hundreds of thousands of others. West predicted that centrist civility and pandering to the middle class would not protect us from the rise of jingoistic, xenophobic, anti-Black economic oligarchy and state violence at home and abroad. More than 40 years ago in Prophesy Deliverance! , West told Black intellectuals and especially Christian theologians that if inclusion of the Black middle-class into a structurally racist capitalist economy and a racially constrained democracy was all we were seeking, we needed to long ago stop calling our training, leading, serving, and studying 'liberation.' After hearing from the apex of American power a year ago and seeing just how damaging that display of power has been, Morehouse Men would do well to listen to an organic intellectual from the streets of Sacramento, Calif., and the pews of the Black Baptist church; one who knows that success without sacrifice, money without morals, intellect without integrity, and power without empowering all may make these newly minted Morehouse Men mighty, but not worthy of our so-called mystique. Though Dr. West is not a Morehouse Man, like Dr. Mays, he has indelibly shaped Morehouse Men. He has taught, mentored, or influenced intellectuals like the esteemed Morehouse trustee and Black Studies and Religion scholar Dr. Eddie Glaude, and Harvard Divinity School scholar, Dr. Terrence Johnson. A bevy of Morehouse preachers were impacted by his years of teaching at Union, Harvard and Princeton, including such important prophetic voices as Morehouse trustee and pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church of Maryland, Rev. Dr. Delman Coates; pastor of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church of Cleveland, Rev. Dr. Jawanza Colvin; pastor of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church of New York City, Rev. Dr. Kevin Johnson; and pastor of the sanctuary of the civil rights movement, the Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta, U.S. Senator Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock. Beyond Morehouse, one only needs to recall 2014 when Michael Brown lay dead in the streets of Ferguson, Mo., killed by a racist rogue cop, as clergy and activists descended. New leaders emerged in the name of #BlackLivesMatter: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, Michael McBride, Traci Blackmon, Starsky Wilson, and Charlene Carruthers, among many others. And early on, locking arms in solidarity, but not seeking the spotlight was Dr. Cornel West. Now, as an elder, senior scholar, veteran activist, and decades long dedicated progressive Christian, this humble brother can help let the voice of the suffering, marginalized, locked up, left out, and least of these speak—so that in a new generation of Morehouse Men, we can understand that our mystique remains in a moral tradition, ever expanding and evolving, challenging us to grow deep roots, and produce bountiful fruit of justice, love and equity. Dr. Marlon Millner is a visiting assistant professor of Religion and African American Studies at Wesleyan University, and a 1995 graduate of Morehouse College. SEE ALSO: Dear Old Morehouse: Can We Not With Cornel West? The Tragic Case of Rodney Hinton Jr. And The Trauma Of Black Grief In America SEE ALSO Prophesy Deliverance—Why Morehouse Men Need To Hear From Dr. Cornel West was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Los Angeles Times
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
The Boys & Girls Club is leaving Rancho Santa Margarita after failed contract talks
By summer, the Boys & Girls Club will no longer have a home in Rancho Santa Margarita, after contract talks between the nonprofit and the city failed to reach a new agreement. The Boys & Girls Club of Capistrano Valley, which offers various after-school programs, has operated out of the Rancho Santa Margarita Bell Tower Regional Community Center since 2012. But they will be vacating the venue, which has been provided for free, on Aug. 13. 'The only reason why this contract is not going to continue into the future is because the leadership of the Boys & Girls Club terminated the negotiations with the city,' Rancho Santa Margarita Mayor Tony Beall told TimesOC. 'They notified the city, their staff and the community that they will be leaving Rancho Santa Margarita.' Last year, the club faced political blowback when conservatives in Aliso Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita, including Beall, took issue with the club's diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging statement and an accompanying reading list that included titles such as 'White Fragility' and 'Race Matters.' Conservatives pointed to the reading list as evidence of political indoctrination. The club clarified that the books were intended as a reference for adults. Both the statement and reading list were deleted from the club's website amid the controversy. Despite Beall's lone vote against it in May, Rancho Santa Margarita City Council granted the club a $120,000 extension for one year on the condition that it submit a six-month report addressing concerns over average daily attendance and cost comparisons with other club youth facilities in San Juan Capistrano and Aliso Viejo. Beall claimed that the past DEI controversy was not a factor in negotiations, which council members directed city staff to enter into in January. He described the city's offers as 'generous.' When asked about talks with the city, Nicole Watson, chief executive of the Boys & Girls Club of Capistrano Valley, offered a general statement on behalf of the organization. 'Unfortunately, contract negotiations were not successful and, as a result, the city manager's report indicated that no further council action was required,' Watson said. During the Rancho Santa Margarita City Council meeting on Wednesday, City Manager Jennifer Cervantez gave an update on the broken-down negotiations, starting with the report that preceded them. 'The six-month report did not include all of the requested information, particularly the cost and service comparisons with its other locations,' Cervantez said. 'Staff was unable to provide a recommendation and the council was unable to evaluate the status of the issues previously identified.' Despite city staff's reservations about the report, Cervantez said talks afterward were mostly 'positive.' On Feb. 27, Rancho Santa Margarita offered the club a two-year agreement at a reduced rate of $100,000 per year. The city also offered relocation assistance for an alternative site outside of the Bell Tower. Cervantez claimed that the club rejected the offer. The city countered with a two-to-three year lease at the current $120,000 contractual rate. The club, according to Cervantez, asked for an extra month to vacate the Bell Tower at the end of the current contract, which the city agreed to. Without an agreement in place, the city's community services department is developing plans for alternative programming at the Bell Tower, including activities for youth. Council members will consider such a plan during the budget development process. In the meantime, parents attended the council meeting to voice their displeasure over the club leaving Rancho Santa Margarita. 'My son just started at the Boys & Girls Club,' said Jill Shea. 'I'm working three jobs and I still can't pay for other childcare. The Boys & Girls Club was a blessing to me. Now what am I going to do? I just don't understand why we would be trying to get rid of such an awesome service that is so inexpensive for someone like me who's a full-time mom and a full-time working person.' According to 2024 statistics, the club serves more than 1,100 youth, 59% of whom are Latino, across all three locations every year. Beall, the mayor, told TimesOC the club was only serving 62 children on average daily attendance in Rancho Santa Margarita, which led the city to pay nine times higher per child than San Juan Capistrano does. The organization's chief executive countered that the closure of the club will have a 'significant impact' on local families. '[The club] has long served as a vital resource providing after-school and summer programs that promote academic success, character development, healthy lifestyles, and life and workforce readiness within a safe and supportive environment,' Watson said. 'We believe that the absence of these services may affect the overall well-being and development of local youth by limiting access to mentorship, educational support and recreational activities that foster personal growth.' During Wednesday's meeting, Councilwoman Keri Lynn Baert spoke in favor of the club before Beall closed discussion. 'This program was well-worth the investment,' she said. 'This decision isn't about cost. We don't need to cut or reduce programs to balance our budget.'
