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Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud
A Memoir by Cornel West with David Ritz
Smiley Books
Hardcover, $25.95
288 pages, illustrated
ISBN: 978-1-4019-2189-7
Book Review by Kam Williams
“My foundation consisted of three powerful
elements: family; the Socratic spirituality of seeking the truth; and
the Christian spirituality of bearing witness to love and justice... I
also got the benefit of living in a black community filled with love and
care. Today they call it a ‘hood. But back then, it was a sure-enough
neighborhood, with ties of empathy and deep bonds of sympathy… Even at
this early age, the question kicked in: is it possible to love oppressed
people and not be a fanatic for fairness?”
Excerpted from Chapter 3 (pages 22-23)
Everybody knows Cornel West, the public intellectual, the
popular Princeton University Professor and best-selling author who has
remained dedicated to the plight of the poor and underprivileged over
the course of his illustrious career. Yet few know anything about his
private life, or about what has inspired him to remain on such a
righteous path and in touch with his roots over the years.
Now at 56, Dr. West has decided to share his life story in a moving
memoir co-authored by David Ritz. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m
suspicious of any autobiography with a ghostwriter, because I’ve been
bored to tears by many an inauthentic mess, such as the infuriating
insult to the intelligence by Johnny Cochran, which read like a 300-page
long sales pitch for the late attorney’s law firm and didn’t even sound
like it was written by a black person, let alone a legal crusader who
had championed the cause of the underprivileged.
Fortunately, David Ritz has an impressive resume’, having previously
collaborated with such African-American icons as Tavis Smiley, Aretha
Franklin, Smokey Robinson, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Sinbad, Etta James,
and most recently, convicted killer-turned actress Felicia Snoop Pearson
on a riveting, relentlessly-graphic, warts-and-all bio which this critic
reviewed. In the case of Cornel West, Ritz has crafted a remarkably
intimate opus which somehow manages to preserve the colorful cadence of
his subject’s distinctly-melodic vocal phrasings, so the words virtually
leap of the pages as if in Technicolor.
More importantly, the tales recounted here, reveal mostly
experiences apt to resonate with the average African-American, Dr.
West’s ivory-towered, academic credentials notwithstanding. For example,
this is how he recounts the day he was arrested after being
profile-stopped by a cop while passing through upstate New York.
“Get out of the car, boy.” Policeman looked over my driver’s
license, looked me in the face, and then nodded his head. “Yup,” he
said. “You’re the guy.”
“What guy?”
“Nigger we been looking for.”
“For doing what?”
“Selling cocaine.”
“I don’t sell cocaine.”
“What do you do?”
“Teach philosophy and religion. I’m a professor.”
“And I’m the Flying Nun… We got you down as a major dealer.”
“Impossible.”
“That’s what they all say.”
Then, the officer proceeded to handcuff his “perp” and to drive him
down to the police station for booking. The same thing has happened to
me and to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other innocent black
males. So, to hear of Dr. West’s nightmare is not so much shocking, but
rather an opportunity to feel gratitude for the indictment of a national
disgrace by a brother with access to the mass media. It’s frank
vignettes like that arrest incident which help explain exactly what
shaped Cornel West’s world view, and why he refuses to rest so long as
there still remains any suffering among the least of his brethren.
The candid reflections of an uncompromising, compassionate Christian
with a functioning conscience and an open heart.
To order a copy of Living and Loving Out Loud, visit:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401921892?ie=UTF8&tag=thslfofire-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1401921892
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Lloyd
Kam Williams 