10:50am | Human rights activist and Princeton professor Dr. Cornel West spoke and fielded questions from a capacity crowd at Cal State Long Beach yesterday that overflowed into an overflow room to accommodate everyone in attendance.
West, a respected author and regular guest on shows like The Colbert Report and Real Time With Bill Maher, discussed Black History Month among a wide variety of other topics dealing with race, injustice, equality and mortality.
“It’s what great universities do,” said CSULB President F. King Alexander in a back room, minutes before West arrived at the podium. “It’s great to bring people like Dr. West to our campus, to our students to interact with.”
Using his trademark enthusiasm and Baptist Church preaching style, West called for deep and sometimes painful self-reflection both on a personal and national level, imploring the crowd to think critically and value justice over personal gain. He has been criticized in the past for his impassioned speaking and addressed the issue.
“The fire just has to do with the love, that’s all,” he said, later expanding. “I am a militant for sweetness, a militant for kindness. I am an extremist for love.”
West and CSULB President F. King Alexander chat in a back room, minutes before the event begins.
West receives a standing ovation as he takes the podium.
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Photo courtesy CornelWest.com
9:22am | Well-known activist and Harvard professor Dr. Cornel West will speak at Cal State Long Beach today at 12:30pm, in an interview with KBEACH radio that can be streamed live to listen in.
The 56-year old West has built a reputation as a civil rights advocate and voice for the poor and working class. His 1993 book Race Matters became essential reading on the topic of post-1960s racial justice and he is a regular speaker on a variety of subjects ranging from politics to philosophy.
He recently made headlines in an interview with late night host Craig Ferguson when the two discussed Black History Month.
As a student, West graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in just three years and earned his Ph.D. from Princeton. He became the youngest tenured professor at Harvard ever at the age of 28 and currently teaches at Princeton.
Click here for a direct link to today’s live web stream.
His appearance today will take place in the CSULB University Student Union.