Cornel West: President Obama Is a Global George Zimmerman
Cornel West has joined his radio cohost Tavis Smiley in blasting the POTUS in the wake of his Trayvon Martin speech last Friday.
Speaking with Democracy Now, West called President Obama “a global George Zimmerman” for his use of deadly drone attacks overseas.
“We know anybody who tries to rationalize the killing of innocent people is a criminal. George Zimmerman is a criminal. But, President Obama is a global George Zimmerman because he tries to rationalize the killing of innocent children, 221 so far, in the name of self-defense… Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen. So when he comes to talk about the killing of an innocent person, you say, well wait a minute, what kind of moral authority are you bringing?”
West also took issue with Obama’s suggestion that he could have met the same fate as Trayvon Martin, explaining a phenomenon he calls the “re-niggerization of the black professional class;” in which so-called black leaders aide in the concealment of the criminalization of poor black and brown people.
“That’s beautiful, that’s an identification. The question is will that identification hide and conceal the fact there’s a criminal justice system in place that has nearly destroyed two generations of very precious, poor black and brown brothers, he hasn’t said a mumbling word until now. Five years in office and can’t say a word about a new Jim Crow.
And at the same time I think we have to recognize that he has been able to hide and conceal that criminalizing of the black poor as what I call the re-niggerizing of the black professional class. You got these black leaders on the Obama Plantation, won’t say a criminal word about the master in the big house. Will only try to tame the field folk so that they’re not critical of the master in the big house.”
Read more at the Huffington Post
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