Gregory Kane, writing at BlackAmericaWeb.com, says it's impossible to decipher professor Cornel West's latest rant — that black male prisoners are "precious" — because the argument is fundamentally flawed. Kane lists victims of some of those "precious" incarcerated men.
This column will be about West and the “p” word: precious.
Before [Cornel] West’s rant, I thought I knew what the definition of precious was. But after hearing the way he used it, I figured I was wrong.
"There’s a criminal justice system in place," West huffed, "that has nearly destroyed two generations of precious, poor black and brown brothers."
So those brothers now residing in the nation's jails and prisons are "precious," are they? …
… In what will most certainly be a futile attempt to bring West back to reality, I’ve compiled a list of some of the black miscreants West finds so "precious."
1. Darrell Brooks: On the night of Oct. 2, 2002, Brooks kicked in the door of a house in East Baltimore. He tossed in some gasoline and then torched the place.
The family inside couldn't escape the inferno. Carnell Dawson and his wife, Angela Dawson, were killed. So were their five children.
You will never, as long as you live, hear West refer to Carnell Dawson, Angela Dawson or any of their five children — all every bit as black as the criminals West’s heart bleeds for — as "precious."
Read Gregory Kane's entire piece at BlackAmericaWeb.com.
The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.