QUESTLOVE: So you were teaching your class about the difference in
social impact between Marcus Garvey and Du Bois. And what I took away
was the question of whether we need a messiah figure to lead society, or
can it be truly grassroots? I also wonder what good it will do today.
Chuck D taught me a long time ago to aim really small. And everyone now
has [Michael] Jordan-itis—everyone wants the star position. So where do
you fall, on the question of how we can best move forward as a society,
between the Moses-messiah figure, like Martin Luther King Jr. or, say,
Occupy Wall Street, which really didn't have a leader?
CORNEL
WEST: I take my fundamental cue from John Coltrane that says there must
be a priority of integrity, honesty, decency, and mastery of craft. I
take my second cue from [organizer and activist] Ella Baker that says,
with that integrity, honesty, decency, master of craft, there must be an
attempt to find, among everyday people, vision, voice, and modes of
organizing and mobilizing that does not result in the messianic model,
in the HNIC, the head negro in charge. This is where Martin King comes
in, and the distinction we made in class between conspicuous charisma
and service-oriented charisma. It's possible to be highly charismatic
the way John Coltrane was, and still de-center oneself, as he did, to
allow for McCoy, and Elvin, and Reggie, and the others [who played with
Coltrane] to lift their voices with tremendous power. Martin, at his
best, was able to empower others, galvanize others and, through an
integrity and humility, recognize he's just another human being, not a
messiah. At his worst, he was the Moses that everybody had to defer to.
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