What Future for Our Youth?

On Monday night, I found my rather upset and saddened self at an event sponsored by UChicago that brought together two (arguably great) minds, tons of community groups, and over a thousand people to a conversation about the future of minority youth in our country.

The two men on stage were Carl Dix and Cornel West. Carl Dix has a long and interesting history of protest in this country, and is best known for his involvement in the Revolutionary Communist Party of the United States. Cornel West is a leading academic figure who currently teaches at both Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary. A revolutionary Communist and a revolutionary Christian, coming together to debate and converse on this most pressing issue. It was kind of a big deal.

Carl Dix spoke first, and his comments were certainly more incendiary and pointed. He clearly had a political agenda, but I found myself fascinated by what he had to say, even though I disagree with his methods and some of his conclusions. He claims that the mass incarceration of this country's minority population, plus silence about the issue, is tantamount to genocide. While I don't necessarily disagree that our criminal "injustice" society is terribly flawed, I would argue that people who have experienced the systematic and purposeful extermination of their people might take offense to such a comparison. Perhaps it is a slow genocide... but perhaps it is simply an incredibly complicated issue with a multitude of different viewpoints. I believe my favorite part of his speech was this quote he shared by Bob Avakian... the leader of the RevCom party, but apparently kind of brilliant when it comes to saying important things eloquently.

"First, people don’t make choices in a vacuum. They do it in the context of the social relations they’re enmeshed in and the options they have within those relations—which are not of their own choosing. They confront those relations, they don’t choose them. Two, if people feel for whatever reasons that they want to choose to harm themselves and others, we’re going to struggle with them—but we’re not going to blame them. We’re going to show them the source of all this in the system, and call on them to struggle against that system, and transform themselves in the process. Just because a youth “chooses” to sell drugs, or a woman “chooses” to commodify herself sexually, doesn’t mean that they chose to have those choices. And there is no other way besides fighting the power, and transforming the people, for revolution that all this will change for the better. Blaming the masses for bad choices just reinforces the conditions that they are oppressed by."

 I was inspired by some of his words, but his end claim that a communist revolution is the way to go had me sitting back a bit. The first phrase in my mind was "idealism run amok." To note, in the words of one of my favorite characters from The West Wing, Donna: "Communists look EXACTLY like non-Communists."

Cornel West was a bit more tempered, though he remains even a bit further left than I claim to be. He spoke about his own story, and elaborated on the current state of the United States when it comes to treatment of the poor and the minority population. He was a huge advocate for an Obama presidency and now a harsh critic, claiming that the president hasn't done enough. (I'm tired of this, to be honest. We've not gotten all that we were promised, certainly... but people need to realize that it's hard to stay in office if you're pissing everyone off all the time...) He does agree that a right-wing presidency would be much worse, so I'm not totally upset with him. He had some cool quotes as well, the first being about the struggle this will be.

"Anytime you have a profound love for poor people, you are a threat to the powers that be."

The following quote made me swear aloud. He was addressing a question from the audience about the need to "occupy the church" and get it involved in these issues.

"When the blood at the cross is transformed into Kool-Aid, we have some issues in occupying the church."

The implication here being that white people don't drink Kool-Aid, and this is a movement that needs to transcend racial lines. I laughed, pretty hard.

At the end of the night, I was happy to have gone and "participated" in a conversation that addresses the issues my kids, and myself indirectly, face on a daily basis. It was rather affirming, however, to walk out of there with a sense of rightness in my belief and continued assertion. The reason for my passion, if you will.

Education is THE answer.