DR. WEST TELLS INDIANA AUDIENCE WHY THE “RADICAL LOVE” OF MLK IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER

By: Maynard Eaton & Michal Williams

It was a potent, powerful and poignant private discussion with the inimitable intellectual and political activist Dr. Cornel West, an hour before he addressed a sold-out crowd at Ivy Tech Community College. Located in the small working-class City of Kokomo, Indiana, West was addressing a multi-racial crowd of nearly 500 at the College’s annual “Doing the Dream” event, commemorating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Kokomo is at a fork in the road," when asked about the timeliness of his journey to Kokomo to address the community. "Things are taking off. So if it’s going to take off financially, then it also needs to take off spiritually and morally".

Kokomo’s life-blood has been the auto industry for the last 129 years. Elwood Haynes invented the first “horseless carriage” in Kokomo and started producing cars there commercially in 1894. The city has seen its share of ups and downs with factory closures and immense job losses over the last century. Today, the city is trying to adapt to new trends and is very excited about a new EV manufacturing plant slated to open its doors in 2025.

”"It’s a wonderful thing that more money flows, that more jobs with a living wage are available," West opines. "That’s very important, but human beings don’t live by bread alone. Is the quality of their heart, the quality of their love, the quality of relationships and the quality of how they treat others.”

West adds, “Martin [Luther King, Jr.] learned that at Ebenezer Baptist Church. He didn’t invent it. He came out of tradition, and there are a lot of voices that are taking that seriously, so those of us who are trying to build a legacy of Martin, how do we empower each other in the community?”

Ironically and incredulously, West did not know that the occasion of his 2023 appearance also marked the 100th anniversary of Kokomo’s infamous KKK Rally and March. The largest documented in American history, this rally drew over 200,000 Klan members to Kokomo on July 4th,1923.

Outside the legendary “knightriders” Klan members of the South, the KKK rose to prominence in the Midwest to a startling and revolting degree in the 1920’s.

When asked how Kokomo can reconcile with that kind of legacy of hate, West said Kokomo is not the only place where there is such a legacy of abhorrence.

“The whole country has a legacy of hate in terms of genocide, extermination of indigenous peoples, African Slavery, the massive mistreatment of poor white brothers and sisters, and patriarchal violence against women. All of those are forms of hate,” explained West.

“But that crystallizes a particular manifestation of hate in 1923 in Kokomo. One, you can’t be in denial about it. You have to acknowledge that it’s there and it has a legacy. Then you have to fortify yourself, put on a whole armor, and fight it. You fight it intellectually, spiritually, politically, economically and culturally.”

He continued, “You call for what Martin would have called for…solidarity. It’s a human choice, not just Black people out there all by themselves. Every human being who wants to be a decent person has an imperative to fight that legacy of hate.”

In a book of speeches, sermons and essays West compiled and edited, The Radical King, he uses the term “Santa-Clausification” with regard to how many people choose to view and commemorate King’s legacy. By clinging to the safe, “feel good” aspects of King’s legacy, oftentimes many fail to recognize the true grit of his fervent, ardent activism.

Many colleges and businesses like Ivy Tech have instituted offices of Diversity, Equity & Belonging, This College’s aim was to firmly focus the event’s trajectory with West’s straightfrom-the-hip commentary and clarion call.

"[We must be] committed to the truth of Dr King’s legacy, which is one of radical love,” posited West. “I’ll put it in musical terms. Love is funky and King was a Funk Master, so we’re not going to deodorize. In that sense he actually was a militant for tenderness and an extremist for love…a radical love warrior who was tied to struggling for justice. We are just being true to Martin.”

West illustrated that Dr. King was not alone in his quest to spread extreme love.

“He was one voice among others. There’s Fannie Lou Hamer, There is Ella Baker, there’s Malcolm X…Gil Scott Heron and Curtis Mayfield, All of these are love warriors of the highest, coming out of a Black tradition,” West continued.

“You have to situate Martin within the larger tradition that shaped and molded him. We don’t just come in worshipping individuals, but we come in acknowledging the vibrant and vital tradition of which he is a major, major figure and voice and exemplar.”

When suggested that many pundits tend to place folks in safe, sanitized categorical boxes, West agreed that Dr.King’s radical brand of love precluded him from being pigeonholed.

“Oh yeah, absolutely, “ said West, “Love is always a threat. Love is ALWAYS a threat. I was blessed to write a song with a genius named Bootsy Collins, ‘Love is a Threat,’ it’s on his album “Funk Capital of the World’. We’re right there in the studio working it out and I said, “Bootsy Man…. and we came up with those words.’. It’s like Jesus on the cross—he’s a threat. The highest level of love warriorship… he’s a threat.”

Dr. West underscored Dr. King’s unmatched ability to touch people, including the impact he had on himself.

“I mean, what was beautiful about Martin was I heard him speak when I was ten years old, and he had a tenderness about him. He could touch people’s souls as well as their minds and hearts. That’s a rare thing.”

Maynard Eaton is an eight time Emmy Award-winning multi-media journalist and the SCLC National Communication Director. After obtaining a Masters in Journalism at Columbia University, he has been featured on television and print outlets in Norfolk, Miami and Atlanta, where he has extensively covered civil rights luminaries including Andrew Young, CT Vivian, John Lewis, Bernard LaFayette and others. As an educator he has taught at Clark Atlanta University for two decades. Eaton was named Endowed Professor of Journalism at his Alma Mater Hampton University in 2022.

Michal Williams is an ethnographer and author based in Central Indiana. Williams’ coverage of Culture and Race issues has been published in the Louisiana Weekly, OffBeat Magazine, Gambit Magazine, Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis Star, Kokomo Tribune and the New York Times.

Fifty-five years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the passage of the federal Fair Housing Act, the U.S. still has unfair systems that perpetuate racial wealth and homeownership gaps. The number of housing discrimination complaints has risen to unprecedented levels, and America’s neighborhoods are more segregated now than they were in 1918.

Dr. King’s call for fair housing rings just as true today. In his honor, the National Fair Housing Alliance has committed itself to Advancing a Blueprint for Equity to eliminate bias in our society and create healthy, vibrant, well-resourced neighborhoods where all people can thrive. Join us at www.nationalfairhousing.org

Al Abama Education Association

Beacon of Hope

To address root causes of disparities in health and education, Novartis and the Novartis US Foundation have launched Beacon of Hope, an innovative ten-year, $50 million collaboration with 26 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the National Medical Association and Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

For more information, please visit: https://www.novartis.com/us-en/esg/beacon-hope