Cornel West: Cornel West and the 'P' Word

Cornel so crazy.

I’m talking about Cornel West, of course, and his recent anti-President Obama rant.

BlackAmericaweb columnist Michael Cottman has more than adequately and excellently covered what West said about Obama, and, just as importantly, why.

This column will be about West and the “p” word: precious.

Before 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?

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Here’s the definition of precious from Merriam-Webster online dictionary: “1. Of great value or high price. 2. Highly esteemed or cherished. 3. Excessively refined. 4. Great, thoroughgoing.”

And these five definitions come from the Web site www.thefreedictionary.com: “1. Of high cost or worth; valuable. 2. Highly esteemed; cherished. 3. Dear, beloved. 4. Affectedly dainty or over refined: precious mannerisms. 5. Informal thoroughgoing; unmitigated: a precious mess.”

When West referred to the brothers in jail or prison as “precious,” I have a hunch he was using the word in the meaning of any of the first four definitions from the Free Dictionary.

I have no doubt that West, being on the far left of the political spectrum, considers America’s criminal element – the black and brown part of it anyway – to be of “high cost or worth.” Or “valuable.” Or “highly esteemed, cherished, dear and beloved.”

Yes, black and brown reprobates are all those things to West. 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.”

2.    Jason Terrence Richards, Ogden E. “G-Wizz” Coleman, Michael Shelton and Eric Thomas “Ock” Watkins: in the summer of 2004, all these guys were involved in the strangling death of a 15-year-old girl named Quartrina Johnson.

After murdering Quartrina in Baltimore City, the four drove her body to a Baltimore County park and burned it. After they were arrested, Shelton and Watkins cut deals with prosecutors and testified against Coleman and Richards.

Here’s the tale Shelton and Watkins told: Richards, a man of 24, was having sex with a girl, then only 13 years old.

Oh, that’s so “precious,” ain’t it, Cornel?

Quartrina was the girl’s foster sister. After their foster mom got wind of the relationship between Richards and the 13-year-old, Quartrina was all set to testify against him in a statutory rape case.

The 13-year-old, tired “of her foster mother telling her what to do,” decided to run away with Richards. Quartrina, not wanting to see her sister go with Richards alone, went with them.

Quartrina was strangled to keep her from testifying. Oh, and she was just as black as the four “precious” men responsible for her death.

3.    Derrick Taylor and Corey McMillon: in January of 2005 these two forced their way into a Baltimore halfway house. They were looking to collect a drug debt from a man named Antwon Arthur.

They held all the occupants of the house at gunpoint while they threatened Arthur. Nathaniel Gulliver, one of the occupants of the house, asked how much money Arthur owed them.

After learning the amount, Gulliver volunteered to empty his bank account to pay the debt. He left, accompanied by either McMillon or a third man who was with Taylor and McMillon, to walk to a nearby automated teller machine and get the money.

But giving the money to Taylor didn’t mollify his taste for murder. He shot Arthur anyway, and then either he or McMillon shot Gulliver and two other men in the house.

Ah, that was a precious act indeed, was it not, Mr. West?

Full disclosure: Gulliver was my first cousin. His murder, Quartrina’s murder and the torching of the Dawsons doesn’t make me feel like black America’s criminal element is as “precious” as West says it is.

But maybe I’m just funny that way.

(Photo: Retna)