And I'm going to Well, uh, Dr. Cornell West, you don't need an introduction. Your reputation precedes you.

And I just want to welcome you to the show. It's a pleasure to have you of you and I have met

you probably don't remember me but we've crossed paths at various points in our lives

whether it was at Harvard or whether it was at Standing Rock, so welcome to the Red Nation Podcast.

Well, I'm so very, very blessed to be here and to be in conversation with you and to

renew our encounters and relations and dialogues though, brother, definitely.

You're Lakota right out of South Dakota.

That's right. And living now in Princes Town, Minneapolis,

Wileschis. I should be so narrow and it is not Princes.

It is Princes Town. That's one of the beautiful things about this place. It's always purple rain

Oh, that's a beautiful way I put in the man we miss himself like

We miss himself when you say you and your parents are doing all right and that's a beautiful thing

yes sir so I just I would just like to start the conversation off with what's inspiring you today and what inspired you to run for president?

Well, you know, part of it is, though, brother, I've had so much love and encourage and joy poured into me by my parents, Irene and Clifton in my church, Shiloh Baptist Church, and the Black Panther Party when I was growing up, that I have to bear witness to it. You know, I have to be able to let it out, and that just means trying to tell the truth and seek justice in my own

fallible way. And the American Empire now is in such internal decay, you know, we're headed toward almost a second civil war, was Trump and his neo-fascism.

But also the empire is declining externally.

And we're headed toward the third World War with the proxy war with Ukraine, in Ukraine, with Russia.

And so I said to myself, well, how can I raise my voice, speak my truth, try to pursue justice?

And that means of course, you know, speaking some very painful truth.

The truth is a jagged edge phenomenon.

It cuts, both at ourselves but also at our largest society

in which we live.

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