Dr. Cornel West (Photo courtesy Presidential campaign website)
Professor, scholar, and author Dr. Cornel West and Father Michel L. Pfleger double-down on President Trump, with the popular priest calling for “street heat” to combat the president’s attack against people and West labeling him a “gangster” with both advocating a strong resistance movement with no room for cowards.
Before Dr. West spoke at St. Sabina’s Black History Month celebration on Sunday, February 2nd, Father Pfleger updated the congregation on his many meetings regarding the Trump/Musk administration’s attack on Black and brown people.
Trump’s initial freeze on federal funding to nonprofits would have been devastating to Pfleger and many others in the faith community and beyond, and how Trump is attacking these programs, which benefit primarily Black and brown people, troubles Pfleger.
The result of Trump’s intrusion of mega-billionaire Elon Musk into the federal government has created a tense battle between Trump’s executive order’s pen and the Constitutional power of Congress. Musk has been designated as a “special government employee” by Trump, but Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-1st) said Musk “is illegal as is the Department of Public Efficiency (DOGE.)”
Still, after being in office for 16 days, Trump has given the green light to mega-billionaire Elon Musk, a pro bono, non-federal appointee to head DOGE. Trump created DOGE by executive order so Musk could fire thousands of employees and replace them with his “Patriots.”
But it doesn’t stop there. Initially, Trump issued an executive order putting a freeze on federal funding that would have severely crippled Father Pfleger’s numerous job and school programs.
Fortunately, U.S. District Judge Loren L. Ali Khan extended her temporary block on the freeze, forcing Trump to rescind that executive order. However, he reportedly promised to create a funding plan soon.
And that has Father Pfleger worried. Having recently met with several nonprofit and civil rights organizations on how they will form a resistance movement to Trump’s attacks, Pfleger told us of the impact the initial freeze order would have on St. Sabina and its programs.
“That freeze would have caused us to lay off 22 staff members, and all of our violence prevention programs would have been cut off, as well as those who work with young brothers. Our Meals on Wheels to seniors would be cut off, as well as Section 8, Medicaid, and our St. Sabina Academy school lunch program,” Pfleger stated.
He referred to Trump’s executive order allowing ICE Agents to come into churches and schools looking for undocumented people. He says Trump has labeled them “illegals and criminals.”
Making it clear, Pfleger said, “No one is illegal in a stolen land, and while there is much intent to divide Blacks and brown, we will not allow that division to take place. Every human life we will protect, and we will continue to help them.”
Saying this nation has fought wars called against tyranny, dictatorship, Nazism, and Fascism, Father Pfleger said, “We are now seeing what we said we fought against becoming a reality in the White House in this country.
“Tyranny, Fascism, dictatorship are now in the Oval Office in this country, and we must and we will fight it,” he vowed. “There is no checks or balances on this president. He runs the Senate, Congress, the Department of Justice, and the Supreme Court, and now Elon Musk is in the Treasury Department.”
Given that scenario, Father Pfleger said, “The checks and balances must come from the street and the faith communities.
“Muslims, Christians, and Jews wake up. Get up and become who we are supposed to be. We cannot be silent.” Having received so many calls and messages from people who are still depressed over the election results, Pfleger said, “People of faith…no matter how crazy or toxic he is, understand that we have the wild card and his name is Jesus,” he told a cheering audience.
“We don’t give up. We fight back. This is not a congregation. This is an army, and we will fight,” Father Pfleger bellowed.
In concluding his update on creating a resistance movement, Pfleger promised civil disobedience in reaction to Trump’s continued attacks on people, social programs, and democracy. He then introduced Dr. West as St. Sabina’s Black History Month guest speaker.
Dr. West, who was accompanied by his wife, Dr. Annahita Mahdavi West, discussed the history of Black people. They have been “chronically hated for 400 years,” but they “keep dishing out love warriors that the whole world has to take notice of.”
Calling himself a “love child,” West, who ran for the presidency last year as an independent, said he was loved by his mother, teacher and church leaders so much he couldn’t have stayed in a crack house even if he wanted to. He’s trying to stay on the “love train” and the best of Black history.
But he says the first signs of the love is they must have “integrity, honesty, decency and courage. God can’t use no cowards. If you’re scared and intimidated, get out of the way,” said West.
“We can’t talk about Black history without talking about Black cowards. I don’t romanticize anybody. I don’t romanticize myself. I grew with gangsters. I got a lot of gangster in me. I was a gangster before I met Jesus.
“I ain’t nothing but a redeemed sinner with gangster proclivity right now. Nothing but the Holy Ghost holding me together,” West told a cheering audience. “Everybody’s got a thuggish proclivity.”
The question, West asked, is what are people going to do given the “civil war that’s taking place on the battlefield of your own soul?
“Are you going to push back against the proclivity, push back the thuggish proclivities and allow yourself to learn how to love?”
At this time in history, West said, “We are living in a moment of an American empire where thuggish proclivities have been normalized, and gangster proclivities have been naturalized and you’re trying to teach our young people especially the only way you can be in the world is to be a gangster because that is what Trump is, a gangster,” bellowed Dr. West.
Saying gangsters can stay and do anything and get away with it, West said, “The Ten Commandments don’t mean nothing just the 11th commandment, thou shall not get caught.
“And when you get caught, just pay him some money to make sure you can stay out and let your fellow gangster…figure it out. We got to tell the truth. Black folk wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have truth-tellers…. We got a love. We got a freedom. We got a joy that the world didn’t give us and the world can’t take away. That’s why we’re going to fight,” West said.
Pointing to Blacks like Malcolm X and Emmett Till, who was murdered in Money, Mississippi, and others who have been hated and terrorized, West said they “never created a Black version of the KKK.”
He referred to Mamie Till Mobley, the mother of Emmett, when she held her son’s funeral at Roberts Temple in Chicago with an open casket showing his head “five times the size of a normal head.”
West said Mrs. Till told the world, “I don’t have a minute to hate. I will pursue justice for the rest of why life.” West said that was the making of character, integrity, honesty, courage. That kind of making comes from a people of spiritual and moral greatness.
“We have to say to Trump, What is your definition of greatness? You want to make America great? You got Genghis Khan in mind? You got Alexander the Great in mind? You got Napoleon in mind? You got the biggest contras and gangsters in mind? You got the biggest Contras and gangsters in mind.”
On the other hand, Dr. West said Blacks come from a tradition of greatness and that they must fight back.”
