Book Review: Black Prophetic Fire

If you admire great intellect and appreciation for nuance, you’ll love Black Prophetic Fire, by Cornel West and Christa Buschendorf. Although it’s written in Q and A format, it’s more of a discussion between West and Buschendorf. Together, they explore the lives and explain the seeming contradictions of six great Black American firebrands for justice, prophets, if you will, including MLK and Malcolm X. Their objective is to understand what it will take for a Black prophet to emerge today.

And that’s why I read it. More and more, I’m convinced that America, and the world, will move in a more sustainable direction only as the result of a populist movement. I just don’t see how electing political leaders, whether Democrat or Republican, who are in the hip pocket of corporate America will solve many problems. Wring your hands if you wish about Ron Barber’s possible loss in CD2, but I don’t think things like that really matter all that much. I don’t know who will win in CD2, but I do know the winner will advocate propping up Tucson area defense contractors and sticking it to poor people on food stamps.

So I think our best hope is something along the lines of a reinvigorated Occupy movement, but this time with a charismatic leader. I suppose the leader could come from anywhere, but the most likely source would be the Black community. At the time of MLK’s death, the movement he led was evolving from one seeking social justice for Blacks to one seeking social and economic justice for all. MLK himself already had evolved into the leader of that movement. If I were given the power to do one super-human thing to stimulate real change in America, I would drop a young MLK reincarnate into Detroit, or Camden, or South Phoenix.

From that perspective, Black Prophetic Fire was a great read for me. But even if you don’t share my perspective, it’s still a great read. Experiencing how a great thinker thinks always is awesome and Cornel West is, above all else, a truly great thinker.