Cornel West, an extremist race-relations instructor at Princeton, was speaking last Saturday at the "We Count! The Black Agenda is the American Agenda" conference in Chicago organized by talk show host Tavis Smiley. The event was broadcast on CSPAN.

Stated West, "There are a number of highly misguided right-wing white brothers and sisters who are engaged in assault and attack and could even attempt to kill him (Obama). So we have to protect our brother. There's no doubt about that. And we have to keep track of those forces that will lie and degrade. ... He is our brother. He needs to be protected."

Calling Farrakhan "my dear brother," West went on to claim, "America is an empire in relative decline because of corporate greed, military overstretch, war in Afghanistan, war in Iraq, drones in Pakistan and still siding with right-wing forces in Latin America."

Your lawmakers are out of control. Send Congress copies of the Constitution today!

West made similar remarks when he introduced Obama on stage at a 2007 Harlem fundraiser attended by about 1,500 people that served as Obama's first foray into Harlem after announcing his Democratic presidential candidacy.

At the time, Obama took the stage calling West a "genius."

WND reported West introduced Obama on stage at the fundraiser after first railing against the "racist" criminal-justice system of the "American empire."

A scan of YouTube clips found West (link:) introducing Obama at the fundraiser while stating the "American empire is in such a deep crisis" and slamming the "racist criminal-justice system" and "disgraceful schools in our city."

"He is my brother and my companion and comrade," said West of Obama.

WND found a video that shows Obama taking the stage just after West's introduction, expressing his gratitude to West, calling him "not only a genius, a public intellectual, a preacher, an oracle ... he's also a loving person."

Obama asked the audience for a round of applause for West.

Obama named West, whom he has called a personal friend, to the Black Advisory Council of his presidential campaign. West was a key point man between Obama's campaign and the black community.

West served as an adviser on Farrakhan's Million Man March and is a self-described personal friend of the Nation of Islam leader. West authored two books on race with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr, who was at the center of a recent controversy in which Obama criticized Gates' treatment by police outside his home after a report of a burglary.

Obama a 'light skinned Negro that is non-threatening'

West could be seen in a YouTube video of last week's "Black Agenda" event nodding in agreement during Farrakhan's statements at the roundtable.

Farrakhan claimed white people voted for Obama in 2008 because the politician "don't (sic) speak with a Negro dialect. A light skinned Negro that is non-threatening to white people because they can see themselves in him because he is part them and part us."

Farrakhan went on to claim "the forces that surround power is always the real power."

"President Obama does not run this country," he stated. "President Obama has been chosen to govern white affairs. And if in that process we get something it won't be because the governing powers want it but because we organized and forced the government to speak to our needs."

Other black leaders at last week's roundtable included Rev. Jesse Jackson and executive Tom Burrell. Valerie Jarrett, Obama's senior adviser, was invited but did not attend, as did Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., Rev. Al Sharpton, and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.

WND reported last week that West, a longtime socialist activist, addressed a socialist conference at which he declared "socialism has a future" while urging participants to help Obama.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=134417

March 30, 2010