Speaker 1: Mary Jay's got a she got a serious body of work.
Uh and uh, she got hits.
Speaker 2: But this is one of the funkiest hits that Mary
Jay's ever put out.
Speaker 1: I love this track.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: Doctor West is here at Corneill West every Monday and Thursday,
top of second hour. I never know what his walk
on song's gonna be, but I did not see Mary
j coming today, Doctor.
Speaker 3: West, Well, brother, I tell you were living in the
moment with us open season on the fineness of black people.
And we have to be able to revel in our callings,
revel in our prophetic utterance and witness, not in the
spirit of self righteousness, but in the spirit of recognizing
that the fineness will be under attacked. And listen to you.
I just read that letter of the City Council president.
It's week and three week boolid. It's pathetic, and it's
nothing but a count It's nothing but an attack on
somebody who's trying to raise the issue or the suffering
other people. How can raising issue the sefing other people
be profaned? How can raising issues of the sefing other
people reviewed as a white supremacist attack on him? Please,
he's got to get off the crack pipe. Now we
pray for the brother, but he's not one of our
finests at all. Where's his words about Mark really Thomas?
Mark really Thomas is one of our finest. Where's his
words in support of our finest crickets. We hardly hear
a words from the brother so in that sense, and
this is true even with our dear brother Jason there,
and we'll talk about that as well in Cambridge. You
know that we pray for his family, but he's not
one of our finest either. But open season means in
fact that he's still viciously attacked. We defend against that
vicious attack, but he was never one of our finest.
To be professor ed Kim, but it's not at all,
not at all. That was a manipulation by the white
liberals that bring in folk Court. Not part of our
finance in that regard, and we have to lift up
our finest as you as Mark really Thomas. The politicians,
for example, people think Obama's Martin, Luther, King James, you know,
get off the crack pipe. Martin is one of our finests.
Obama's a fine politician. It's a whole different level. We
have to keep our standards up and descend at the
highest level of our energy, our finest and this is
something that I'm going to my grade defending the finest,
not that you or Mark or Martin. People say Kamala
Harris is s Fanny lou Hayman's get off the crack pipe. No,
Kamala Kamala Harris is not one of our finests. She's
a mediocre politician who is very clever to do X
and Y. We have to keep our standards up, and
that's why we appreciate Mary Jay because Mary Jay is
one of our artistically oriented finest ones of her generation.
But she knows even she has to bow down to
Sarah Vaughan, to Billy Holliday, to a Refa Franklin, to
my Hey Jackson. We love Mary Jay. She understands one
of our finests keeping up the greatest standards that we have.
Speaker 2: Doctor West has set the frame when we come forward
after a little more married Jay, I've got some questions
for him. And in case you are not up to
speed on this letter, he referenced that Markquise Harris Dawson,
President La City Council, released on Friday. We'll talk about that.
We are just about today to demand an apology from him.
We're about to push this out momentarily demanding an apology
from Marc Cuise Harris Dawson, what he said, the way
he insulted and tried to gas light this community. We'll
talk about that. It's a local issue, but it has
national residents, I think, and we'll talk about, of course
Jason our day. Doctor West mentions him the professor in
Cambridge who was harassed so much that he killed himself. Great,
you want to talk about Corneill West when we come
forward here, I'm Tavis Smile, Cornell West, Glad he's here.
And so he has raised two issues and we got
a good almost twenty minutes here. We have some timer
to unpack these two issues he has raised. His theme,
his frame, essentially is that we have always seen and
always will see the finest in our community under attack.
Speaker 1: And there's no doubt about that.
Speaker 2: And yet I said in one of my prior editorials
on our station here in LA that it bothers me
when certain black electeds hide behind their identity, their blackness,
to avoid scrutiny.
Speaker 1: They hide behind their identity, I.
Speaker 2: Opined earlier, to avoid scrutiny, I don't like that because
you black domain, you get a pass on being held accountable.
And I don't like it when people play these Jedi
mind tricks. I don't like it when they insult us.
I don't like it when they gas light us. And again,
for those in Los Angeles, you've been hearing for months now,
actually us talking about what we call pro Destination Crenshaw.
They call it Destination Crenshaw. This one point three mile
corridor right in the heart of the black community in
the Crenshaw District that is years behind schedule and as
a result of the economic violence visited upon this community
has stifled.
Speaker 1: People and choked people literally to death.
Speaker 2: They are businesses that have gone under it because they've
dragged their feet so long on getting this project done.
And so we have raised questions about accountability to the
city council president in LA who happens to be black,
also the person that represents this district.
Speaker 1: And he's all up in his feelings. He's all in
his feelings.
Speaker 2: Now he's acting out in ways that are defensive that
speak to his being in his feelings and his emotions.
And that's not the definition of leadership. And so I
guess he had enough of it, and on Friday he
released a letter. The problem with the letter is again,
it's full of gas lighting, it's full of insults, it's demeaning.
It is grit everyday people, and we're not going to
tolerate that. And so we are today in Los Angeles
demanding an apology from Marquise Harris Dawson for what he
said in this letter the other day. He lost his mind,
lost his ever loving mind. Let me just read a
couple of paragraphs, and this is what doctor West was
essentially referencing. He mentioned he's read the letter. So first
of all, in this letter, he takes credit for stuff
he ain't done. Anybody seen Marquise Harris Dawson. You've seen
the photos, You've seen the video we posted. When Karen Bash,
the mayor, came to the Crenshaw Corridor, she walked the
corridor with me and other stakeholders. We told her what
needed to be done. She went to work. Marquise details
all these things in his letter, but then acts like
he did. So he's taking credit for work he didn't do.
He didn't come to the town hall, he didn't come
with Karen Bass when we walked the corridor. But in
his letter he's acting like he in Destination Crenshaw did
the work, stopping lying Marquise, you're lying, you ain't shown up,
you ain't done no work, and taking credit for it
in this letter. That's the definition of gas lighting. That's
what he does in this letter. Then secondly he calls
taking down the gates and the fences and the barricades,
et cetera, giving back to parking. He calls that progress.
No negro, that ain't progress. We back to square one.
Remediation is not progress if we want to see progress
on Destination Crenshaw, but we're back to where we started,
so that's not progress. But then he says the following,
and I want to quote now that doctor West do
what he does. The two progress I want to read
right quick, and then we'll move to Dr Wes commentary
about Jason Arda. He says, I have to address the
false claims directly. He's going after Cornell West here trust
and believe he doesn't call it him by name, but
if you recall the town hall what doctor West say he's.
Speaker 1: Going to after Cornaill West directly.
Speaker 2: I have to address the false claims directly, unsubstantiated accusations
of corruption have been leveled at me and at this project,
without a shred of evidence, in a moment of rising bigotry.
Hurling baseless corruption charges at blackedected officials and community leaders
is not just wrong, it is dangerous. We've seen firsthand
how accusations are used to stifle progress, feed into the
white supremacist desire to incarcerate black leaders, and how it
not only harms the target but the whole community. I
watched every minute of the recent town hall at Bethesda
Temple Church, and I found it especially profane that a
church sanctuary would be used as the backdrop for such
lies and incendiary accusations. So, doctor West, he's calling you
and me liars, he says incendiary accusations. He's calling the
gathering at this black church this sacred space. He's calling
that gathering and those who were involved in it pro
And he says that we have leveled unsubstantiated accusations of
corruption against him. And the part that really just just
irks me is suggesting that because we are raising questions
of accountability about him, that we are somehow advancing some
white supremacist agenda of attacking Black leaders.
Speaker 1: This negro has lost his mind.
Speaker 3: He's lost his mind, he really has. He stands in
deepney the prayer. But the first thing he needs to
do is make a B line too. But there's the
temple and apologize to Reverend Shorter. The Black freedom movement
has been predicated and this city council president knows this.
He went to more House. He wrote a thesis on
the Great Mark Ridley Thomas's empowerment program. Can you imagine
somebody writing a thesis on the empowerment Mark. Really, Thomas's
project has been predicated on a profound respect and love
for black people. But when you then have a church
under the able leadership of Reverend Shorter that comes together,
and what does it do? We start in prayer, we say,
this is not about any love, This is not about
personal attacks. You mentioned that in your speech. I mentioned
that in my speech. And what did we say? I said,
there are three options in terms of the present suffering
of the people of Limbert Park Lahmer Park. One either incompetence.
We're saying to the city council president and others, including
the mayor at that point, this is underperformance of black leadership.
This is lack of execution and followed through. You don't
have precious people locked into a situation for five years,
and they raised their voices and you don't say anything.
It was only the tenth week after you had been
raising the issue that we got any kind of respond
so with either incompetence or it's indifference. You really don't care.
You don't give a damn about these people because they
don't have enough money to sustain you and your next election.
That's the second option, or the third option is corruption.
It could be any one of them. That's not an
accusation of corruption. That's an articulation of an option. Now,
the fact that he went directly to corruption, I said,
oh good, you're gonna have to work with having himself.
That's got nothing to do with you. Ain't got nothing
do with me, Ain't got nothing do with nobody else.
He gonna have to work with that. But any time, though,
Brother Tavish, you view people raising their voices because they're
suffering as an occasion of profanity, reflects such a contempt
for those people. He ought to be ashamed of himself
to call himself a leader, let alone a black leader.
Speaker 1: That's the right word. That's the road of the day.
Speaker 2: I sense in what he had to say a contempt
for black people, and that that's hard to swallow when
you have a contempt for people raising their voices when
you have underperformed, when you underperformed.
Speaker 3: Absolutely absolutely, But this is not though, Tavis. There is
a history of black folk who talk one game, but
in the end have a contempt for the people on
the ground because it's all about something else. I don't
know now he'll accuse you and I have just personal
interest and personal ambition. We're doing all of this based
on personal ambition. Why because they figure Tavis Smiley wants
to be the next mayor of la Please get off
the track.
Speaker 1: Let me read since you read there, just let me
read this particular paragraph.
Speaker 2: The Doctor's reverends can now Marquise Heir's president City Council
writes this in his letter to the public, and I quote,
it's no secret who's behind these recent and dubious attempts
to sow division, and they are willing to put their
personal interest and ambitions above those of the community they
purport to represent.
Speaker 1: Close quote. I don't know what.
Speaker 2: Personal ambition he's talking about. On my part, I'm not
running for city council. I'm not trying to be the
mayor of this city. I got my hands full with
this radio station and everything else I'm trying to do.
But when he leans in to personal interest and ambitions
as a way to try to push back on doctor West,
critiku and MI critique and frankly not just calling the
Western Tabismley, there were hundreds of people packed in this
church and you've been hearing, you've been hearing on our
local station here the voices of fifteen or twenty of
those people that we run every hour. We wanted to
be clear in case you missed the town all that
there were people that got to the microphone and spoke
their truth.
Speaker 1: It's not about tap.
Speaker 2: This is not a personal squabble up with Marquise Harris Dawson,
Tavis Smiley, Cornell West to anybody else. It's about being
held accountable to what you told the people you are
going to deliver. So then to be all to go
lowbrow with it and to act as if this is
about some personal interest and ambition, that's just sick to me.
Speaker 3: Doc, it is, and I just think that you know
the brother's on his way out. We're gonna have to
pray for him. He's gonna have to repent sometime down
the line, because he knows deep down in his heart
and soul that you can't just treat the people this
way and be silent, and then in the end when
somebody makes you accountable, all of a sudden, now you
become one of those who are being targeted by white supremacy.
There are many black people who are being targeted by
white supremacist forces. There's no doubt about that. The black
people keeping him accountable is not part of that open
sea in activity. And if he can't see that distinction,
then he thinks that everyday people in Los Angeles, especially
black folk, are just blind sheep and gonna listen to
anything he writes and says and follow him. Those days
are long, long, long over, long, long long over. You
got to grow up, You got to be mature. We
got enough mess to be dealing with with the neo
fascists in Washington, and these too often these neoliberals who
continue to act like they support us, but as soon
as things get hot, like the shift from George Floyd
moment to the Antidei moment, look at three hundred and
fifty thousand black women being targeted. That's open season on
black folks. They lost their job well the Merk Park
Black folk in some sense have been targeted by the
disrespect and contempt in terms of how they've been treated
for five years. And this is all he can come
up with it attack you and I and others. Please heya,
no grow up is right.
Speaker 2: This letter is on our website at KBLA fifteen eighty
dot com for those listening around the country and the
city who haven't read the letter from Marquise Heris Tawson
City Council President. It's worth reading for yourself. Don't take
my word for it, don't take dot's word for It's
on our website right now on the homepage. You can't
miss it KBLA fifteen eighty dot com. He knows because
we keep reminding you if he has until September the
fourth the city does to respond to the demands made
by the community in the letter we sent them on
August to fifth.
Speaker 1: Is our recalls. They've got into a September fourth.
Speaker 2: Friday to respond in detail that the demands made by
this community. We will see what happens on September fourth.
And people keep asking me what happens if they don't respond,
don't respond appropriately, And my answer is very simply, stay tuned.
Speaker 1: That's all I can tell you about Ted.
Speaker 2: I've got three minutes left, Doc, let's let's I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: Our finers like Mark Really Thomas is targeted and he's
talking about the charge of the corruption and incarceration. Mark
Really Thomas is an innocent man who's been targeted. Where's
your boy City Council President?
Speaker 2: And for that matter, you know I don't need to
It's not about beating my chest. But what this station
has done locally is to defend standing the gap for
Mark Whody Thomas. We've also done the same thing for
same thing for current price. So you can't accuse us
of running a white experiencist agenda. But we're the only
media outlet in town who's standing firm behind the black
electors who are being falsely accused.
Speaker 1: So I'll leave that where it is.
Speaker 2: I've got too many left to go, Doc, say a
word then again to your point about our finance being targeted,
about brother Jason and the ways in which he was
so harassed and so targeted that brother took his own life.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Well it's a sad situation. You know, when
he was up for the job, there were two black
women who were really superb scholars, and the white advisory
board chose Brothers Jason, and it turned out that Jason
was not honest. It turns out that he was not
telling the full truth about his history and so forth.
He's a very wonderful human being, he's a sensitive human being,
he's a kind human being, but he was not up
for that job. When it comes to the kind of
academic qualification, they're a whole wave of black people who
meet the academic qualification, there's no doubt about that. But
then when it came down so hard on him, the
British press, especially the establishment, did it express a white
supremacist contempt for not just him, but Black people as
a whole, as a whole, And then you've got Nathan
and the others. Of course, that's the white brother, the
Jewish brother who believes in rape science, who believes that
Harvard would have zero professors if it were based on merit,
and Harvard would not have hardly any students if it
was based on merit. What do they mean by merit?
When was merit ever fully operative? In knee way, so
that he believes in superstition. That's what rape science says.
You might as well believe in Unicorn's defense war. But
he's professor great science, so let him have his superstitious
He's the one who was responsible for bringing exposing Jason,
but Jason himself was open to this kind of exposure.
We have black quaalter flight academics who could teach a Cambridge, Oxford,
any city college, any state college, any university across the board.
You I'll begin with my Alna Korenga, my dear brother
who's been sitting out there doing magnificent work too often
overlook major major boys. We got a whole lot of
black scholars out there.
Speaker 2: He Jason already, of course, is now dead. And the
news about Nathan Jolas and Nathan Conference, who doctor Wes
just mentioned, who brought these allegations against brother Jason. He
has now been suspended by his university. So this thing
ain't end well for nobody. Jason is deceased and the
white brother Nathan Conference cognast has now been suspended by
his institution. So this story continues to develop. But our
thoughts and prayers go to brother Jason.
Speaker 1: And his family.
Speaker 2: Doctor west Uh, it's always you you. You bring it
every Monday and Thursday. I thank you for what I
love you man, Thanks for your time.
Speaker 3: Love you, Love you brother, Stay strong man.
Speaker 1: More tablished by When We Come Forward