Danny Glover and Cornel West are two of the leading voices in the 21st century American civil rights movement, a movement that is no longer primarily about race. The fundamental injustice that they are addressing affects us all, regardless of race or gender. These two men (and many more like them) move America beyond race far more than the election of Obama does. And this contrast between, on the one hand, Glover and West speaking at the Occupy movements and, on the other, Obama speaking at the Martin Luther King memorial couldn’t be more striking. By representing and catering to the elites who perpetrate the fundamental economic injustice of our time, Obama really has lost whatever moral high ground he had when he was first elected. Compare Glover’s passionate appeal for a democratic revolution with Obama’s scripted, polished, and hollow tribute to MLK. The difference is as stark as night and day.
