Jack Salzman, Cornel West Struggles in the Promised

Walking the Tightrope \\ 415
This political effort and moral endeavor will always cut against the grain.
Jewish racism and Black anti-Semitism are not only as American as cherry pie;
they also are human responses to insecurities and anxieties. For a Christian and
radical democrat like myself, the go-cart of compassion is dialogue based on a fundamental
respect for the "other." This dialogue requires active listening and candid
speaking. The aim is neither verbal conquest nor rational coercion; rather it
is to provide an occasion for openness so that a spirituality of genuine questioning
can take root in one's mind, heart, and soul. Such questioning is the vehicle
for intellectual change and existential transformation. The openness that precedes
such questioning requires that we be vulnerable enough—hence trusting
enough—to be questioned in a transformative mode. This is why no one should
be refused to enter such openness. Or to put it another way, no one is so far beyond
the pale—so worthy of utter disrespect and contempt—that we give up on them
in our dialogical efforts. Why so? Because of human fallibility and unpredictability.
Dialogical dogmatism is a form of intellectual exclusion that chooses
interlocutors with whom one is comfortable; it rests upon an unacknowledged
ignorance of others and an undeniable arrogance toward others. Dialogical dogmatism
is ideologically promiscuous—it lies with liberal and conservative, Left
and Right, Black and Jewish ideologues. The kind of dialogue I am calling for
will always transgress the "respectable" bounds of dialogical dogmatists—yet it
is the lifeblood of radical democracy and political breakthroughs. There is never
any guarantee for success; yet the sheer existence of such dialogue is already a kind
of success—for it means that decency, respect, and integrity are still alive.
So in the midst of disrespect and degradation, I promote the practical wisdom
of dialogue—that thin reed in the whirlwind of our times doomed to strong lipservice
and weak action that stakes a high moral ground in a cynical age. Like anyone,
my rage and anger flows and sometimes overflows—yet my commitment to
dialogical action, alongside other forms of democratic action, is profound.
In regard to my defense of sustaining dialogue with Black nationalists or my
critical support of the Million Man March, my Jewish critics are eager to put forward
loquacious utterances and engaged editorials highlighting my wrongheadedness.
Again, I try to listen and learn from their criticisms, but I also recognize
the double standards at work. I must denounce, isolate, and make no contact with
xenophobic Black nationalists, but certain progressive Jewish intellectuals have
no duty to identify and criticize the Negrophobic sentiments of their neoliberal
or progressive friends. No serious or substantive Black-Jewish cooperation can
emerge on such a one-way street.
Where then do we go from here? Black-Jewish relations—at the symbolic
level—are in shambles. Yet there are significant Black-Jewish efforts on the
ground: in local communities between churches and synagogues, in the tradeunion
movement, between the Anti-Defamation League and Black grassroot
activists, among electoral coalitions and elected officiates. First, we have to change
our ways. We must stop playing games with one another. We must be candid in