\u201cBlack Prophetic Fire<\/a>\u201d is a 2014 publication by Cornel West, formatted as a series of conversations between himself and German scholar, Christa Buschendorf. The pair state that the intention behind publishing this book is to examine the tradition of the Black prophetic. West in particular was and remains concerned with the status of what he has called the Black prophetic tradition: a tradition of leadership and commitment to justice and love of all Black people that is spiritual and worldly and, importantly, not incorporated into a system or professionalized.<\/p>\n A six-chapter book of transcribed conversations between West and Buschendorf, the pair discuss six Black prophetic figures:<\/p>\n The impetus behind these conversations is not only exploring what revolutionary African American leaders have looked like, but to reinvigorate the conversation in the age of the two-term Barack Obama presidency, which West is very critical of.<\/p>\n Editorial note:<\/em><\/strong> Interested in American politics? Check out our “Listen, Liberal” review<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBlack Prophetic Fire\u201d is a book of immense reference, and highly contextual conversations ranging from political histories, philosophy debates and contention about leadership styles.<\/p>\n Cornel West and Christa Buschendorf have a series of conversations about these historical figures, all of whom have died or have been executed by the U.S. government, to track and understand the iterations of what West considers a Black prophetic tradition.<\/p>\n The chapters in \u201cBlack Prophetic Fire\u201d have a flow to them regarding the timeline and how one figure may have influenced the next, but the dialogue is very loaded. The notes and reference sections combined are over 70 pages, and they expand upon the numerous name drops, philosophy traditions, books and speeches that are referenced throughout.<\/p>\n What comes out of this book is half historical inquiry and intrigue and half pontification. There are many interesting facets to learn about each of these figures who are often known through their sound bites, while their robust life or even political changes are more obscured. Through this recollection of these figures’ lives, West and his philosophies and experiences are inserted. The analysis between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X or the two halves of Frederick Douglass\u2019s life are deeply imbued with his opinions and his desire to see this kind of leadership come around again.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> At The Rauch Review<\/a>, we care deeply about being transparent and earning your trust. These articles explain why and how we created our unique methodology for reviewing books and other storytelling mediums.<\/p>\n<\/div> The audience for this book is those already pretty steeped in these conversations. Cornel West is attempting to weave and tie connections between his subjects of focus and several modes and traditions of thought. While talking about DuBois, he and Buschendorf discuss Russian philosophy, Darwinism, blues and funk musicians, and the influence of the German scholar Goete and humanism on DuBois\u2019s thinking, all in one chapter. This book would be of particular interest to those who look to the Black canon often and go beyond historical narratives, but look at the connections and influences of prominent leaders on one another.<\/p>\n Frankly, this book is more aimed at academics, readers and scholars who are used to constant referencing, and close reading. \u201cBlack Prophetic Fire\u201d takes some time to read because it’s a transcript of several conversations. There is less breezing over a few lines here and there and still understanding the larger argument. Here, close attention to each line has to be paid. Otherwise you can get to the next page and be unsure of how you got there or what\u2019s being discussed.<\/p>\n Editorial Note: We believe these three factors are important for evaluating general writing quality across every aspect of the book. Before you get into further analysis, here\u2019s a quick breakdown to clarify how we\u2019re using these words: <\/i><\/i><\/p>\n \u201cBlack Prophetic Fire\u201d is compelling in that it gives specific and devoted attention to six notable figures whom we often know only a few lines about. The book makes space for speculation and almost feels like a game of play. Whether you find it self important is up to you. When athletes warm up and tend to show off more there than in the game itself, the same thing is happening here. There is a back and forth, a constant dropping of names \u2014 \u2018my dear brother so and so wrote this about so and so and used this theory to do it\u2019 \u2014 and a lot of speculation on if any of these people were still here today, who would they be? What would they stand for? And, perhaps importantly to Cornel West, would they support Obama?<\/p>\n What takes away from some of the compelling references or ideas in this book is its predictability in conclusions. Hotep is a word jokingly and not so jokingly used to describe a kind of Black male attitude that is all about telling you that you are beautiful my natural queen and at the same time will tell you it is natural for a man to want many women and on top of that women should stay in the house and raise the strong Black community we desperately need. It’s strict, unknowingly ironic, with undertones of incredible conservatism and policing.<\/p>\n West certainly doesn’t fall under this category as a person per se, but his constant reference to the ills of the Obama era all point back to a failure and lack of dedication on behalf of Black people. West begins the book with an indictment. He sees that there has been a death of some sort when MLK was murdered. Since then, the spirit of Black prophetic fire has been dim if not dead. He writes that there is a lack of collective struggle spirit among Black people and an overage of individual interest in \u201cthe petty practice of chasing dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n This practice, according to West, has resulted in the election of Obama and the de-antagonizing of a government system that marginalizes Black people. West is clear in his critique of Obama in that he has fortified systems that harm the working poor and Black people, supported drone war funding, omitted the reality of the New Jim Crow (mass incarceration) as a serious problem to tackle, and protects and bails out Wall Street. He states that Obama is not the problem, though a serious symptom and complicit. West urges readers that celebrating a Black president cannot be a modality of collective movement; there isn\u2019t anything to celebrate when \u201cthe boot is on our neck\u201d and the foot belongs to a Black person.<\/p>\n Throughout the three West books we\u2019ve reviewed, one major throughline from West is that they don\u2019t make James Baldwins or Toni Morrisons or MLKs or Malcolm X\u2019s like they used to.<\/p>\n The message of this book was very clear in its purpose: to examine forms of Black leadership and pull out what meaningful legacies they leave behind.<\/p>\n What is less clear is all the ways we got to the ends of the chapters. Because the book is laden with a lot <\/i> of references from a lot <\/i> of different fields of thought, it makes some of the analysis unclear because in one page, we look at Malcolm X as a revolutionary to the Black nationalist tradition, and on the next we are looking at the benefits of secularism. The clarity of most of the figures comes through, but their legacy in varying fields of thought needs to be clarified.<\/p>\n The issues with clarity carry over into the question of \u201cBlack Prophetic Fire\u201d being concise. The first two chapters are quite long and require adjustment to the writing style and reading verbatim thoughts and conversations between the two. What makes the arguments for whether Martin Luther King Jr. was a radical gets lost in the two other lenses being applied to him, as well as the speculative conversation West proposes between him and Malcolm X. The book reads like something with a lot of ideas, but too little time given to each one to let some meaning settle in.<\/p>\n \u201cBlack Prophetic Fire\u201d reads like a literature review: a constant review of differing material to try to build an argument. However, Cornel West diverges from a strictly academic rhetoric by inserting himself, his experiences and his definitions of Black prophetic leadership in the book.<\/p>\n His discussant, Christa Buschendorf, offers a lot of those linkages between theory and West\u2019s opinions, as well as referencing his old work. The back and forth between the two draws out the references mentioned \u2014 from the latest publications of peers and scholars to older \u2018classical\u2019 texts, to \u2018one time when I met so and so.\u2019<\/p>\n West is driving a good deal of the conversation with color. He speaks with passion and familiarity, and in a way sees himself as in alignment with some of the traditions of these six figures. He doesn\u2019t agree with all of them by any means.<\/p>\n Buschendorf drives the conversation in a way that is much more book-focused. Because she isn\u2019t of these Black traditions, her provocations come more from reading the Black canon through a detailed lens. She is familiar with the debates, with how Malcolm X was different from Martin Luther King Jr. but similar to Frederick Douglass, who could have taken note from Ida. She and West can debate in that way.<\/p>\n However, there are times when the referencing reads as more of an intellectual exercise than an offering of lessons and scholars. Sometimes they are just banteringfor the sake of intellectualism rather than talking to an audience. West attempts to bring it back to an audience, and bring it back to the question of \u201cso what\u201d after all these discussions, to talk about the Obama era.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think we can ever have too much Black history, Black leadership, Black legacy discussions or books. In the creation of a canon, one indeed needs to canonize and archive the lessons learned and the lived lives of Black people and, of course, Black prominent leaders\u2019 rise to the top.<\/p>\n These six figures, the men discussed much more than the women in general Black history, are useful sites of discussion and interpretation. There is much to know beyond a soundbite of certain leaders, and \u201cBlack Prophetic Fire\u201d extends that invitation. It sets on an albeit academic, but useful mission to draw linkages between Black leaders.<\/p>\n While one of the most prevailing critiques of Cornel West\u2019s earlier works was a lack of citation, this book goes above and beyond to a point where it is heavy and weighed down at times by the number of references made and discussions staged.<\/p>\n Michael Eric Dyson writes <\/a> incisively that \u201cBlack Prophetic Fire\u201d may be well cited, but what it lacks is West\u2019s writing. West has put out a handful of books that are transcriptions of conversations, which isn\u2019t unprecedented for scholars, but does point to a lack of pen-to-paper of someone who is a scholar and writer.<\/p>\n The writing of BPF is lengthy and conversational. This kind of text requires more from a reader. It also requires you to be steeped in these arguments.<\/p>\n The brilliance of certain people isn\u2019t expanded upon. It\u2019s more of a repetitive sentiment: which is that this person was a radical and is desperately needed now, and here are all of their influences.<\/p>\n I have to say I walked away from the DuBois chapter still unsure of what made DuBois a radical figure outside of his communist position in his later life. For being dubbed as a \u201ctowering intellectual\u201d and truly the <\/i> most important Black intellectual of the 20th century for Cornel West, I sure know very little about him. There was a lot more speculation and connecting dots that both scholars were doing than really laying out the work, analyzing it, and putting it into conversation with all the mentioned scholars.<\/p>\n \u201cBlack Prophetic Fire\u201d was also difficult to read because of the name-dropping and insertion.<\/p>\n For example, when discussing MLK:<\/p>\n \u201cCW: That’s exactly right. Even in fraternity- Martin King was an Alpha<\/a> like myself, as were W. E. B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson and Duke Ellington, Jesse Owens, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Donny Hathaway, John Hope Franklin.\u201d<\/p>\n Further, he goes on to discuss MLK and Mandela, and makes sure to add that Mandela spoke to him directly:<\/p>\n \u201cHe would still have great respect for Mandela, don’t get me wrong, but he would be critical of that process. I think Mandela was critical of this process himself. He told me that when we met, when I gave that Mandela lecture and talked about the Santaclausification of Mandela himself in Africa. I think Martin would resonate with that. No doubt. There is no doubt that the great Nelson Mandela was the most courageous of men and most genuine of revolutionaries yet as president of South Africa he ruled in a neoliberal manner.\u201d<\/p>\n It makes the overall aim of the book very suspicious to me personally. It feels like a large preoccupation, romanticization and over-analyzation of the past while lamenting the present and actively criticizing Obama, with a pestering spirit. In Dyson\u2019s piece, he interestingly points out the incredible disdain West holds for Obama, yet simultaneously, seems to want to be in the legacy, be in the conversation, at the inauguration and be cited just as often as he cites others.<\/p>\n This level of repetition of talking without much movement on the subject is exemplified in some of his social commentary. West went on Fox News, as recently as this year <\/a> , to have the same debates people have been having for hundreds of years, which is to try to convince white people that racism exists. It reads as fruitless and loud. Interestingly, West leaves out his living peers like Angela Davis<\/a> or Assata Shakur<\/a>, or even the late Kwame Ture<\/a> in his analysis or reference, all of whom have or have had much more radical views about what can really and materially change the lives of Black people and how we get there. West is severely hindered by his own desire to be in the mix, making critiquing incredible visible leaders easy and obscuring people who are disinterested in ego, religious traditions as justice, and the state as the consequence.<\/p>\n \u201cBlack Prophetic Fire\u201d is a book about ideas of leadership, religion, charisma and heart, all kind of by the definition of Cornel West. One can walk away with some learned and new information on these six figures, but you will also walk away with the ways West sees himself wrapped up in them, which is highlighted and emphasized.<\/p>\n Better understand Cornel West by reading our “Democracy Matters” review<\/a> and our in-depth “Race Matters” review<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Black Prophetic Fire” by Cornel West and Christa Buschendorf is about the legacy of six Black leaders\u2014Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Ella Baker, Malcolm X, and Ida B. Wells\u2014who fought against racism and systemic racial injustice. Through conversations, West reflects on how their prophetic voices have been diluted over time. West calls for a revival of their revolutionary spirit. The book acts as a tribute to their activism and a call for continued resistance against oppression today.<\/p>\n “Black Prophetic Tradition” refers to a cultural legacy within the Black community, where leaders, intellectuals, and activists speak out against oppression, injustice, and inequality. It often invokes moral or spiritual authority. With its roots in the struggle against racism and systemic violence, it emphasizes advocating for a just and equitable future. Leaders like Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X are seen as part of Black Prophetic Tradition because they used their platforms to call for radical change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018Black Prophetic Fire\u2019 Summary: Conversations About Black Leadership<\/h2>\n
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‘Black Prophetic Fire’ Audience and Genre: Readers of Politics, (Black) History, and Philosophy<\/h2>\n
Three Cs: Compelling, Clear, Concise<\/h2>\n
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Compelling: Yes, in a Hotep Argument Kind of Way<\/h3>\n
Clear: Cumbersome<\/h3>\n
Concise: Not Really<\/h3>\n
‘Black Prophetic Fire’ Prose Style: Like a Literature Review<\/h2>\n
Cultural and Political Significance: Useful to a Degree<\/h2>\n
Critiquing the Critics: They Are Still Right<\/h2>\n
‘Black Prophetic Fire’ Reviewer\u2019s Personal Opinion: Too Much of Cornel West, Not Enough of the Figures. Still All Very Liberal.<\/h2>\n
\u2018Black Prophetic Fire\u2019: Lukewarm<\/h2>\n
Buying Options<\/h2>\n
E-Commerce Text and Audio Purchases<\/h3>\n
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‘Black Prophetic Fire’ FAQs<\/h2>\n
What is ‘Black Prophetic Fire’ about?<\/h3>\n
What is “Black Prophetic Tradition”?<\/h3>\n