Cornel West praised the Supreme Court’s ruling last week on gay marriage, but lamented that “we black folk are just being pushed to the back of the bus in terms of our visibility.”
Speaking on his radio show with co-host Tavis Smiley, the Democrat made the case that while the court’s decision advanced the rights of gay couples, it hindered the rights of blacks by striking down part of the Voting Rights Act.
“We’re living in an age where we black folk are just being pushed to the back of the bus in terms of our visibility,” Mr. West said, “of our suffering in terms of the intensity of our exclusion, especially our poor black youth, especially with the new Jim Crow and so on. And we have to be honest about that. Again this has something to do of course with what history books will say.
“The irony of the age of Obama in which black folks found themselves pushed to the back, our gay brothers and lesbian sisters more and more pushed to the center,” he added.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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