the frontline by cornel west

a lot of brothers and sisters

have the wrong conception

of the frontline

they believe the front line is gang banging on the streets

stealing with the underground drug industry

but the real frontline is

on the home front

with sisters and brothers

but especially sisters of all colors

caring for the precious children

often putting up with our male myth

the real front line is

working people fighting against

unaccountable corporate power

with its obscene levels of wealth inequality

the real frontline

citizens of all colors fighting against arbitrary police power

the criminal justice system that

oversees black people being convicted

for seventy percent of the drug sentences

but commit only twelve percent of the drug crimes

the real frontline is not just here

but around the world

its struggle against AIDS in Africa

its in solidarity with Mexican workers

Colombian peasants, Iraqi babies

brothers and sisters in East Timur and Tibet

the real frontlines

are memories

of those who sacrificed themselves on the battlefields

first to die, last to be honored

on the frontline

we hold up the blood stained banner for justice and freedom

on the frontline

we challenge athletes, entertainers, professors

doctors, lawyers,

pharmacists

to be on the frontline

don’t sell your soul

for a mess of pottage

stay on

the frontline

[Track on the companion CD to Dr. West's most recent book Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom]