He adds, however, that while at the Community College of Philadelphia, he in fact was able to persuade Cornel West to come and speak to his students, but it certainly was no easy feat.
“I think Cornel was at $15,000 then, around 1996. I called [his agent] and I told him, ‘Will you tell Dr. West for me that he’s going to see more Blacks in my school than he’s going to see all year in all those schools he went to.’ I got the call back in like 20 minutes, and he told me that if I could figure out a date when he’s in the area, he would come and do it for $5,000,” Williams says.
“I’ve got to give props to Cornel. But the truth is most of them are not really talking to my audience,” he says. “They’re not talking to poor kids, they’re talking to middle-class kids, so we don’t really see them as much. And I think my kids need to hear that story, I think they need to hear that kind of intellectual discourse,” Williams adds.
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
