“When we reflect on writing in a racialized society, when we look at the Zora Neale Hurstons, and the Richard Wrights, and the James Baldwins, the Toni Morrisons, and a host of others, we’re shook by the violence in the text, the horror in the text, the terror in the text, and at the same time juxtaposed with the black love and joy and community.” —Cornel West

Nearly a year to the date of Rodney King being beaten by the LAPD (and a few weeks prior to the Rodney King Protests), Cornel West speaks at the PEN America event “Writing in a Racialized Society.”