On Dec. 1, 1955, a woman changed a nation.

Fifty years later, Cornel West a black activist, philosopher and Princeton professor spoke at Sacramento State’s University Union Ballroom Thursday, describing this woman as “a black woman with great dignity, grace, courage and vision.”

Her name was Rosa Parks ?” a black woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white man 50 years ago when the nation was segregated by race. By doing this, West said she “sat down and stood up for justice.”West ?” an author of books including “Race Matters” and “Democracy Matters” – discussed many other topics at the event hosted by UNIQUE and the Multicultural Center.

Throughout the night, he spoke of topics often avoided ?” especially that of race. West discussed the struggles of blacks before, during and after the Civil Rights Movement. He touched on what it takes and what it means to face the truth in terms of who a person really is, or what a nation really stands for, and he spoke of these topics in parallel to Parks, recently deceased, and what he described as her courage to be who she was. He strongly proclaimed: “Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks! She’s No. 1! 2005 will never forget you!”

Speaking with different dynamics throughout the night and physical motions both large and small, West described his philosophy, his Socratic way of questioning and critical thinking. He asked: “Who we really are, do we have the courage to look at that reality?” West said that Parks did. “She did not blink,” he said, explaining that Parks refused to give up her seat because that is who she is.

He said she had the courage to say: “I am a human being and your dogma of white supremacy is endangering humanity.” West stated that everyone is of that species born “between urine and feces.” The night was full of serious discussion, some, like the previous statement, was presented in humorous ways.

He said that the focus of “let freedom ring” has transformed to getting the “bling-bling.” The audience laughed and continued to laugh as the night went on.

But it was not all comedy. West touched on the struggles of blacks ?” the struggles of slavery, Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights Movements. Blacks had endured a lot of struggle, he said, in a nation that they helped build. “To be black in America is like Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis,'” he said, “(it’s like) to be un-housed in the house you helped to build.”

“To be black in America for 400 years is being hated for who you are,” he added.

It took a lot of courage, he said, for blacks to nonviolently fight for civil rights in the face of injustice, violence and hate against them.

“It’s of a glorious people who sustain grace in adverse situations,” he said. West explained that to be human is to be compassionate to the enemy.

In the face of violence against innocent people including Emmet Till ?” a 14-year-old boy from Chicago who was murdered in Mississippi ?” and the death of four girls that resulted from a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Alabama, blacks continued to protest nonviolently.

“If black people had reacted violently, there would be civil war every generation,” he continued.

And the fight for civil rights, he said, was for everyone’s benefit ?” not just blacks.

West stated that the youth of today is lacking a role model. Lacking role models like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa Parks has lead the generation of today to idolize figures like musical artists Tupac Shakur and Christopher “Biggie Smalls” Wallace. Though he described Shakur and Wallace as musical geniuses who spoke the truth, he said the difference is that the role models of his generation were willing to die for justice and freedom, something that today’s generation lacks.

As for democracy, he said, people need to start thinking of what is going on everywhere. He said it’s not just about benefiting individually, a person needs to care about others, their nation and the world. They need to start giving back and pushing each other forward.

“Fight. Fight. Fight,” he told a young woman in the audience who had asked what she could do as an “African-American young lady to be free in America.” “Keep fighting. You lose sometimes and you bounce right back,” he continued.Sac State student Patricia Roche, a graduate student in Social Work, said West is an incredible, beautiful person. “He’s like a voice of consciousness, not just for black people but for the nation.”

Sophomore Andre Anderson, a student from CSU Los Angeles, came to the event because he had read some of West’s books and was familiar with his work. “I think he’s very insightful,” Anderson said. He said West inspires the youth to take action in today’s world.

Nika Megino can be reached at [email protected]