Independent 2024 presidential candidate Cornel West met the Palestinian National Baseball team at the airport. With the photo and video below, West writes: “What a joy to run into the marvelous Palestinian National Baseball Team at the airport! We had a great time inspiring each other!” and added the hashtag #FreePalestine.
Swipe to see the video in which the American philosopher, political activist and former Harvard professor West shakes hands and hugs each member of the team and tells them, “You come from a great people, man. I’m telling you, the whole world now is taking notice.”
What a joy to run into the marvelous Palestinian National Baseball Team at the airport! We had a great time inspiring each other!#freepalestine #freepalestine🇵🇸❤️ pic.twitter.com/jMbob2Edsh
— Cornel West (@CornelWest) December 12, 2023
[NOTE: The Palestine team was competing in the 2023 Asian Baseball Championship in Taiwan, which was won by Japan.]
West advises the young men (clad in t-shirts, hoodies and sneakers) to “Stand strong with dignity, determination and decency.” West leans in close to the English-speaking spokesperson of the team and says, “And you got that rich Palestinian style.”
West adds, “That style is crucial,” and the camera zooms in on young man flaunting his baseball cap which features a large red letter “P” with a Palestinian flag.
When West was denied tenure at Harvard in 2021 he submitted a resignation letter which “implied that the decision to deny him tenure was retaliation for his critical stance on Israel and the Palestinian cause.” In his letter (below), he mentioned the “cowardly deference to the anti-Palestinian prejudices of the Harvard administration.”
This is my candid letter of resignation to my Harvard Dean. I try to tell the unvarnished truth about the decadence in our market-driven universities! Let us bear witness against this spiritual rot! pic.twitter.com/hCLAuNSWDu
— Cornel West (@CornelWest) July 13, 2021
Note: More than 90 student campus organizations including Harvard Kennedy School Palestine Caucus and Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine wrote a petition letter, opposing the denial of tenure to West. The letter was addressed to Harvard’s then-President Lawrence Bacow, Provost Alan Garber, and Dean Claudine Gay, who is now the President of Harvard.
