Olivia Cyrus, Contributing Photographer

On Thursday evening, a cacophony of applause, foot stomps and hissing sounds filled the auditorium at 53 Wall St. as Cornel West stepped onto the stage.

The Yale Political Union hosted a debate titled “Resolved: Liberation Needs the Church.” West, professor emeritus at Princeton in the Center for African American Studies and an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election, was invited to offer his perspective on the topic.

Before the debate started, West embraced YPU President Riya Bhargava ’26 and Speaker AJ Tapia-Wylie ’26 in a gesture of solidarity. Minutes later, Tapia-Wylie put the gavel to sound block signaling the start of the discussion, which would center on West’s opening address followed by arguments from the affirmative and negative sides of the resolution. 

West began by unpacking the concept of “liberation,” particularly in the context of faith. He challenged the audience to think critically about the terms “faith,” “liberation” and “church,” urging them to avoid “monolithic” definitions when addressing multifaceted topics and histories.

“Anybody who’s never shed a tear has never loved anybody,” he said. “Let the tears flow. That’s my prophetic legacy of Jerusalem. Jesus, who weeps twice. As a sign of what? Loving so intensely. Loving so deeply, so authentically. And so any serious talk about faith, any serious talk about liberation, has to be holistic.”

Positioning himself as a student of prophetic and Socratic legacies, West wove together themes from religion, philosophy and America’s history of racial conflict. Additionally, he stressed the importance of embracing the full spectrum of human emotions, including love, joy and despair.

West also referenced a wide range of people from various backgrounds, such as Ben Hegel, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Anton Chekhov and Malcolm X, to encourage audience members to love not just themselves but also their neighbors and their enemies.

He encouraged those who come to any institution, even places of education such as Yale, looking for something beyond human beings’ contradictions and fallacies to “get off the crack pipe” and be realistic about what liberation is and looks like.

He urged the audience to view freedom not as an attainable ideal, but as something to be fought for, maintained and shared with others.

“It will be a test of character. No one does it alone,” said. “You fall back on the best of what has been poured into you in terms of family and tradition. And you fall back on the best of what you are willing to sacrifice in regard to ensuring that those who are taken care of remain part of the proselytic conception of a future world, of a future society.”

All evening, West’s speech incited head nods, hums in agreement and rapturous applause from the audience.

Nearly all 240 seats in the performance space were filled. Attendees ranged from West enthusiasts holding copies of West’s acclaimed 1993 novel “Race Matters” to Yalies simply curious about the heavily promoted event.

“I think that this event really made me consider the role that faith plays,” Elizabeth Swaine ’27 said. “Not just within the context of institutionalized religions, but just as something necessary to our survival and progress.”

Meti Negewo ’28, who was raised Orthodox Christian, appreciated West’s participation in the debate and believes it is necessary for speakers like him to come to Yale and offer abstract streams of thought regarding politics, culture and faith. 

“I think it’s important,” Negewo said. “A lot of students come to this institution to have access to great minds of thought such as Cornel West. Even if we don’t agree with them, they provide us with a lot of insight.”

The Yale Political Union was founded in 1934.