watch our live coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern with our preview program, followed by president speech. then alabama senator katie will give the republican response, and we'll get your reaction by taking your phone calls, tex, m. watch the state of the union address live thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app, or online at cspan.org. >> cnel west was a keynote speaker at an event hosted by the muslim legal fund in plano, texas. he is running as an indepeent candidate in the 2024 presidential race and talks about the war between israel and hamas, the need for balance and morality and spiriality in the name of progress and justice. this is just over 30 minutes. [a]

>> come on now, come on, come on! lord, lord, lord, lord, lord. there he is, this sweet spirit in this place. this vary, very special occasion, i would not want to be in any other place in the country than here now tonight. i want to salute each and every one of you for the work you have already done. the language of john coltrane, being forces for goodn the past, present, and the work that

i know you plan to do. want to salute my dear brother, give it up. [applause] so much eloquence. cicero defines eloquence as wisdom speaking. even as an old soul, he has a golden heart, a brilliant mind, he resonates so much of the best of the islamic tradition in the united states. that may be the a crucial difference, because you and i know about the vicious stereotypes when it comes to our precious muslim brothers and sisters and to be able to talent, a sense of humor, you

can tell he got a lot of style to him, doesn't he? give it up to him. [applause] when i told him we were coming to texas, he had never been to texas before. he said, i want to see what it is like. i said you were coming to the best of texas. do not confuse the best with some of the other parts of texas. ll honesty, i want to let you know my mom is a texan. [applause] i will never be half of the human being she was. she is from a major public -- major metropolitan center called orange,, texas.

my brother was also borntexas s, i do not think about what many of my mellow sit -- fellow citizens think of texas as projected by the mainstream press, i think of mama, irene the west, who has an elementary school named after her. i think of clifton west, i am already deeply blessed to be in contact with some of the best of no just texas, not just america, i'm talking about the best of the human spirit. le be honest. we human beings, we are a wretched species to all. much of our history■í --

potential, if we so choose as wretched people to be wonderful, to be visionary, to be committed to love, to be committed to justice, i want you all to give it up to this brother here, he is the son of senator nina jeffries, he stayed out of cleveland.

[applause] let me get back to my wretchedness. the possibility of interruptions , the possibility of disruptions of the history of greedhatred ad occupation andubgradation. in that is what we are here tonight to talk about. how do we become more fortified to be countervailing forces against all forms of organized greed, institutional hatred, and scrutinized indifference? i come from aplgreat people, blo have constituted so much of the moral conscious of americaamerid

of precious indigenous brothers and sisters, they don't have to be in the room for us to be in solidarity with their suffering. andthe enslavement of my own people. over hundreds of some years, brother, just wave, there he is, one of the great students, and some still incarcerated.

but what did black people do to try to hold up a pristine barrel -- banner and try to be the moral conscious in america in the face of all of that hatred? we kept dishing out warriors, every generation. my dear brothers and heart out there. same tradition, my, in the face of all of that organized greed and hatred, here comes frederickouwells, martin y martin, james baldwin, john coltrane of love supreme when you so thoroughlyated when your people are enslaved and lynched, black people were lynched every two and a half

days for 50 years in the united states. in the state of texas. in this very moment we've got more black people in the state of texas than any other state in the country? we are at an unprecedented in the history of the american empire. for the first time in the history of this nation, the muslim community, our precious islamic brothers and sisters, are moving to the center of the discourse and constituting a crucial part of the moral conscious of america. and that is part of the challenge, that is why the muslim legal front led by our leader, come give it up [applause]

that is why your leadership make such a crucial difference. it is like the naacp legal defense for so many of those freedom fighters, who would've thought in 1964 when america still had a white supremacist immigration act in place, what so many of you could not even come to america you had to be from western europe to get here, given the white supremacist immigration act of 1964, yes it was the black freedom movement that pushed that and there are magnificent human beings all around the world. let's look at india, africa, bangde my god. things are going to change. i can tell you this.

when i used to come through texas in thes, to see my daddy and my grandmother, i did not see too many muslims around. i did not see too many folks from indian names or from the middle east. ■white supremacy immigration policy was still at work. the 65 immigration act open those doors. who would have thought, 2024 was the very#n test of some sense of morality and an overwhelming moment of barb alec -- barbaric enthusiasm in gaza? the mental criteria of what it means to have some morality and spirituality, not just in america, but in the world. and if you are silent on thaten.

shame on you. we look around, it is not just the younger generation even though they play a very important part, but when you look around on who was really willing to straighten their backs up, not in the name of hatred and revenge, in the name of love and that we stand with our palestinian brothers and sisters in gaza, how come, love palestinians and we believe a palestinian baby has the exact same value and significance as any baby in the world, what color, no matter what gender, whether it is texas, whether it is gaza, whether it is japan, ethiopia, guatemala, across the whole world. yes, yes indeed.

r5 david. give it up for my dear brother david west and his magnificent wife. we go back 35 years, his father richard, brother richard, his mother sally and. i was blessed to write books with them, we have so many memories together. what do you find? among our precious jewish brothers and sisters, magnificence spiritual renaissance, political awakening come up with the jewish voices for peace whole wave of jewish brothers and sisters doing what? integrity, honesty, not ever jua function of what your religious

identity is, just like it was never a question of skin pigmentation for black people. black people became the moral conscious of america because they were courageous enough and visionary enough to come together with an indictment of america's white supremacy and in spite of the organized greed and then organized and saw love. any we talk about any community, let's never be romantic. gangsters as well as a history of martin luther king jr. and muhammad ali and cole train, all three were muslims in the history of black people. as a black man, i still got some

gangster in me. [laughte [applause] i have to fight it every day. every day. so when we talk about our hristians, jews, secular folk, yes, they all have some gangster in them. when i look at what is going on in iran right now, the mistreatment, of the muslim that is a human affair. are we really connected with■s e humanity of others? too often in the congress, too

often in the corporate media. [indiscernible] i am thoroughly convinced there is a genocide taking place right now with innocent people, buy it and would have a very different take on it. that is the complicity to organized greed and institutional hatred. the biden administration would probly be providing assistance to the jewish version of hamas and call them freedom

fighters. call them freedom fighters. and i would say, i'm still old school. i support resistance. i support resilience. butt resistance and that resilience has to have a morality and spirituality. it doesn't kill innocent folks or babies. i don't care where they are. i don't care what color they are. old-school, that's right. i made old-school -- i'm an old-school christian. i will debate, i will fight, i will always be in solidarity.

i recognize every form of resistance and resilience takes a variety of form. sometimes it's violent, sometimes it's nonviolent. absolutely. but there has to be airitualitye oppressed. as we engage in our discourse, [indiscernible] and then the cowards in the white house, the united nations, and the congress who enable it. many say, you are running for president and you are calling the president a war criminal? yeah, that's me. i don't hate biden. i pray for his family.

you have to take responsibility for your actions. you tell iran they are fully responsible for providing arms to other nations. then you are fully responsible for providing arms for genocide and ethnic cleansing and supporting apartheid and it is the beacon of democracy, where's the morality, where's the spirituality? full of righteous indignation. righteous indignation cannot simply be symbolic. you have to speak truth to power.not just to the relatively powerless. you've got to be willing to speak the truth to ourselves. what kind of human being are we going to choose?

q@that's a great question. what? do justly. spread that lovingkindness.

not because he can't stand w/the rich. because he can't stand grade. he is in love with people. especially oppressed people. building on judaism. ■dildi o let us form a state where the christians andnd muslims -- jews and muslims can live together. because there isbut one god. no idolatry here. in every nation state, every under that god. these days it's hard to about their religion. martin luther king used to sa'd. i'd rather be a corpse than a coward.

on the legal front, political front, social front, artistic front, we should remember martin luther king jr. in him and a german shepherd. his father told me a numberof years ago -- all he could say is, this is the cross. we must1c band further freedom f our people -- for the freedom of our people. the cross is not something you talk about or bear. sometimes you end up on that cross. look at all the martyrs

right now burying that cross. their spirit is alive in this room. their spirit is still strong in this room. and we will never, ever forget their resilience and sacrifice. that's to oppressed people wherever you go. our spirit as human beings is never crushed. that's why america has such a crucial role to play and whygetk freedom struggle connected to the critique of the american in poverty and great, and

scapegoating on the most vulnerable, and the bringing together of those various groups of all colors willing to say, we are going to not talk about -- we are going to be, enact, embody the moral conscience of this nation. the votes in michigan it's just the beginning. that's just the firstthat's jusc moment. and that moment is not just about politics. don't believe hype with corporate media saying, oh my god, we've got another gr oup. what's the muslim community going to do? no, we are going to talk about morality, spirituality. we will never allow anybody

to play political tricks. that they can move human beings as piecesoh, it must be apa it must be organized agreed, it must be money -- organized greed, it must be money. it's the truth. apecble] no way a part of their reflection. we tell the truth about them. it's got nothing to do with the hatred of jewish brothers and sisters. it's got everything to do with our love for palestinians. we would do the same for any oppressed groups. thank god,al

-- ground zero of the emerging >> we'll leave this here to go live to the u.s. house for member speeches. live coverage on c-span. [captioning made possible by th, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. use proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]