October 17, 2011 2:05 PM

Cornel West won't face charges in D.C. protest

Occupy Wall Street protests

Dr. Cornel West

Dr. Cornel West, at a rally on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court organized by October 2011/Stop the Machine Sunday, Oct. 16, 2011. West and 18 others were arrested. (Facebook)

(CBS/AP) 

Last Updated 2:49 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON - Author and civil rights activist Cornel West and 18 others arrested with him for protesting at the U.S. Supreme Court will not be prosecuted.

They were arrested Sunday while protesting on the steps of the courthouse, as part of a October 2011/Stop the Machine demonstration against corporate influence in politics.

Cornel West arrested at Supreme Court protest

They were charged with refusing to leave the grounds of the Supreme Court and demonstrating with signs, which is prohibited.

Prosecutors on Monday decided not to press charges against the group.

West attended the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall before joining the protest.

October 2011/Stop the Machine is marking 10 years since the start of the war in Afghanistan and has an anti-war and anti-corporate greed message, which has dovetailed with the simultaneous Occupy DC protests being held in the city.

West is a well-known, left-leaning academic whose books include "Race Matters" and "Democracy Matters."

cornelwest.com

© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 21 Comments
by October 19, 2011 11:11 AM EDT
Thank You! Cornell West!

You are a great thinker, and we appreciate your efforts both academic and social. You are a participating citizen of the finest sort!

Fix this world now!
Reply to this comment
by ttaoin2010 October 18, 2011 9:00 AM EDT
Why does CBS always run these crazy socialist stories??
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by brianbwb2015 October 19, 2011 9:16 AM EDT
So we can see the response from ignorant baggers.
by mikevetman October 17, 2011 9:08 PM EDT
too bad they didn't throw away the key. a rich jerk thinking he has talent abd he is just one of the unemployed, he is ignorant and stupid.
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb2015 October 17, 2011 10:09 PM EDT
Yo Sterno drinker, you think being a university professor and a best-selling author is the same as being unemployed?

Or, being rich, as you assume, that he would even need employment?

Do you actually read your posts before pressing the submit button?

The term ignorant refers to a person who chooses to ignore, as you have done with any relevant facts about the person you deride.

Stupid is defined by Merriam Webster as,

a : slow of mind: (which is why baggers coined the term for themselves before they figured out it's modern application, they were too slow of mind)

b : given to unintelligent decisions or acts : acting in an unintelligent or careless manner (advocacy of fighting corruption and racism is not the act of someone who doesn't care, rather trying to pretend they don't exist, as baggers do, is definite proof of a lack of ability to care)

c : lacking intelligence or reason : brutish (which is in fact, the most salient feature in all of your own posts)

: dulled in feeling or sensation (the core of all bagger political advocacy incapable of feeling empathy)

So all in all the pejoratives ignorant and stupid actually far more accurately describe you own attitude.

So it is becoming clear that such is what the baggers have been reduced to, pointless attempt at lame insult, because you now realize there is no real rational logic to back up your anti-humanist agenda.
by tsigili October 17, 2011 7:44 PM EDT
He should be charged with blind idiocy.
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb2015 October 17, 2011 10:20 PM EDT
If that actually becomes a crime, there will be lots of additional jail space needed for you and your ilk.

None are so blind as those, like yourself, who refuse to see, and none more idiot than those, also like yourself, who think humanity is a disposable commodity.
by konr22 October 17, 2011 11:09 PM EDT
"blind idiocy" - for being educated and having a conscience ?? Wow you're a supreme idiot.
by bradkt1 October 17, 2011 6:55 PM EDT
When did Cornel West become a civil right spokesman or leader?

Not everyone who gets on telebision or who blogs a column or three is a civil rights spokesman or leader.

This guy doesn't speak for me.
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb2015 October 17, 2011 10:12 PM EDT
He is a spokesman for first himself, then for those who agree with him, and a leader for those who choose to follow his examples.

As you apparently don't, then it doesn't apply to you.

Almost amazing that it needs explaining to you.
by HanksTheMan55 October 17, 2011 6:16 PM EDT
What's he being charged with, impersonating a human being? Having the IQ of a rock? By the way al-glory....were not qualified to be a racist because we don't belong to the NAACP and we graduated from high school.
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb2015 October 17, 2011 10:16 PM EDT
Correct, but you are qualified when your advocacy is nothing more than thinly disguised racism, and designed to continue American apartheid.

It is when the deciding point of whether or not you change your support for a president's actions simply because of the president's complexion.
by Mr_Uglybug October 17, 2011 4:09 PM EDT
As I see it, this West fellow is a black man...
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by samstail October 17, 2011 3:01 PM EDT
Why wasn't he at the King dedication??
Reply to this comment
by Zann-Zel October 17, 2011 3:23 PM EDT
From the story above: "West attended the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall before joining the protest"
by al-gory October 17, 2011 3:42 PM EDT
Hi Zann,
Are you a dirty tea-bagger racist ?
See all 4 Replies
by FreshxWater October 17, 2011 2:53 PM EDT
America encourages citizens from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Libya, Egypt... to take to the streets and protest. Not only protest but to overthrow their governments. Do you think those citizens apply for a permit first?

Yet peaceful Americans who take the street are maced, clubbed, jailed and fined. What a filthy Fascist Corporate Media for not spelling this out! What a corrupt government for doing this to its people!
Reply to this comment
by goplies October 17, 2011 4:19 PM EDT
Uhhhh... jaimie, this story is about a Professor, author of two best selling books and a civil rights leader. I didn't read anything about 'filthy hippy scum'. And, aren't you a good American... hoping other Americans get massacred. Wow, what a vile and ignorant creature you are. What sort of a parent could possibly be responsible for unleashing a creep like you into society? Was your mother a fat, old, drunk, $5 back alley wh*re?
by jaimieandlis October 17, 2011 11:05 PM EDT
are all coloreds civil rights leaders? I never saw this freaks books on any best seller list, do you have a link proving your point because I am certain you are lying. If any of these hippy scum come near my office, in NYC, i will walk out among with with my ridgebacks and tell them to leave.

Look at the leftist scum talking about my mom, ROFL. Are you colored like your hero? FYI my mother was an accountant. I bet your mother had colored suitors, right? I'll be awaiting the link proving that west wrote not one but TWO best sellers.
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