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Barack Obama has domesticated the left in such a way that we feel as if we have no alternative but him...I refuse to accept that.

Cornel West

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Cornel West
Age: 71
Born: 1953
Born: June 2
Actor
Critic
Philosopher
Theologian
University Teacher
Writer
Tulsa
Oklahoma
Cornel Ronald West
Cornel R. West
Obama
Accept
Accepting
Left
Feel
Domesticated
Feels
Alternative
Way
Alternatives
Refuse

More quotes by Cornel West

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Every president needs to deal with the permanent government of the country, and the permanent government of the country is Wall Street oligarchs and corporate plutocrats and the questions becomes what is the relationship between that president and Wall Street.
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As long as hope remains and meaning is preserved, the possibility of overcoming oppression stays alive.
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The blues aren’t pessimistic. We’re prisoners of hope but we tell the truth and the truth is dark.
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The interesting thing for me is, if that had been a left-wing person raising questions, [President Obama] probably would have expressed his anger. Because Obama really does get upset about progressives.
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Courage is being true to yourself, true to a sense of integrity.
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I believe philosophy must go to school with the poets it's not either/or, it's not over or against.
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I think hip-hop can be prophetic and progressive, and at the same time, the dominant forms tend to be homophobic, misogynistic and something that we need to critically call into question.
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We must never so thoroughly disrespect someone that they are beyond the pale and, therefore, have no possibility of being changed.
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The women can always choose the patriarchal models, and you end up with a Margaret Thatcher.
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The problem is not just affirmative action, though. The problem is poor people, working people and their children, and affirmative action for the most part doesn't even apply to them.
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Reelection ought not to be the primary preoccupation of any politician. It ought to be standing up for truth and justice.
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Truth is fine. Absolutely.
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I like to be multi-contextual, which is much more important than being multicultural.
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Music at its best...is the grand archeology into and transfiguration of our guttural cry, the great human effort to grasp in time our deepest passions and yearnings as prisoners of time. Profound music leads us--beyond language--to the dark roots of our scream and the celestial heights of our silence.
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Christians got a lot of work to do. But, the spirit of Dorothy Day is alive. Martin Luther King is still alive. Malcolm X and the prophetic Islamic tradition is still alive. We can't lose sight of those prophetic religious folk who, even given their kin in the same tradition, says, you all are wrong on this, but we're still in the same tradition.
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You can't move forward until you look back.
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Martin Luther King wanted to be morally consistent and speak out against various things that were wrong, not just racism.
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There are various forms of weaponry, intellectual weaponry, spiritual weaponry, political weaponry, economic weaponry. Because we are on the battlefield, and there are bullets flying, some symbolic, some literal and the life of the mind is a crucial place where the battle goes on.
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And as a Christian, I got something the world didn't give me, the world can't take away, so I find joy that can never be reduced to anything.
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It's impossible to translate Wall Street greed into one or two demands.
Cornel West