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Those who have never despaired have neither lived nor loved. Hope is inseparable from despair. Those of us who truly hope make despair a constant companion whom we out-wrestle every day owing to our commitment to justice, love, and hope.

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
Truly
Owing
Loved
Inseparable
Justice
Companion
Hope
Despair
Every
Commitment
Make
Neither
Never
Constant
Despaired
Love
Lived
Wrestle

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None of us alone can save the nation or the world. But each of us can make a positive difference if we commit ourselves to do so. (p. 109)
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The women can always choose the patriarchal models, and you end up with a Margaret Thatcher.
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To get up in the morning & do the monumental tasks that face us, our labor is best fueled by love.
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I wished the president [Barack Obama] were more Martin Luther King-like.
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If you view life as a gold rush, you're going to end up worshiping a golden calf.
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You keep folks so intimidated. You can give them money, access, but they're still scared. And as long as you're scared, you're on the plantation.
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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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I have some notions that have people conceiving of themselves as capable of changing the world. That's why, for me, the issues of self-love, self-respect and self-regard are preconditions for human agency and especially black agency, given the fact that we have been and are such a hated and despised people.
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When ordinary people wake up, elites begin to tremble in their boots. They can't get away with their abuse. They can't get away with subjection. They can't get away with subjugation. They can't get away with exploitation. They can't get away with domination. It takes courage for folk to stand up.
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what I think separates me from most philosophers probably is that I'm a bluesman in the life of the mind, I'm a jazzman in the world of ideas.
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Affirmative action is something that I think is very crucial and necessary.
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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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Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public
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I must feel the fire of my soul so my intellectual blues can set others on fire.
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You must let suffering speak, if you want to hear the truth
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As long as hope remains and meaning is preserved, the possibility of overcoming oppression stays alive.
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If you are always trying to do something for a cause bigger than you - connected with serving others - then it is hard to be guilty.
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A fully functional multiracial society cannot be achieved without a sense of history and open, honest dialogue.
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