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The paradox of race in America is that our common destiny is more pronounced and imperiled precisely when our divisions are deeper.

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
Race
Imperiled
Common
Pronounced
America
Divisions
Paradox
Division
Precisely
Deeper
Destiny

More quotes by Cornel West

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The only countervailing force against organized money at the top, is organized people at the bottom.
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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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Rage is fine as long as it doesn't deteriorate into bitterness.
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In a time in which Communist regimes have been rightfully discredited and yet alternatives to neoliberal capitalist societies are unwisely dismissed, I defend the fundamental claim of Marxist theory: there must be countervailing forces that defend people's needs against the brutality of profit driven capitalism.
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Black people have always been America's wilderness in search of a promised land.
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Poor people can be greedy, too. It's just that they don't have any material resources. We need shaping of the souls as well as shaping of our institutions.
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We're talking about a prison-industrial complex. We're talking about a war on drugs that's generating unprecedented levels of incarcerated folk. We're talking about dilapidated housing. We're talking about joblessness and underemployment.
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I think philosophy is all about lived experience, which is to say life in the streets, life in a variety of different contexts.
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You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people if you don't serve the people.
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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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Too many young folk have addiction to superficial things and not enough conviction for substantial things like justice, truth and love.
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But black folks have never really been optimists. We've been prisoners of hope, and hope is qualitatively different from optimism in the way that there's a difference between The Blues and Lawrence Welk. The Blues and Jazz have to do with hope while the other is sugarcoated music which has to do with sentimental optimism.
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It's fashionable to be indifferent to other people's suffering
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There is something about boldness and fearlessness and being free enough to speak what is on one's mind that warrants freedom.
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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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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.
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As human beings, everyone has stuff coming at them, and a certain kind of fear.
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I love the academy in terms of the life of the mind and the world of ideas. I also love the streets. I love the churches and mosques and synagogues. I love the trade union centers. I love the community centers. I speak regularly at prisons and so forth.
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I was a gangster when I was young. I had a Robin Hood mentality and tended to always want to support the weak against the strong, but sometimes it was cohesive and I really needed to fall in love with the power of education to find the right venue to express my rage. I still have a righteous indignation at injustice, no matter what form it takes.
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I'm a bluesman, which means that I put an emphasis on the minor keys.
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