--- title: "7 Critical Quotes By Cornel West" description: "7 Critical quotes by Cornel West. Plus more from Cornel West and more Critical sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/349/cornel-west-708_administration_if-martin-luther-king-looked-at-the-obam_147613.jpg" --- > [If Martin Luther King looked at the Obama administration and saw an intimate connection with Wall Street, he'd be very critical. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/if-martin-luther-king-looked-at-the-obama-administration-and-saw-an/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/349/cornel-west-708_administration_if-martin-luther-king-looked-at-the-obam_147613.jpg) > [I think Martin Luther King would always keep track of collective insurgencies among poor and working people. He was concerned about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-think-martin-luther-king-would-always-keep-track-of-collective/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce6/cornel-west-708_accountability_i-think-martin-luther-king-would-always_187811.jpg) > [I think that in a certain sense, we're concerned about the same issues. How do you accent the progressive, the prophetic, those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-think-that-in-a-certain-sense-we-re-concerned-about-the-same-issues/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc8/cornel-west-708_accents_i-think-that-in-a-certain-sense-we-re-co_1178197.jpg) > [If you've got on the one hand death, dogmatism, domination, and on the other you've got desire in the face of death,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/if-you-ve-got-on-the-one-hand-death-dogmatism-domination-and-on-the/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f5/cornel-west-708_alive_if-you-ve-got-on-the-one-hand-death-dogm_1429103.jpg) > [We have to be self-critical even in context that we might be critical of, even as we - our pieces appear in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-have-to-be-self-critical-even-in-context-that-we-might-be-critical/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a3/cornel-west-708_critical_we-have-to-be-self-critical-even-in-cont_2595273.jpg) > [You see it even in our educational systems, where the market model becomes central. It's a matter of just gaining a skill…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-see-it-even-in-our-educational-systems-where-the-market-model/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52d/cornel-west-708_access_you-see-it-even-in-our-educational-syste_3018592.jpg) > [The right wing can use anything, and we have to make it very clear and I make it very clear that my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-right-wing-can-use-anything-and-we-have-to-make-it-very-clear-and/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f3b/cornel-west-708_can-do_the-right-wing-can-use-anything-and-we-h_3082498.jpg) ## Other authors on Critical ## More by Cornel West > [There has certainly been ugly, right-wing hatred targeting Barack Obama.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/there-has-certainly-been-ugly-right-wing-hatred-targeting-barack-obama/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/what-is-accurately-portrayed-is-the-rich-humanity-not-just-of-martin/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-feel-as-if-i-have-been-blessed-to-undergo-a-transformation-from/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [“Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/like-king-we-need-to-put-on-our-cemetery-clothes-and-be-coffin-ready/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [ “You can't really move forward until you look back. \[From Remaking America panel discussion at George Washington University\]” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-t-really-move-forward-until-you-look-back-from-remaking/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [When we think of globalization we are thinking in part of structures and institutions that have been developed over time and that have allowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-we-think-of-globalization-we-are-thinking-in-part-of-structures/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The challenge artists face today is whether to be an underground, unheard genius, or to dilute their art for the marketplace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-challenge-artists-face-today-is-whether-to-be-an-underground/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The need of black conservatives to gain the respect of their white peers deeply shapes certain elements of their conservatism. In this regard, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-need-of-black-conservatives-to-gain-the-respect-of-their-white/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [For me, musicians are poets. Beethoven describes himself as a poet of tones, just like Coltrane's a poet of tempo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/for-me-musicians-are-poets-beethoven-describes-himself-as-a-poet-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I don't draw any distinctions between forms of bigotry or forms of ideology that lose sight of the humanity of people. I can't stand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-don-t-draw-any-distinctions-between-forms-of-bigotry-or-forms-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/barack-obama-has-domesticated-the-left-in-such-a-way-that-we-feel-as/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Larry Summers, I think, he had a long history of arrogance and relative ignorance about poor people's culture and working people's culture and so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/larry-summers-i-think-he-had-a-long-history-of-arrogance-and-relative/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-greatest-gift-you-can-give-someone-is-the-gift-of-inspiration/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [You can see it in terms of the obsession on Wall Street with not just profits but greed, more profit, more profit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-see-it-in-terms-of-the-obsession-on-wall-street-with-not-just/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Anybody who takes Martin Luther King seriously has got to go beyond the standard understanding of who he was, has to connect those dots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/anybody-who-takes-martin-luther-king-seriously-has-got-to-go-beyond/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critical/cornel-west/#itemlist", "name": "7 Critical Quotes By Cornel West", "numberOfItems": 7, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If Martin Luther King looked at the Obama administration and saw an intimate connection with Wall Street, he'd be very critical. If he saw drones being dropped on innocent people, he'd be very critical. If he saw rights and liberties violated by secret policies of the government, of the kind we've seen by the National Security Agency, he'd be very critical.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/if-martin-luther-king-looked-at-the-obama-administration-and-saw-an/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/349/cornel-west-708_administration_if-martin-luther-king-looked-at-the-obam_147613.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/349/cornel-west-708_administration_if-martin-luther-king-looked-at-the-obam_147613.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/349/cornel-west-708_administration_if-martin-luther-king-looked-at-the-obam_147613.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If Martin Luther King looked at the Obama administration and saw an intimate connection with Wall Street…” — Cornel West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think Martin Luther King would always keep track of collective insurgencies among poor and working people. He was concerned about the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union, for example. He would have closely followed the Arab Spring. And certainly he would be very critical of the massive surveillance state that has emerged in America in the last five to 10 years. He would have approved of the movements trying to gain some accountability in U.S. foreign policy, such as drones being (used) on innocent people. I think he would march against drones.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-think-martin-luther-king-would-always-keep-track-of-collective/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce6/cornel-west-708_accountability_i-think-martin-luther-king-would-always_187811.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce6/cornel-west-708_accountability_i-think-martin-luther-king-would-always_187811.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce6/cornel-west-708_accountability_i-think-martin-luther-king-would-always_187811.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think Martin Luther King would always keep track of collective insurgencies among poor and working people…” — Cornel West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think that in a certain sense, we're concerned about the same issues. How do you accent the progressive, the prophetic, those things that are critical of all forms of injustice, all forms of bigotry, all forms of dehumanizing other people, and yet still allow for a certain kind of flow, linguistic flow, certain kinds of melodies and harmonies in the samplings that take place?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-think-that-in-a-certain-sense-we-re-concerned-about-the-same-issues/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc8/cornel-west-708_accents_i-think-that-in-a-certain-sense-we-re-co_1178197.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc8/cornel-west-708_accents_i-think-that-in-a-certain-sense-we-re-co_1178197.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc8/cornel-west-708_accents_i-think-that-in-a-certain-sense-we-re-co_1178197.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think that in a certain sense, we're concerned about the same issues. 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It's a matter of just gaining a skill or gaining access to a job to live in some vanilla suburb, as opposed to becoming a critical citizen concerned with public interest and common good.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-see-it-even-in-our-educational-systems-where-the-market-model/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52d/cornel-west-708_access_you-see-it-even-in-our-educational-syste_3018592.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52d/cornel-west-708_access_you-see-it-even-in-our-educational-syste_3018592.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52d/cornel-west-708_access_you-see-it-even-in-our-educational-syste_3018592.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You see it even in our educational systems, where the market model becomes central. 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