“Only a visionary leadership that can motivate "the better angels of our nature," as Lincoln said, and activate possibilities for a freer,… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
Of course, the aim of a constitutional democracy is to safeguard the rights of the minority and avoid the tyranny of the… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
“In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
And every historic effort to forge a democratic project has been undermined by two fundamental realities: poverty and paranoia. The persistence of… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
Martin Luther King Jr's agenda was not to help Negroes overcome American apartheid in the south. It was to make America democracy… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
If you've got on the one hand death, dogmatism, domination, and on the other you've got desire in the face of death,… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
All talks about legacies of white supremacy must be tied to empowering the lives of poor and working people as a whole.… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
I believe that all of us have gangster proclivities and greedy orientations that need accountability. That's why democracies are necessary. We have… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
Frederick Douglas's agenda was an agenda, not for black people to get out of slavery. It was for America to become a… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
We are a democracy and we don't believe in just hunting down gangsters and killing them. We believe in trying to find… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
We're learning lessons from Africa. And the lesson that we need to learn is, how do we straighten our backs up in… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
There has certainly been ugly, right-wing hatred targeting Barack Obama. — Cornel West Copy Share Image
What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.' — Cornel West Copy Share Image
“Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle.” — Cornel West Copy Share Image
“You can't really move forward until you look back. [From Remaking America panel discussion at George Washington University]” — Cornel West Copy Share Image
When we think of globalization we are thinking in part of structures and institutions that have been developed over time and that have allowed… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
The challenge artists face today is whether to be an underground, unheard genius, or to dilute their art for the marketplace. — Cornel West Copy Share Image
The need of black conservatives to gain the respect of their white peers deeply shapes certain elements of their conservatism. In this regard, they… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
For me, musicians are poets. Beethoven describes himself as a poet of tones, just like Coltrane's a poet of tempo. — Cornel West Copy Share Image
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… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
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… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
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… — Cornel West Copy Share Image
