---
title: "35 Poor Quotes By Cornel West"
description: "35 Poor quotes by Cornel West. Plus more from Cornel West and more Poor sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24b/cornel-west-708_democratic_we-need-to-put-strong-democratic-pressur_290580.jpg"
---

> [We need to put strong Democratic pressure on President Obama in the name of poor and working people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-need-to-put-strong-democratic-pressure-on-president-obama-in-the/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24b/cornel-west-708_democratic_we-need-to-put-strong-democratic-pressur_290580.jpg)

> [The problem is not just affirmative action, though. The problem is poor people, working people and their children, and affirmative action for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-problem-is-not-just-affirmative-action-though-the-problem-is-poor/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07f/cornel-west-708_action_the-problem-is-not-just-affirmative-acti_2316266.jpg)

> [Larry Summers, I think, he had a long history of arrogance and relative ignorance about poor people's culture and working people's culture…](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/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/644/cornel-west-708_arrogance_larry-summers-i-think-he-had-a-long-hist_91350.jpg)

> [If they think they have issues with the president not doing enough for the poor now, wait and see what happens if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/if-they-think-they-have-issues-with-the-president-not-doing-enough/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaa/cornel-west-708_doing_if-they-think-they-have-issues-with-the_2429625.jpg)

> [There are three dominant tendencies in a neoliberal society: financialized, privatized, militarized. And when it comes to black poor people, we get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/there-are-three-dominant-tendencies-in-a-neoliberal-society/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/cornel-west-708_black_there-are-three-dominant-tendencies-in-a_679270.jpg)

> [ Martin King was fundamentally committed to the least of these \[poor, working people\]. Of course, he was a Christian soldier for justice… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/martin-king-was-fundamentally-committed-to-the-least-of-these-poor/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/107/cornel-west-708_chapters_martin-king-was-fundamentally-committed_2524206.jpg)

> [Poor people can be greedy, too. It's just that they don't have any material resources. We need shaping of the souls as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/poor-people-can-be-greedy-too-it-s-just-that-they-don-t-have-any/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/799/cornel-west-708_greedy_poor-people-can-be-greedy-too-it-s-just_999865.jpg)

> [We've got the wrong vision, the wrong values, the wrong priority, and as the great prophetic figure Marian Edelman Wright puts it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-ve-got-the-wrong-vision-the-wrong-values-the-wrong-priority-and-as/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/057/cornel-west-708_children_we-ve-got-the-wrong-vision-the-wrong-val_1975155.jpg)

> [When it comes to our precious poor children of all colors, maybe disproportionally in percentage black and white and red, but all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-it-comes-to-our-precious-poor-children-of-all-colors-maybe/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bc/cornel-west-708_black_when-it-comes-to-our-precious-poor-child_2791606.jpg)

> [We have a market-driven society so obsessed with buying and selling and obsessed with power and pleasure and property, it doesn't leave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-have-a-market-driven-society-so-obsessed-with-buying-and-selling/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d02/cornel-west-708_activity_we-have-a-market-driven-society-so-obses_2465767.jpg)

> [Martin Luther King Jr's agenda was not to help Negroes overcome American apartheid in the south. It was to make America democracy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/martin-luther-king-jr-s-agenda-was-not-to-help-negroes-overcome/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fee/cornel-west-708_able_martin-luther-king-jr-s-agenda-was-not-t_1206753.jpg)

> [The problem is that affirmative action could never really get at the issue of corporate power in the workplace, and so you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-problem-is-that-affirmative-action-could-never-really-get-at-the/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa4/cornel-west-708_action_the-problem-is-that-affirmative-action-c_1299687.jpg)

> [I think it's important not to view Martin Luther King Jr. in a narrow political manner. His fundamental commitment is to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-think-it-s-important-not-to-view-martin-luther-king-jr-in-a-narrow/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/627/cornel-west-708_analysis_i-think-it-s-important-not-to-view-marti_2339334.jpg)

> [I'm not pessimistic, because poor people tend to bounce back. We've been through worse than this - working people been through worse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-m-not-pessimistic-because-poor-people-tend-to-bounce-back-we-ve/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/085/cornel-west-708_bounce_i-m-not-pessimistic-because-poor-people_435897.jpg)

> [All talks about legacies of white supremacy must be tied to empowering the lives of poor and working people as a whole.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/all-talks-about-legacies-of-white-supremacy-must-be-tied-to/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b16/cornel-west-708_agendas_all-talks-about-legacies-of-white-suprem_2318850.jpg)

> [Certainly Martin Luther King, in the mainstream perception of him, had a dream. Yes, he did. But the question becomes, what was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/certainly-martin-luther-king-in-the-mainstream-perception-of-him-had/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/cornel-west-708_american-dream_certainly-martin-luther-king-in-the-main_1231178.jpg)

> [ I know my dear brother, President \[Barack\] Obama, has a bust of Martin King right there in the Oval Office, but the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-know-my-dear-brother-president-barack-obama-has-a-bust-of-martin/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cd/cornel-west-708_afghanistan_i-know-my-dear-brother-president-barack_792715.jpg)

> [ When you say that \[Martin Luther\] King was a prophet, you don't say that he predicted anything; you say that he bore… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-you-say-that-martin-luther-king-was-a-prophet-you-don-t-say-that/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/81a/cornel-west-708_bores_when-you-say-that-martin-luther-king-was_1290198.jpg)

> [The love of wisdom is a way of life; that is to say, it's a set of practices that have to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-love-of-wisdom-is-a-way-of-life-that-is-to-say-it-s-a-set-of/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/775/cornel-west-708_compassion_the-love-of-wisdom-is-a-way-of-life-that_2410945.jpg)

> [I'm a Christian. I believe that greatness has to do with the quality of love shown to the least of thy brethren…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-m-a-christian-i-believe-that-greatness-has-to-do-with-the-quality/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c9/cornel-west-708_america_i-m-a-christian-i-believe-that-greatness_1810157.jpg)

> [The American Dream is individualistic. Martin Luther King's dream was collective. The American Dream says, "I can engage in upward mobility and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-american-dream-is-individualistic-martin-luther-king-s-dream-was/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efd/cornel-west-708_american-dream_the-american-dream-is-individualistic-ma_672709.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)

> [Hey, you got something going here. I think we've got a chance for some progressive policy that actually focuses on poor and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/hey-you-got-something-going-here-i-think-we-ve-got-a-chance-for-some/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f7/cornel-west-708_chance_hey-you-got-something-going-here-i-think_2843572.jpg)

> [Martin Luther King was not a Marxist or a communist, but his radical love leads him to put poor and working people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/martin-luther-king-was-not-a-marxist-or-a-communist-but-his-radical/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b3/cornel-west-708_communist_martin-luther-king-was-not-a-marxist-or_175409.jpg)

> [ We \[Americans\] have to get beyond the greed-run-amok. We have to get beyond indifference to the poor and working people. We have… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-americans-have-to-get-beyond-the-greed-run-amok-we-have-to-get/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/cornel-west-708_americans_we-americans-have-to-get-beyond-the-gree_384791.jpg)

> [Poor people and working people have not been the focus of the Obama administration. That for me is not just a disappointment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/poor-people-and-working-people-have-not-been-the-focus-of-the-obama/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c50/cornel-west-708_administration_poor-people-and-working-people-have-not_2451455.jpg)

> [Love and trust and justice, concern for the poor, that's being pushed to the margins, and you can see it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/love-and-trust-and-justice-concern-for-the-poor-that-s-being-pushed/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f8/cornel-west-708_being_love-and-trust-and-justice-concern-for-t_2286372.jpg)

> [The most important assets we have are our bodies and our energy which can be put to good use as resources in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-most-important-assets-we-have-are-our-bodies-and-our-energy-which/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7de/cornel-west-708_activism_the-most-important-assets-we-have-are-ou_2211207.jpg)

> [Martin Luther King would celebrate the symbolic status (of having a black president), but he would examine what the real substance was.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/martin-luther-king-would-celebrate-the-symbolic-status-of-having-a/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f72/cornel-west-708_black_martin-luther-king-would-celebrate-the-s_1289752.jpg)

> [We want an economic team, Paul Krugman and Robert Kuttner, Joseph Steiglitz's people and others, who say, you know what? We're sophisticated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/we-want-an-economic-team-paul-krugman-and-robert-kuttner-joseph/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d2/cornel-west-708_concerned_we-want-an-economic-team-paul-krugman-an_1258721.jpg)

> [In the practice of radical love, you are embracing human beings across the board, but you do give a preference - very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/in-the-practice-of-radical-love-you-are-embracing-human-beings-across/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17d/cornel-west-708_black_in-the-practice-of-radical-love-you-are_1022811.jpg)

> [The condition of truth, is to allow suffering to speak. Which means attend to suffering of the least of these, of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-condition-of-truth-is-to-allow-suffering-to-speak-which-means/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c2/cornel-west-708_black_the-condition-of-truth-is-to-allow-suffe_1605287.jpg)

> [When you love poor people THAT MUCH, when you love 'working people' THAT MUCH, that makes you the freest man/woman in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-you-love-poor-people-that-much-when-you-love-working-people-that/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c5/cornel-west-708_country_when-you-love-poor-people-that-much-when_2814267.jpg)

> [There are different varieties and forms of capitalism. There are priorities within the capitalist society so that you can have countervailing forces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/there-are-different-varieties-and-forms-of-capitalism-there-are/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb0/cornel-west-708_america_there-are-different-varieties-and-forms_1763861.jpg)

> [In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebellion and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/in-situations-of-sparse-resources-along-with-degraded-self-images-and/)

[Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a25/cornel-west-708_avenues_in-situations-of-sparse-resources-along_2395011.jpg)

## Other authors on Poor

## 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/)

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                        "text": "Martin Luther King Jr's agenda was not to help Negroes overcome American apartheid in the south. It was to make America democracy a better place, where everyday people, from poor people who were white and red and yellow and black and brown, would be able to live lives in decency and dignity.",
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                        "text": "The problem is that affirmative action could never really get at the issue of corporate power in the workplace, and so you ended up with the downsizing; you ended up with de-industrializing. You ended up with the marginalizing of working people and working poor people even while affirmative action was taking place, and a new black middle class was expanding.",
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                        "text": "I think it's important not to view Martin Luther King Jr. in a narrow political manner. His fundamental commitment is to a radical love of humanity, and especially of poor and working people. And that radical love leads him to a radical analysis of power, domination and oppression. What's difficult is to situate him ideologically under a particular category.",
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                        "text": "I'm not pessimistic, because poor people tend to bounce back. We've been through worse than this - working people been through worse than this. We've got slavery and Jim Crow. We've got workers with no rights up until '35. We're going to bounce back. We are resilient, resisting people. So, it's not pessimism, but it is blues-like. It's not optimistic. We're just prisoners of hope, that's all.",
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                        "text": "All talks about legacies of white supremacy must be tied to empowering the lives of poor and working people as a whole. The black agenda - from Frederick Douglas to A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr, Fannie Lou Hammer to Ella Baker - has always been tied to race talk inseparable from expanding possibilities of democracy, expanding empowerment of everyday people.",
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                        "text": "Certainly Martin Luther King, in the mainstream perception of him, had a dream. Yes, he did. But the question becomes, what was that dream? It wasn't the American Dream. It was a dream that all human beings, especially poor and working people, be treated with dignity.",
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                        "text": "I know my dear brother, President [Barack] Obama, has a bust of Martin King right there in the Oval Office, but the question is are is he going to be true to who that Martin Luther King, Jr., actually is? King was concerned about what? The poor. He was concerned about working people. He was concerned about quality jobs. He was concerned about quality housing. He was concerned about precious babies in Vietnam, the way we ought to be concerned about precious babies in Afghanistan and precious babies in Tel Aviv and precious babies in Gaza.",
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                        "text": "When you say that [Martin Luther] King was a prophet, you don't say that he predicted anything; you say that he bore witness. He left a committed life so that people would never forget the suffering of people that he was connected to. King was prophetic because he lived a committed life. Now he did critique society, saying you're going to go under if you don't treat your poor right. I mean, that is part of prophetic calling, but it's not predicting anything.",
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                        "text": "The love of wisdom is a way of life; that is to say, it's a set of practices that have to do with mustering the courage to think critically about ourselves, society, and the world; mustering the courage to empathize; the courage, I would say, to love; the courage to have compassion with others, especially the widow and the orphan, the fatherless and the motherless, poor and working peoples, gays and lesbians, and so forth - and the courage to hope.",
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                        "text": "I'm a Christian. I believe that greatness has to do with the quality of love shown to the least of thy brethren and the quality of service to those who are catching hell. When you look at it in that sense, I'd say America has had great moments, but I wouldn't call it a great nation. I don't think there have been any great nations in the history of the world, because in every nation you find poor people being subjugated. So, I see the term \"great nation\" as a contradiction, as an oxymoron.",
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                        "text": "The American Dream is individualistic. Martin Luther King's dream was collective. The American Dream says, \"I can engage in upward mobility and live the good life.\" King's dream was fundamentally Christian. His commitment to radical love had everything to do with his commitment to Jesus of Nazareth, and his dream had everything to do with community, with a \"we\" consciousness that included poor and working people around the world, not just black people.",
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                        "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.",
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                        "text": "Hey, you got something going here. I think we've got a chance for some progressive policy that actually focuses on poor and working people.",
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                        "text": "Martin Luther King was not a Marxist or a communist, but his radical love leads him to put poor and working people at the center.",
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                        "text": "We [Americans] have to get beyond the greed-run-amok. We have to get beyond indifference to the poor and working people. We have to get beyond polarized politics.",
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                        "text": "Poor people and working people have not been the focus of the Obama administration. That for me is not just a disappointment but a kind of betrayal.",
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                        "text": "Love and trust and justice, concern for the poor, that's being pushed to the margins, and you can see it.",
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                        "text": "The most important assets we have are our bodies and our energy which can be put to good use as resources in political activism for poor and working people.",
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                        "text": "Martin Luther King would celebrate the symbolic status (of having a black president), but he would examine what the real substance was. And if he saw that poor and working people were not at the center of public policy, he would be deeply, deeply upset.",
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                        "text": "We want an economic team, Paul Krugman and Robert Kuttner, Joseph Steiglitz's people and others, who say, you know what? We're sophisticated economists but we're concerned about poor and working people.",
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                        "text": "In the practice of radical love, you are embracing human beings across the board, but you do give a preference - very much like Jesus - to the least of these, to the weak, to the vulnerable. That includes poor whites and poor browns, as well as the poor in black ghettos.",
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                        "text": "When you love poor people THAT MUCH, when you love 'working people' THAT MUCH, that makes you the freest man/woman in the country.\" - Cornel West in explaining that Obama is A fulfillment of MLK's dream not THE fulfillment of MLK's dream",
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                        "text": "There are different varieties and forms of capitalism. There are priorities within the capitalist society so that you can have countervailing forces come in and empower your working people and your poor people. There are capitalist societies that do not have poverty. America needs to understand that.",
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                        "text": "In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebellion and anarchic expression. The capacity to produce social chaos is the last resort of desperate people.",
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