--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When ordinary people wake up, elites…" description: "\"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 c..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/414/cornel-west-708_abuse_when-ordinary-people-wake-up-elites-begi_345412.jpg" --- # When ordinary people wake up, elites begin to tremble in… ![“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.” quote by Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/414/cornel-west-708_abuse_when-ordinary-people-wake-up-elites-begi_345412.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/414/cornel-west-708_abuse_when-ordinary-people-wake-up-elites-begi_345412.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/414/cornel-west-708_abuse_when-ordinary-people-wake-up-elites-begi_345412.jpg) > “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.” [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Powerful elites fear collective resistance; oppression persists without courageous dissent. **In simple terms:** People rise, elites tremble. Key Takeaway Stand up against injustice. Themes justice power resistance courage Mood defiant hopeful Type activist philosophical When to use this quote - protests - community organizing - policy advocacy - education reform Key Concepts social hierarchy activism ethics Questions to Reflect On - What will you risk to challenge oppression? - How can ordinary people sustain courage? A Different Perspective Change often meets severe backlash and personal risk. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abuse/) [Boots](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boots/) [Courage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/courage/) [Domination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/domination/) [Elites](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elites/) [Exploitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exploitation/) [Folks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folks/) [Get away](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/get-away/) [Oppression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oppression/) [Ordinary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary/) [Ordinary people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary-people/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [People Wake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-wake-372505/) [Subjugation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subjugation/) [Takes Courage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/takes-courage/) [Wake up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wake-up/) ## Related quotes > [When ordinary people wake up, elites begin to tremble in their boots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-ordinary-people-wake-up-elites-begin-to-tremble-in-their-boots/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [“Every exercise of power incorporates a faint, almost imperceptible, element of contempt for those over whom the power is exercised. One can only dominate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-ndor-m-rai/every-exercise-of-power-incorporates-a-faint-almost-imperceptible/) [Sándor Márai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-ndor-m-rai/) > [Why is it so difficult for many white folks to understand that racism is oppressive not because white folks have prejudicial feelings about blacks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/why-is-it-so-difficult-for-many-white-folks-to-understand-that-racism/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [The history of mankind is a history of the subjugation and exploitation of a great majority of people by an elite few by what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-crane/the-history-of-mankind-is-a-history-of-the-subjugation-and/) [Ed Crane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-crane/) > [The notion of travelling to far places in order to study alien peoples and cultures, is unique to Western man; it springs from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-notion-of-travelling-to-far-places-in-order-to-study-alien/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) > [But colonialism in its harshest forms is not only the exploitation of new nations by old, of dark skins by light, or the subjugation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/but-colonialism-in-its-harshest-forms-is-not-only-the-exploitation-of/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [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/) > [Every relationship of domination, of exploitation, of oppression is by definition violent, whether or not the violence is expressed by drastic means. In such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/every-relationship-of-domination-of-exploitation-of-oppression-is-by/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [Exploitation and domination of one nation over another can have no place in a world striving to put an end to all war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/exploitation-and-domination-of-one-nation-over-another-can-have-no/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [As long as hierarchy persists, as long as domination organises humanity around a system of elites, the project of dominating nature will continue to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-bookchin/as-long-as-hierarchy-persists-as-long-as-domination-organises/) [Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-bookchin/) > [“Even their insistence on educating their children, the last reflex of any exploited group before it sank into submission, marked the end of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-g-ballard-2/even-their-insistence-on-educating-their-children-the-last-reflex-of/) [J.G. Ballard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-g-ballard-2/) > [Feminist effort to end patriarchal domination should be of primary concern precisely because it insists on the eradication of exploitation and oppression in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/feminist-effort-to-end-patriarchal-domination-should-be-of-primary/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [There is an old joke about socialism as the synthesis of the highest achievements of the whole human history to date: from prehistoric societies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/there-is-an-old-joke-about-socialism-as-the-synthesis-of-the-highest/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [There is no means by which anyone can evade his personal responsibility. Whoever neglects to examine to the best of his abilities all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/there-is-no-means-by-which-anyone-can-evade-his-personal/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [In our age of nuclear and biological weapons and the ever more efficient exploitation of nature, the mix of high technology and an ethos…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/riane-eisler/in-our-age-of-nuclear-and-biological-weapons-and-the-ever-more/) [Riane Eisler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/riane-eisler/) ## 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/) [Explore all 400 Cornel West quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ## More Abuse quotes > [I wrote when I was a young teen, but I didn't put an eye on the available markets until I was seventeen. 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Be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-byers-ruch/build-a-bridge-over-shame-by-teaching-kids-about-sexual-abuse-give/) [Carolyn Byers Ruch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-byers-ruch/) > [It is sure that those are most desirous of honour or glory who cry out loudest of its abuse and the vanity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baruch-spinoza/it-is-sure-that-those-are-most-desirous-of-honour-or-glory-who-cry/) [Baruch Spinoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baruch-spinoza/) > [“The sole reason I stand to open it up now is that lots of people who are in pain just like I was, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-dsouza/the-sole-reason-i-stand-to-open-it-up-now-is-that-lots-of-people-who/) [Patricia Dsouza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-dsouza/) > [Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. 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