Cornel West quotes - page 2

From whence are these "rights of individuals" derived, and why should we care? Unless we presume the existence of some greater power that determines what is good, isn't it arbitrary to posit that human survival is more important than private property rights, an equally artificially construed concept? Isn't it arbitrary to assume that some sort of equality is preferable to a system where, say, the poor are assumed to have bad karma? If these 'rights of individuals' are derived only from shared humanity, then do 'individuals' (a thoroughly meaningless term, by the way), begin to lose them when they act inhumanely? And isn't it totally arbitrary to grant rights to humans rather than other creatures anyway? (Cornel West)
I focus on popular culture because I focus on those areas where black humanity is most powerfully expressed, where black people have been able to articulate their sense of the world in a profound manner. And I see this primarily in popular culture. Why not in highbrow culture? Because the access has been so difficult. Why not in more academic forms? Because academic exclusion has been the rule for so long for large numbers of black people that black culture, for me, becomes a search for where black people have left their imprint and fundamentally made a difference in terms of how certain art forms are understood. This is currently in popular culture. And it has been primarily in music, religion, visual arts and fashion. View quote
Cornel West
Free-market fundamentalism trivializes the concern for public interest. It puts fear and insecurity in the hearts of anxiety-ridden workers. It also makes money-driven, poll-obsessed elected officials deferential to corporate goals of profit – often at the cost of the common good. ... The free-market fundamentalism that prevails in the United States today promotes the pervasive sleepwalking of the populace. People see that the false prophets are handsomely rewarded - with money, status and access to more power. ... We are experiencing the sad gangsterization of America - an unbridled grasp at power, wealth and status. View quote
Cornel West
The Enlightenment worldview held by Du Bois is ultimately inadequate, and, in many ways, antiquated, for our time. The tragic plight and absurd predicament of Africans here and abroad requires a more profound interpretation of the human condition - one that goes beyond the false dichotomies of expert knowledge vs. mass ignorance, individual autonomy vs. dogmatic authority, and self-mastery vs. intolerant tradition. View quote
Cornel West
The rule of Big Money and its attendant culture of cupidity and mendacity has so poisoned our hearts, minds and souls that a dominant self-righteous neoliberal soulcraft of smartness, dollars and bombs thrives with little opposition. View quote
Cornel West
You can't really move forward until you look back. [From Remaking America panel discussion at George Washington University]. View quote
Cornel West
The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of inspiration. View quote
Cornel West
To live is to wrestle with despair, yet never allow despair to have the last word. View quote
Cornel West
We have a market-driven society so obsessed with buying and selling and obsessed with power and pleasure and property. View quote
Cornel West
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. View quote
Cornel West
And when I talk about love, I'm talking about something that's great, though, brother. I'm talking about something that will sustain you. (Cornel West)
There is something about boldness and fearlessness and being free enough to speak what is on one's mind that warrants freedom. View quote
Cornel West
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. View quote
Cornel West
Love and trust and justice, concern for the poor, that's being pushed to the margins, and you can see it. View quote
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 forth. View quote
Cornel West
There is no fundamental social change by being simply of individual and interpersonal actions. You have to have organizations and institutions that make a fundamental difference. View quote
Cornel West
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. View quote
Cornel West
We need to put strong Democratic pressure on President Obama in the name of poor and working people. View quote
Cornel West
I'm not saying that President Obama should be exempt from criticism, nor do I believe it is some act of racial treason for a black person to hold our president accountable for his actions. View quote
Cornel West
Black people have been working hard for decades. View quote
Cornel West
I am excited to have a black president because white supremacy is real and it needs to be shattered. (Cornel West)
We want to bear witness today that we know the relation between corporate greed and what goes on too often in the Supreme Court decisions. View quote
Cornel West
We will not allow this day of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial to go without somebody going to jail. View quote
Cornel West
Rage is fine as long as it doesn't deteriorate into bitterness. View quote
Cornel West
I take my fundamental cue from John Coltrane that says there must be a priority of integrity, honesty, decency, and mastery of craft. View quote
Cornel West