When you teach black people that they are less beautiful, less moral, less intelligent, and as a result you defer to the white supremacist status quo, you rationalize your accommodation to the status quo, you lose your fire, you become much more tied to producing foliage, what appears to be the case. - Cornel West

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There is something about boldness and fearlessness and being free enough to speak what is on one's mind that warrants freedom. - Cornel West

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Racism is a moral catastrophe, most graphically seen in the prison industrial complex and targeted police surveillance in black and brown ghettos rendered invisible in public discourse. - Cornel West

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Martin Luther King Jr. was not just a man of peace. He was a radical pacifist, and so he was against war across the board. - Cornel West

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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. - Cornel West

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I'm against genocide. I'm against fascism. I'm willing to fight against them so that, in that sense, I think one can still be committed to justice and committed to peace but recognize the circumstances under which one does have to fight. - Cornel West

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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. - Cornel West

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Neofascism in the United States takes the form of big money, big banks, big corporations, tied to xenophobic scapegoating of the vulnerable, like Mexicans and Muslims and women and black folk, and militaristic policies abroad, with strongman, charismatic, autocratic personality, and that's what Donald Trump is. - Cornel West

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Love and trust and justice, concern for the poor, that's being pushed to the margins, and you can see it. - Cornel West

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All profound distraction opens certain doors. You have to allow yourself to be distracted when you are unable to concentrate.

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