Cornel West Quotes

American philosopher, political activist and writer (born 1953)

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Cornel Ronald West (born 2 June 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, author, and public intellectual. The son of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society and the means by which people act and react to their "radical conditionedness." A radical democratic socialist, West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including Christianity, the black church, Marxism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism. Among his most influential books are Race Matters (1994) and Democracy Matters (2004). He is currently running a third-party campaign in the 2024 United States presidential election.

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Birth Name: Cornel Ronald West

Alternative Names: Cornel R. West

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The persistence of poverty generates levels of despair that deepen social conflict; the escalation of paranoia produces levels of distrust that reinforce cultural division.

That which fundamentally motivates one still dictates the terms of what one thinks and does — […] one's eyes should be on the prize, not on the perpetrator of one's oppression.

When Afro-Americans are viewed as active subjects of history, Afro-American history becomes the story of a gallantly persistent
struggle, of a disparate racial group fighting to enter modernity on its own terms.