Cornel West Quotes

Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, author, public intellectual, and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. West is an outspoken voice in American leftist politics, and as such has been critical of members of the Democratic Party, including former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He has held professorships at Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, Union Theological Seminary, and the University of Paris during his career. He is also a frequent commentator on politics and social issues in many media outlets.

From 2010 through 2013, West co-hosted a radio program with Tavis Smiley, called Smiley and West. He has also been featured in several documentaries, and made appearances in Hollywood films such as The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, providing commentary for both films. West has also made several spoken word and hip hop albums, and due to his work, has been named MTV's Artist of the Week. He has also been portrayed on Saturday Night Live by Kenan Thompson.

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." Styling himself as a radical democrat 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 and Democracy Matters .

✵ 2. June 1953   •   Other names 康乃爾·韋斯特, 코넬 웨스트, Քորնել Ուեսթ
Cornel West photo

Works

Race Matters
Race Matters
Cornel West
Cornel West: 28   quotes 8   likes

Famous Cornel West Quotes

Cornel West Quotes about people

“You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people, if you don't serve the people.”

Source: Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom (2008); also on "The Way I See It" Starbucks Coffee Cup #284

Cornel West Quotes about love

“Justice is what love looks like in public.”

Brother West (2009), p. 232

Cornel West Quotes

“I must feel the fire of my soul so my intellectual blues can set others on fire.”

Source: Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, A Memoir

“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.”

"America is spiritually bankrupt. We must fight back together." The Guardian, January 14, 2018 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/14/america-is-spiritually-bankrupt-we-must-fight-back-together

“To be an intellectual really means to speak a truth that allows suffering to speak.”

"Chekhov, Coltrane, and Democracy: Interview by David Lionel Smith." in The Cornel West Reader (1998)

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