Cornel West Quotes

The purpose of affirmative action is to give our nation a way to finally address the systemic exclusion of individuals of talent on the basis of their gender, or race from opportunities to develop, perform, achieve and contribute. Affirmative action is an effort to develop systematic approach to open the doors of education, employment, and business development opportunities to qualified individuals who happen to be members of groups that have experienced long-standing and persistent discrimination.

It's undeniable there's been remarkable progress for African-Americans in this country. They've been elected senators and governors and running major corporations. But obviously we still have a long way to go.

I ended Affirmative Action by executive order and replaced it with a leadership model that created more opportunities for African-American and Hispanic students.

I have supported affirmative action, I do support affirmative action and I will support affirmative action.

The argument that somehow we've got to get rid of minority scholarships so that we can have a free and fair America implies that we have a colorblind society where minorities are equal in their pursuit of funds to go to school.

I had no need to apologize that the look-wider, search-more affirmative action that Princeton and Yale practiced had opened doors for me. That was its purpose: to create the conditions whereby students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be brought to the starting line of a race many were unaware was even being run.

I still favor alternatives to governmental race-based preferences.

Affirmative action was never meant to be permanent, and now is truly the time to move on to some other approach.

Affirmative action was always racial justice on the cheap.

The third fallacy is that affirmative action doesn't work.

Affirmative action is under attack today, not because it has failed, but because it succeeded.

Without affirmative action I could never have attended Yale University. Without affirmative action Barack Obama would never have gotten into Colombia and Harvard Law school

I am the perfect affirmative action baby.

I think that affirmative action programs can be very important.

Asian Americans are the same as African American, Hispanic Americans, anyone: we deserve to be respected, too.

I understand the Rooney Rule and I understand why it is critical in America. I certainly think there are differences between the American system and in American football, there is such a large percentage of players who are of ethnic backgrounds. I think there is a difference here... I don't think its appropriate here.

Civil rights used to be about treating everyone the same. But today some people are so used to special treatment that equal treatment is considered to be discrimination.

Every citizen, regardless of his race, creed, or color, is entitled to equal justice.

Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as a governing principle.

Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

[I] can't actually imagine a time in which the need for more diversity would ever cease. Affirmative action has been an issue since segregation practices. The question is not when does it end, but when does it begin [..] When do people of color truly get the benefits to which they are entitled?

We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.

The fact is that in too many parts of our country, we still have discrimination. And affirmative action is not just something that applies to people of color. Some people have a mistaken view of it in America. It also is with respect to women, it's with respect to other efforts to try to reach out and be inclusive in our country.

Equality is truly sweet.

How, then, can the feds justify favoring sons of Hispanics over sons of white Americans who fought in World War II or Vietnam?