It's never a question of skin pigmentation. It's never a question of just culture or sexual orientation or civilization. It's what kind of human being you're going to choose to be from your mama's womb to the tomb and what kind of legacy will you leave.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that true identity goes beyond superficial traits and revolves around the choices we make throughout our lives.
Cornel West's quote argues that the essence of a person is not defined by characteristics such as skin color, culture, or sexual orientation. Instead, it emphasizes the moral choices we make and the legacy we create from birth to death, highlighting the importance of personal integrity and responsibility in shaping our identity and impact on the world.
In practice
This quote can inspire a graduation speech about making responsible choices.
King's response to our crisis can be put in one word: revolution. A revolution in our priorities, a reevaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens.
You've got to love yourself enough, not only so that others will be able to love you, but that you'll be able to love others.
Profound music leads us beyond language...to the dark roots of our scream and the celestial heights of our silence.
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.
Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists.
I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.'
It is the essence of the institutions of liberty that it be recognized that guilt is personal and cannot be attributed to the holding of opinions or to mere intent in the absence of overt acts.
The Second Amendment says we have the right to bear arms, not to bear artillery.
A million years of evolution, Eric said bitterly, and what are we? Animals.
You know that you are. Don't burden yourself with names, just be. Any name or shape you give yourself obscures your real nature.
It is my conviction that nothing enduring _x000D_ _x000D_ can be built on violence. _x000D_ _x000D_ The only safe way to overcome an enemy _x000D_ _x000D_ is to make of that enemy a friend.
Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness a more humane society will not emerge.
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