Civil rights activist and Princeton University professor Cornel West laid out the case for the country’s continued income disparity to conservative pundit William Kristol on CNN’s Crossfire Monday night.

“We black folk, we have been some of the most open-minded, forgiving and embracing people in the nation,” West told host S.E. Cupp. “We’ve got Clarence Thomases within our community. It’s not like we gotta go somewhere else to have conservatives. But the issue is this: Why are the Republicans cutting food stamps? That’s morally obscene and spiritually profane. Four million poor people may be pushed into poverty.”

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“How much have food stamps gone up in the last four years?” Kristol interjected. “They’ve doubled.”

“They’ve gone up — you know why?” West countered. “Because this crisis of capitalism. Their wages have been stagnant.”

“Who’s been president the past four years?” Kristol said with a smirk. “I thought the economy was roaring back under President Obama.”

“This is where neo-liberalism goes hand-in hand with your neo-conservatism,” West argued. “Privatize, militarize, support big banks and big corporations. The result is what? Working-class devastated, middle-class downward mobility, escalation of poverty. So yes, you’re right: We’ve got a lot of food stamps increasing because of what? People are suffering. But then you’re gonna cut the food stamps?”

Watch the debate, aired Monday on CNN, below.

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[h/t Mediaite]