BLACKSBURG -- Americans must heed historical lessons, and look introspectively now, to further the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., Princeton University professor Cornel West said Monday.

West, known for his criticisms of today's political and moral landscape as well as his influence on black civil rights, was the keynote speaker during Virginia Tech's ceremony celebrating King.

He visited Blacksburg after a similar address in Atlanta at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King delivered sermons the decade before his death.

This marked this fifth annual celebration honoring King's legacy, according to a program handed out at the event.

"There will never be another Martin Luther King Jr.," West assured the audience that nearly filled the 2,900-seat Burruss Auditorium.

But in a call to find their personal truths, West urged attendees to live steadfast to the same principles as the slain civil rights leader and to realize that "justice is the public form of love."

And love is the tenet to which King ultimately clung, he said.

However, instead of continuing that legacy, Americans have had a "moral constipation," he said, and have not critically examined both themselves and the failings around them, such as poverty, racism or greed.

"He is a wave in an ocean," West said of King. "He's part of a larger movement."

West paid homage to other leaders of the era, such as Diane Nash, who led sit-ins in Nashville, Tenn., and Malcolm X, but said it's up to today's generations to take a stand against all injustices around them.

"He was made by a movement, just as he helped make that movement," West said.

Today, everyone must join to continue his activism, he said.

West's message did not center solely on race. He said King's message of love, which "tilted toward the weak" extends beyond blacks and whites, but to all races and all economic statuses.

He spoke against President Obama, of whom he has been publicly critical, saying that Obama's economic team "tilts toward the strong."

West is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, a socialist faction.

"How can the economic team say the recession is over because Wall Street improved?" he asked, adding that, meanwhile, most of America still is struggling.

He said issues such as this are keeping King's legacy marginalized and that Obama and all Americans need to recognize the importance of helping the poor.

Monday's presentation was sponsored by the Office for Equity and Inclusion and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, of which King was and West is a member. It was the beginning of a week's worth of activities, including a panel discussion about "The Public Intellectual" at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Graduate Life Center.