Cornel West Has Announced He's Running for President

On Monday, scholar and activist Cornel West made the stunning announcement that he has tossed his hat into the 2024 presidential election. The news was shared on West’s official Twitter account.

He wrote: “I am running for truth and justice as a presidential candidate for the People’s Party to reintroduce America to the best of itself - fighting to end poverty, mass incarceration, ending wars and ecological collapse, guaranteeing housing, health care, education and living wages for all!”

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West, 70, is an esteemed author and a former professor of the practice of public philosophy at Harvard University. He is a notable—and sometimes controversial—critic of America and its values with a focus on gender, race and focuses much of his social criticism on race, gender and class in American society.

In the video that accompanied his announcement, West explained his approach to politics. “We’re not talking about hating anybody, we’re talking about loving, we’re talking about affirming, we’re talking about empowering those who have been pushed to the margins,” he commented. “Because neither political party wants to tell the truth about Wall Street, about Ukraine, about the Pentagon, about Big Tech. Do we have what it takes? We shall see.”

The clip also included West talking to Bill Maher about how the only options voters have are “neofascists like brother Trump or milquetoast neoliberals like brother Biden.” West is running as a third-party candidate and endorsed Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

According to his campaign site, West policies will include medicare for all, expanding civil liberties, cleaning out corrupt government, guaranteed quality education, taking on climate change, stopping foreign military aid and forgiving all student debt. West is professor emeritus at Princeton University.

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