Who is Cornel West, the American activist running for the Justice For All Party in the 2024 US election?

Cornel West, a lifelong economic and racial justice activist and academic, is running for president with the Justice for All Party. On Tuesday he will run alongside Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

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Dr. West will not appear on the ballot in enough states to win unless he receives enough write-in votes in states where he is not officially listed. He is officially listed as a candidate in 15 states, which together account for a total of 139 electoral votes. In the 2016 and 2020 Democratic primaries, West supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Cornell West's Early Life

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1953, the presidential candidate is the son of Irene Rayshell, a dedicated teacher and school administrator, and Clifton Louis West Jr., a general contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense. He comes from a family with a strong oratorical tradition; his grandfather, Clifton L. West, served as pastor of Tulsa Metropolitan Baptist Church.

While growing up in Northern California, he was influenced by the intense racial politics of the time, particularly the rise of the Black Panther Party. He completed his high school education at John F. Kennedy High School in Sacramento, where he spent much of his formative years. After graduating, he attended Harvard College, where he developed a strong interest in philosophy. West continued his academic career at Princeton University, earning both a master's degree and a doctorate in philosophy. Notably, he was the first black student to receive a doctorate in philosophy from this Ivy League institution. During his studies, he studied the philosophical figures who inspired the political thought of the Black Panthers, including Karl Marx and WEB Du Bois, among others.

Religion has always been central to Dr. West's political project, which is true for many black liberation fighters. When black people were enslaved in the United States, faith and religion united people and became a place of community – a tradition that West continues to uphold as part of his political philosophy. West is a prolific author who has published over a dozen books on the topic of justice, with a particular focus on racial justice, including “Race Matters,” “The Future of the Race,” and “Black Prophetic Fire.”

Cornell West's candidacy for US President

The West campaign focused on justice issues, including race, health, environmental policy and human rights. His presidential candidacy was turbulent, as he jumped from party to party until he finally agreed to run as an independent candidate with the Justice for All Party.

One of the campaign's “pillars” is Black Maternal Justice, which draws attention to the unjustified threat Black women face when they are pregnant. In the United States, the maternal mortality rate for black women was almost three times the rate for white women. These shocking disparities are really being talked about, and West wanted to change that with his campaign. “This policy is a recognition of the grave injustices faced by Black mothers in the United States, who suffer from disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity,” says West's campaign website, where he outlines some of the policies his administration is pursuing would take if elected. Measures include increasing public funding for maternal health services “tailored to the needs of Black women,” as well as cultural competency and implicit bias training for health care professionals, who are often unaware that their bias is hurting their lives and threatens patients.

Other issues the campaign focused on include justice for older people and children and protecting the rights of children and older people, global justice and anti-imperialism, and immigration justice.

Candidates like West knew they wouldn't win, but their candidacies are aimed at raising awareness and informing the electorate that there is a different kind of politics.