81 Facts About Cornel West

Cornel Ronald West was born on June 2,1953 and is an American philosopher, theologian, political activist, politician, social critic, and public intellectual.

Cornel West has been featured in several documentaries, and made appearances in Hollywood films such as The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, as well as providing commentary for both films.

Cornel West has made several spoken word and hip hop albums.

Cornel West's mother, Irene Rayshell, was a teacher and principal.

Cornel West later wrote that, in his youth, he admired "the sincere Black militancy of Malcolm X, the defiant rage of the Black Panther Party, and the livid Black theology of James Cone".

Cornel West says his Christianity prevented him from joining the BPP, instead choosing to work in local breakfast, prison, and church programs.

Cornel West became the first African American to graduate from Princeton with a PhD degree in philosophy.

At Princeton, Cornel West was heavily influenced by the neopragmatism of Richard Rorty.

The title of Cornel West's dissertation was Ethics, Historicism, and the Marxist Tradition, which was later revised and published under the title The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought.

Cornel West then returned to Union Theological Seminary for one year before going to Princeton to become a professor of religion and director of the program in African American Studies from 1988 to 1994.

Cornel West taught one of the university's most popular courses, an introductory class on African American studies.

Cornel West used this new position to teach in not only African American studies, but courses in divinity, religion, and philosophy.

Cornel West was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa in 1998 at SUNY Plattsburgh.

Summers reportedly suggested that Cornel West produce an academic book befitting his professorial position, as his recent output had consisted primarily of co-written and edited volumes.

Cornel West contended he had missed only one class during his time at Harvard "in order to give a keynote address at a Harvard-sponsored conference on AIDS".

Summers allegedly suggested that since Cornel West held the rank of Harvard University Professor and thus reported directly to the president, he should meet with Summers regularly to discuss the progress of his academic production.

Cornel West noted that Summers failed to send him get-well wishes until weeks after his surgery, whereas newly installed Princeton president Shirley Tilghman had contacted him frequently before and after his treatment.

In 2002, Cornel West left Harvard University to return to Princeton.

Cornel West criticized Summers in public interviews, calling him "the Ariel Sharon of higher education" on the NPR program The Tavis Smiley Show.

In 2002, Cornel West returned to Princeton, where he helped found the Center for African American studies in 2006.

In 2012, Cornel West left Princeton and returned to the institution where he began his teaching career, Union Theological Seminary.

Cornel West continued to teach occasional courses at Princeton in an emeritus capacity as the Class of 1943 University Professor in the Center for African American Studies.

Cornel West returned to Harvard in November 2016, leaving Union Theological Seminary for a nontenured position as Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy.

Cornel West was appointed jointly at the Harvard Divinity School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of African and African American Studies.

In February 2021, reports circulated that Cornel West was denied consideration for tenure at Harvard and that he had threatened to leave the university again.

On March 8,2021, Cornel West announced that he would leave Harvard and move to the Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan.

Cornel West submitted a resignation letter to Harvard on June 30,2021.

Cornel West implied that the decision to deny him tenure was retaliation for his critical stance on Israel and the Palestinian cause.

On July 1,2021, Cornel West rejoined the faculty of Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan, holding the prestigious Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair.

The recipient of more than 20 honorary degrees and an American Book Award, Cornel West has written or contributed to more than twenty published books.

Cornel West is a long-time member of the Democratic Socialists of America, for which he has served as honorary chair.

Cornel West is a co-founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

Cornel West is on the advisory board of the International Bridges to Justice.

Cornel West is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and its World Policy Council, a think tank whose purpose is to expand involvement of Alpha Phi Alpha in politics and social policy to encompass international concerns.

Cornel West's scholarship has been criticized as well as praised; The New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier called West's writing "sectarian, humorless, pedantic, and self-endeared".

In 1997, Cornel West was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society, and in 1999, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Cornel West appears as Councillor Cornel West in both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and provides the voice for this character in the video game Enter the Matrix.

Cornel West has made several appearances in documentary films, such as 2008's Examined Life, a documentary featuring several academics discussing philosophy in real-world contexts.

Cornel West appears in conversation with Bill Withers in the 2009 documentary Still Bill.

Cornel West has made frequent appearances on the political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher.

Cornel West recorded a recitation of John Mellencamp's song "Jim Crow" for inclusion on the singer's box set On the Rural Route 7609 in 2009.

In 2001, Cornel West released his first album, Sketches of My Culture.

In 2007, Cornel West released his third album, entitled Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations, which included collaborations with the likes of Prince, Talib Kweli, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, KRS-One, Killer Mike, and the late Gerald Levert.

Cornel West appeared on Immortal Technique's song "Sign of the Times", which appeared on the 2011 album The Martyr.

Cornel West has drawn criticism for his spending habits, having been in debt often and owing the IRS $483,000 as of 2023.

Cornel West has called the US a "racist patriarchal" nation where white supremacy continues to define everyday life.

Cornel West was arrested on October 13,2014, while protesting against the shooting of Michael Brown and participating in Ferguson October, and again on August 10,2015, while demonstrating outside a courthouse in St Louis on the one-year anniversary of Brown's death.

Cornel West has argued "the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's ugly totalitarian regime was desirable," but that the war in Iraq was the result of "dishonest manipulation" on the part of the Bush administration.

Cornel West has been involved with such projects as the Million Man March and Russell Simmons's Hip-Hop Summit, and he has worked with such public figures as Al Sharpton, whose 2004 presidential campaign Cornel West advised.

In 2000, Cornel West worked as a senior advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley.

When Bradley lost in the primaries, Cornel West became a prominent and active supporter of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, speaking at several Nader rallies.

Some Greens sought to draft Cornel West to run as a presidential candidate in 2004.

Cornel West declined, citing his active participation in the Al Sharpton campaign.

Cornel West said, "[w]e must keep in touch with the humanity of both sides".

In May 2007, Cornel West joined a demonstration against "injustices faced by the Palestinian people resulting from the Israeli occupation" and "to bring attention to this 40-year travesty of justice".

In 2011, Cornel West called on the University of Arizona to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Cornel West serves as co-chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

Cornel West co-chaired the National Parenting Organization's Task Force on Parent Empowerment and participated in President Bill Clinton's National Conversation on Race.

In 2008, Cornel West contributed his insights on the global issue of modernized slavery and human trafficking in the documentary Call+Response.

Cornel West is a member of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy.

In 2011, Cornel West expressed his frustration with some critics of Occupy Wall Street, who said the movement lacked a clear and unified message.

On October 16,2011, West was in Washington, DC, participating in the Occupy DC protests on the steps of the Supreme Court over the court's decision in the Citizens United v Federal Election Commission case the previous year.

In 2014, Cornel West co-initiated the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, a project of the Revolutionary Communist Party USA.

Cornel West is an outspoken supporter of Julian Assange, on one occasion saying: "[Assange] has been simply laying bare some of the crimes and lies of the American empire".

Cornel West stated that he believed the Russian invasion of Ukraine was "a criminal invasion, provoked by the expansion of NATO, which is an instrument of US global power" and described the war as a "proxy war between the American Empire and the Russian Federation".

Cornel West has often spoken about the lack of adequate Black leadership and how it results in doubt within Black communities as to their political potential to ensure change.

Cornel West publicly supported 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama, and spoke to more than 1,000 of Obama's supporters at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, on November 29,2007.

Cornel West criticized Obama when he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, saying that it would be difficult for Obama to be "a war president with a peace prize".

In November 2012, Cornel West said in an interview that he considered Obama a "Rockefeller Republican in blackface".

In 2014, Cornel West gave an interview criticizing Obama, calling him a "counterfeit" who posed as a progressive.

Cornel West defined Obama's presidency as "a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency, a national security presidency".

In 2015, Cornel West expressed his support for Democratic contender Bernie Sanders during an interview on CNN Tonight.

Cornel West argued that the Sanders plans to redistribute wealth from Wall Street elites to the poorest members of society would be beneficial for the African-American community.

In July 2016, after Sanders exited the presidential race, Cornel West endorsed Green Party nominee Jill Stein and her running mate Ajamu Baraka.

Cornel West, who was critical of the US interventionist foreign policy in 2016, referred to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as a "neoliberal disaster", and accused Clinton of merely posing as a progressive.

In 2020, Cornel West put his support behind Bernie Sanders, who mounted a second presidential bid in that election cycle.

On June 5,2023, Cornel West announced he would run in the 2024 presidential election under the People's Party.

On October 5,2023, Cornel West announced that he was abandoning his candidacy for the Green nomination, and would instead continue his presidential bid as an independent candidate.

On February 1,2024, Cornel West announced the establishment of the Justice For All Party, which he claimed would pursue a strategy of securing ballot access in specific areas.

Cornel West's campaign received extensive support from Republican and Trump allies to stay on the ballot in swing states in hope that he would take votes from Kamala Harris.

David Masciotra criticized Cornel West for aligning himself with people and candidates who defend aggressive actions by Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and the Chinese Communist Party.