Civil Rights activist and philosopher, Cornel West, announced his candidacy for U.S. president Monday.
West is a leading figure in modern-day Civil Rights activism and social change. He is running for president as a member of the People’s Party. According to a video announcement on Twitter, his platform will focus on military opposition, corporate overreach and race relations within the country.
West recently told Chris Hedges he hopes to create a “paradigm shift” in US politics, igniting a base that is contrary to the modern, two-party establishment that currently dominates the country.
“What’s at stake,” West said “is the utter destruction of the planet, destruction of the species, destruction of American democracy and for me, coming out of the Black prophetic tradition, the destruction of the black prophetic tradition.”
West is no stranger to this kind of rhetoric. He previously served as a professor of African-American studies and Public Philosophy at Harvard College, where his lessons centered on the truth and justice in philosophy, politics, cultural theory and literature, among other things. He also served as director of African-American studies at Princeton University.
“What we need is a recognition that the corporate duopoly, both parties, constitute major obstacles and impediments for the kind of spiritual awakening and moral reckoning that focuses on poor and working people.”
