Cornel West slams Democrats at convention, urges focus on poverty and equality
Independent presidential candidate Cornel West remained critical of the Democratic Party at the party’s convention in Chicago.
In an interview with Nexstar’s Chip Brewster and Inside California Politics co-host Nikki Laurenzo on the last day of the convention, West said the party has a “number of different blind spots” and criticized the party’s efforts on combating poverty and America’s prison system.
Regarding his candidacy, he said, “I just want to make sure that I’m constantly consistent and my bearing witness that I accent the issues of poverty, wealth and equality, and the spiritual emptiness among the country, especially the young people.”
The scholar and progressive activist was at the convention for interviews and to join the Pro-Palestine protests outside of the United Center, the venue of the DNC.
West has been outspoken in the past about the Democratic Party, criticizing former President Barack Obama and not supporting Joe Biden in 2020. When West announced his presidential campaign, West criticized both major political parties and President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
“All I want to do is present my case, lay out my vision, bear my witness, and I want fellow citizens to think for themselves,” West told Brewster and Laurenzo.
West was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but grew up in Sacramento and graduated high school in the region. West later received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a master’s and Ph.D. from Princeton.
Irene B. West Elementary School in Elk Grove, about 17 miles south of Sacramento, is named after West’s mother, who broke barriers as the city’s first Black teacher and later became a principal.
The former Sacramento resident mentioned the importance of having lived in California’s capital city, listing multiple neighborhoods that he said were crucial to his upbringing.
“I just would not be me without Oak Park, Land Park, Meadowview, Del Paso Heights,” West said. “Sacto is a special place.”
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