Cornel West

At 71 years old, Cornel West has this physical status:

Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, author, and public intellectual.

The son of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society and the means by which people act and react to their "radical conditionedness".

A radical democrat and democratic socialist, West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including Christianity, the black church, Marxism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism.

Among his most influential books are Race Matters (1994) and Democracy Matters (2004). West is an outspoken voice in left-wing politics in the United States, and as such has been critical of members of the Democratic Party, including former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

He has held professorships and fellowships at Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Princeton University, Yale University, Pepperdine University, Union Theological Seminary, and the University of Paris during his career.

He is also a frequent commentator on politics and social issues in many media outlets.From 2010 through 2013, West co-hosted a radio program with Tavis Smiley, called Smiley and West.

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

West has also made several spoken word and hip hop albums, and due to his work, has been named MTV's Artist of the Week.

He has also been portrayed on Saturday Night Live by Kenan Thompson.

Early life

West was born on June 2, 1953, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and grew up in Sacramento, California, where he graduated from John F. Kennedy High School. His mother, Irene Rayshell (Bias), was a teacher and principal, and his father, Clifton Louis West Jr., was a general contractor for the Department of Defense. His grandfather, Clifton L. West Sr., was pastor of the Tulsa Metropolitan Baptist Church. Irene B. West Elementary School in Elk Grove, California, is named for his mother.

As a young man, West marched in civil rights demonstrations and organized protests demanding black studies courses at his high school, where he was student body president. He 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."

In 1970, after graduation from high school, he enrolled at Harvard College and took classes from the philosophers Robert Nozick and Stanley Cavell. In 1973, West was graduated from Harvard magna cum laude in Near Eastern languages and civilization. He credits Harvard with exposing him to a broader range of ideas, influenced by his professors as well as the Black Panther Party. West says his Christianity prevented him from joining the BPP, instead choosing to work in local breakfast, prison, and church programs. After completing his undergraduate work at Harvard, West enrolled at Princeton University where he received a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1980, completing a dissertation under the supervision of Raymond Geuss and Sheldon Wolin, becoming the first African American to graduate from Princeton with a PhD degree in philosophy.

At Princeton, West was heavily influenced by Richard Rorty's neopragmatism. Rorty remained a close friend and colleague of West's for many years following West's graduation. The title of 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.

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Career

He returned to Harvard as a W. E. B. in his late 20s. Before he became an assistant professor at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, Du Bois Fellow was a graduate of the University of New York. He began attending Yale Divinity School in 1984, which later became a joint appointment in American studies. While at Yale, he was involved in campus demonstrations for a clerical workers union and apartheid South Africa's withdrawal from apartheid South Africa. He was arrested and jailed as a result of one of the demonstrations. As punishment, the university administration canceled his leave for the spring term in 1987, causing the student to move from Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, where he was teaching two classes across the Atlantic Ocean to the University of Paris.

He went back to Union Theological Seminary for one year before heading to Princeton to become a professor of religion and director of the African-American Studies Program from 1988 to 1994. With a joint appointment at Harvard University, he accepted an appointment as a professor of African-American studies. An introductory class on African-American studies was one of the university's most popular courses. He was named the first Alphonse Fletcher University Professor in 1998. West used this new position to teach not only African-American studies, but also in divinity, worship, and philosophy. West was also inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa at SUNY Plattsburgh in 1998.

After a public controversy with then-President Lawrence Summers in 2002, West left Harvard. West returned to Princeton in 2006, where he helped establish the Center for African-American studies. West left Princeton in 2012 and returned to the Union Theological Seminary, where he began his teaching career. Unlike his separation from Harvard, Princeton's departure was amicable. In an emeritus role as the Class of 1943 University Professor in the Center for African American Studies, he continued to teach occasional courses at Princeton.

West resigned from Union Theological Seminary in November 2016 for a non-tenured position as Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy, jointly appointed at Harvard Divinity School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of African and African-American Studies.

West was declined admission to Harvard for his tenure as a professor, according to news in February 2021, and the university was threatened to leave the university once more. West announced on March 8, 2021, that he would leave Harvard and attend the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. On June 30, 2021, he resigned by sending a letter of resignation to Harvard. West claimed that the decision to deny him his service was revenge for his skepticism of Israel and the Palestinian cause.

West wrote:

The denial of tenure "was a sign of Harvard's continued expulsion of faculty who provide incisive evidence of white supremacy, racial liberation, Zionism, and the military-industrial complex, which Professor West vehemently condemns."

West returned to the faculty of Union Theological Seminary in New York on July 1, 2021, where he remained in possession of the coveted Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair. Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, a Columbia University affiliate, has been serving as Columbia's constituent faculty of theology since 1928.

He has written or contributed to more than 20 honorary degrees and the American Book Award, among other things. West has been a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, for whom he served as an honorary chair. He is also a co-founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. West is a member of the International Bridges to Justice's advisory board. He was given special recognition by the World Cultural Council in 2008. West is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and the World Policy Council, a think tank whose mission is to broaden Alpha Phi Alpha's presence in politics and social and current policy to include international issues.

When compared to W.E. B., West has been likened to W. E. B. Du Bois is another prolific African-American thinker. "Perhaps the most influential contemporary recoveries of Du Bois" has been cited by him. Scholars emphasize the similarities in their intellectual conviction and aesthetic presences in Du Bois' tradition of racial thought. Both Du Bois and West wore multiple piece suits and ties. They crafted their physical appearance to match that of disciplined black men of the black race. Du Bois' belief in "the mind and the body as disciplined and contained" was mirrored in their modest clothing choices.

In the popular press, West has been frequently quoted. His scholarship has been chastised as well as lauded; West's writing has been described as "sectarian, humorless, pedantic, and self-endeared," according to New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier.

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

In both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, West appears as Councillor West, and he also appears in the video game Enter the Matrix. In addition, West gives a philosophical analysis of all three Matrix films in The Ultimate Matrix Collection, as well as Ken Wilber, the indispensable theorist.

He has appeared in documentary films, including the 2008 film Examined Life, a documentary starring several academics discussing philosophy in real-world contexts. "driving through Manhattan compares philosophy to jazz and blue," West says, "showing how a life of the mind can be both intense and invigorating." In the Bill Withers documentary Still Bill, he appears in conversation with Bill Withers.

With his most recent appearance on June 10, 2022, West has made frequent appearances on the political talk show. Bill Maher's real time is here.

In the Law & Order episode "Anti-Thesis," a character based on West and events in his career, it was especially noteworthy for introducing the recurring villain character Nicole Wallace.

"What Will Happen to the Gang Next Year?" West co-starred in the sixth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock in May 2012.

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

He formed the Cornel West Theory, a hip hop band that West praised. In addition, he has released many hip-hop/soul/spoken word collections. Sketches of My Culture, West's first album, appeared in 2001. Street Knowledge was launched in 2004. Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations, West's third album, which featured collaborations with Prince, Talib Kweli, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, KRS-One, and late Gerald Levert, was released in 2007. West appeared on Immortal Technique's "Sign of the Times," the 2011 version of Immortal Technique's "Sign of the Times." He appeared on Brother Ali's album "Letter to My Countrymen" in 2012, which appeared on the album Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color.

"Liberal Arts Education: What's the Point?" Robert P. George and West participated in a "assembly series" discussion at Washington University in St. Louis in April 2019.

West is also the co-host of the podcast The Tight Rope, alongside Tricia Rose.

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