Short answers, pulled from the story.
Cornel Ronald West, born on the 2nd of June 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is an American philosopher, theologian, political activist, and public intellectual. He is best known for his books Race Matters (1993) and Democracy Matters (2004), his professorships at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Union Theological Seminary, and his role as Councillor West in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
West graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1973 in Near Eastern languages and civilization. He then earned both a master's degree and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1980, becoming the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton. His dissertation was titled Ethics, Historicism, and the Marxist Tradition.
In 2002, West left Harvard for Princeton after a private confrontation with Harvard president Lawrence Summers, who reportedly criticized West for missing classes, contributing to grade inflation, and focusing on outside projects including a hip-hop CD and political campaigning. West also cited Summers's failure to send get-well wishes until weeks after West's prostate cancer surgery, contrasting it with the attentiveness of Princeton president Shirley Tilghman.
West released three solo albums: Sketches of My Culture (2001), Street Knowledge (2004), and Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations (2007). The 2007 album featured collaborations with Prince, Talib Kweli, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, KRS-One, Killer Mike, and the late Gerald Levert. He also recorded with the Cornel West Theory hip-hop band in 2010.
West plays Councillor West in both The Matrix Reloaded (released 2001) and The Matrix Revolutions (released 2003), and voices the same character in the video game Enter the Matrix. He also provides philosophical commentary on all three Matrix films in The Ultimate Matrix Collection alongside integral theorist Ken Wilber.
West announced his 2024 presidential run on the 5th of June 2023, first under the People's Party, then briefly as a Green Party candidate, before running as an independent under the Justice For All Party he founded on the 1st of February 2024. By August 2024, he was polling below 1% nationally, his campaign was $17,000 in debt, and he had stopped actively campaigning.