Presidential Candidate Dr. Cornel West Selects BLM Leader Dr. Melina Abdullah As VP Running Mate

Independent presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West has announced his selection of Black Lives Matter (BLM) activist Dr. Melina Abdullah, a university professor, as his running mate for the upcoming election. Some see this development as an offer of a progressive alternative to voters dissatisfied with the current political landscape.

Dr. Abdullah, a 52-year-old Cal State Los Angeles professor in the department of Pan-African Studies, is well-known for her advocacy and activism in the realms of social justice, civil rights, and community empowerment. As a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter, Abdullah has been at the forefront of protests and movements advocating for police accountability, racial justice, and systemic change, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Abdullah, the former chair of the Pan-African Studies Department at California State University, Los Angeles, has never run for political office before. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Southern California in Political Science and her B.A. from Howard University in African American Studies.

During his announcement on the Tavis Smiley Radio Show, Dr. West emphasized the importance of offering voters a genuine alternative to the traditional two-party system. “I wanted to run with someone who would put a smile on the face of Fannie Lou Hamer and Martin Luther King Jr. from the grave,” West said.

Both West and Abdullah seem determined to challenge the notion that Americans are limited to only two choices in national Politics, Politico reported.

“I wanted to to run with someone who would put a smile on the face of [civil rights activist] Fannie Lou Hamer and Martin Luther King Jr. from the grave,” West said.

“Both of us want to disrupt the narrative that you have only two choices,” said Abdullah, referring to the Democrats and the Republicans. “The world tries to tell us that we’re tethered to certain ideas that we don’t have to be tethered to. We can be expansive, and imaginative.”

“Trump is leading the country toward a second Civil War. Biden is leading the world toward World War III,” West told Smiley. “That’s the choice you have if you only are tied to the duopoly. That’s what it comes down to. We are providing an alternative. … We ain’t on nobody’s plantation.”

The West-Abdullah ticket is recognized as the first all-Black presidential ticket in U.S. History, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Photo via Cornel West 2024 website, https://www.cornelwest2024.com/