by Aaron Pellish at CNN
Independent presidential candidate Cornel West announced fellow academic Melina Abdullah as his vice presidential nominee in an interview Wednesday on “The Tavis Smiley Show.”
“She has a record of deep commitment and investment in ensuring that poor and working people are at the center of her vision,” West said of his running mate. “I wanted to 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’s selection of Abdullah, a Muslim Black woman and a member of the board of directors for Black Lives Matter Grassroots, could further advance his outreach to Muslim Americans and Black Americans disenchanted with President Joe Biden.
A pan-African studies professor at California State University, Los Angeles, Abdullah said she enthusiastically agreed to join West’s campaign and was drawn to his platform of “truth, love and justice.”
“I regard (West), and many of us regard him as one of the most brilliant people to walk this earth, and so I’ve been following him and had been really enthusiastic about his candidacy,” Abdullah said on Smiley’s show shortly after she was announced as West’s running mate.
“He and his wife, Annahita, asked and immediately my heart just soared,” she said. “I said ‘yes’ immediately. Like, shouted ‘yes.’”
Abdullah said she hopes joining West’s campaign and forming a ticket with…
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