Yeah this is a good metric. Cornel West has mainly just done speeches his whole life. He's been involved with DSA too, but mainly as a distant advisor role. He was famously at the Charlottesville thing as a counter-protestor and there was some kind of violent confrontation where some antifa defended him, which is pretty cool honestly.

I don't know what to make of West honestly. I've read his books and from those alone you'd think he's got it figured out. Clear and concise condemnations of structural racism in the US and where it comes from. But from his interviews and speeches he sounds more vague, more fuzzy, less capable of presenting a coherent plan or message.

I still want to like him because he was instrumental in my own development. I read his books as a teenager and they stuck with me, but he's frankly a relic of a bygone age. He's stuck 30 years ago when the moment's long since passed him.