Cornell West has been a fixture of American society for more than three decades.

Ubiguity provided liquidity and West earned an estimated 15 million or so over the last 30 years.

But oddly, as he mounts an independent run for president his net worth

resembles that of a first-year adjunct professor.

Hi I'm Ali Jackson Jolly I'm here with my colleague Forbes Staff Writer

Zach Everson. Zach, thanks for being here with us. My pleasure. Yeah, so you and your

team regularly write about the presidential candidates

digging into their wealth, how much money do they have, what are their assets,

and so most recently you do that for Cornell West.

Cornell West, political philosopher, most famous for his essays in written in 1991 I believe called Race Matters.

Before I ask you how much he's worth, tell us a little bit about Cornell West. What should we know about him?

Really impressive backstory.

He came up from pretty humble means, grew up in Sacramento.

Mom was a school teacher and then principal. dad was a contractor, one of four kids.

If his autobiography is to believe, be believed in, there's every indication it should be,

very smart from a young age just just tore through academics

very good athlete he was active in track he said played the violin very active on the

dating and dancing scene he would talk about what a dancer he was.

Went to Harvard at the age of 17, graduated in three years,

in part because he was afraid he was going to run out of money

to pay for it, and then he went to Princeton on a full

scholarship, got his PhD, but even before he graduated Princeton, he was publishing, he was teaching

...