(NewsNation) — As Democrats move away from progressive messaging to take a more moderate approach, independent presidential candidate and philosopher Cornel West said voters should remember to “think critically for themselves.”

“Some of us have to stand up and say this is a crime against humanity,” West said. “Not just the genocide (in Gaza), but the wealth inequality and the mass incarceration and the poverty and so forth.”

According to West, this week’s Democratic National Convention lacked meaningful conversations about issues the nation’s two-party system often renders invisible. It’s a sentiment some other Democrats and commentators share as they interpret presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ centrist campaign shift as an appeal to swing-state voters.

“You can’t talk about genocide, mass incarceration, poverty and wealth inequality solely in an intellectual way,” West said Friday on “NewsNation Now.” “If you don’t have any moral passion behind it, then you’re going to end up just reproducing the same structures.”

Democrats aren’t the only ones shifting their rhetoric as the 2024 election draws near. Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Friday that he is suspending his campaign and endorsing Donald Trump. Kennedy said his name on some ballots would be a “spoiler” in favor of Democrats, whom he doesn’t agree with.

West, who is pending ballot certification in several states, challenged the idea that third-party candidates exist only as spoilers to siphon Democratic or Republican votes.

“You run, in part, because you want to bear witness to a cause,” West said. “Because you want a certain moral awakening. You want a political reckoning. It’s long-term as well as short-term.”