Alicia Garza

Alicia Garza

Alicia Garza serves as the Strategy & Partnerships Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance and an advisor for Care in Action. Alicia believes that Black communities deserve what all communities deserve—to be powerful in every aspect of their lives. An innovator, strategist, organizer, and cheeseburger enthusiast, she is the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter; co-creator of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, an international organizing project to end state violence and oppression against Black people; co-founder of SuperMajority; and founder of Black Futures Lab. In 2018, Black Futures Lab conducted the largest survey of Black communities in over 150 years..

About

Alicia Garza is the Special Projects Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She has been the recipient of multiple awards for her organizing work in Black and Latino communities, receiving the Local Hero award from the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Jeanne Gauna Communicate Justice award from the Center for Media Justice in 2008. She has twice been honored by the Harvey Milk Democratic Club with the Bayard Rustin Community Activist award for her work fighting gentrification and environmental racism in San Francisco’s largest remaining Black community.

Alicia comes to NDWA after serving as Executive Director of People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) in San Francisco since 2009. Under her leadership, POWER won free local public transportation for youth; fought for a seat at the table in some of the most important land use decisions affecting working-class families; beat back regressive local policies targeting undocumented people; organized against the chronic police violence in Black neighborhoods; and shed light on the ongoing wave of profit-driven development that contribute to a changing San Francisco.

In 2013, Alicia co-founded #BlackLivesMatter, an online platform developed after the murder of Trayvon Martin, designed to connect people interested in learning more about and fighting back against anti-Black racism.

Alicia currently serves on the Board of Directors for the School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL) in Oakland, California, and is a contributing writer for War Times magazine. She serves as trusted counsel for organizations across the country looking to build their capacity to lead and win organizing campaigns.

Alicia Garza is the wife of Malachi Garza.

Student radical

Born Alicia Schwartz, Garza studied anthropology at UC San Diego and was an early activist for causes including LGBT rights, civil rights, and fair housing. Garza became executive director of POWER, a San Francisco-based labor group, in 2009.

Before Jenee Darden became a journalist and Alicia Garza an internationally known activist, they were UC San Diego students, both finding their passions in the late ’90s.

Looking back, I realize Garza (then Alicia Schwartz) and I crossed paths many times. I worked at the Office of Academic Support & Instructional Services (OASIS) with students of color and was active in organizations related to diversity and feminism. She was involved in campus politics, likewise advocating for diversity. We had common friends, and the shared desire to take the knowledge we gained from our education back to underserved communities. We both graduated in 2002, but ironically, I knew her only in passing. I recall seeing her at my second home, the Cross-Cultural Center. I was probably on my way to a function for the then-African American Student Union while she was there for a student activist meeting, perhaps. We likely acknowledged each other with a nod and a smile, what Black students do on campuses where there are so few of us.

“I thought I would be an architect or something,” Garza recalls. But a human sexuality class shifted her path. Things changed when her professor, whom she describes as a funny guy from Santa Cruz, screened a documentary about Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger.

“She was a complicated woman,” Garza says, regarding Sanger being a force in reproductive rights, yet a supporter of racial eugenics. “On the one hand, she was driven to get what she needed. On the other hand, she used racism to do it. That didn’t seem right to me. It sparked me to look into more.”

Garza would ultimately go on to be a different kind of architect—one for change. A sociology and anthropology double major at Marshall College, she became interested in student politics after her roommate, Dylan de Kervor ’02 joined a slate of other activists and swept the A.S. election in 2001. De Kervor won the Vice President–External seat. “The external office felt like a home for people of color to be involved,” says de Kervor, who is now an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. “The external office was involved in engaging with the community and UC students across the state.”

Garza got involved with A.S. and traveled often to other UC campuses, where she worked closely with the UCSA, or University of California Student Association. She also began making her mark on her home campus. “She immediately stood out as someone who was connecting our struggles,” says fellow activist Alex Tom ’99 of his first time meeting Garza. Now the executive director of the Center for Empowered Politics in Oakland, Tom, along with Garza and other students, was among the first to advocate for campus janitors to have better wages.

Garza was also on the team that organized the first UC-wide Women of Color Conference at UC San Diego in 2002. “It was spurred by some of the work we were doing with UCSA and sharing the experiences of women of color throughout the system, as well as understanding how alienated people felt,” she says. With the theme of Breaking Chains, Creating Links, the conference encouraged women from across the UC system to mobilize and discuss issues such as activism, the prison-industrial complex and interracial relationships. The conference attracted international attendees, including women from South Africa. “Nearly 20 years ago she was ahead of her time,” Tom recalls, “already speaking truth to power and talking about our collective liberation.”

Leadership

Care in Action leaders 2023.

• Hillary Holley Executive Director
• Ai-jen Poo Senior Advisor
• Jenn Stowe Senior Advisor
• Alicia Garza Board Member
• Sobaika Mirza Operations Director
• Christina Coleman Communications Director

Seed the Vote

Black Woman VP

Alex Tom and Alicia Garza

Alex Tom and Alicia Garza.

"People Get Ready"

People Get Ready: A One-Day Convening on Beating the Right, Strengthening the Left, and Building Power.

Saturday, December 12, 2020 at 1 PM EST – 7 PM EST Hosted by Center for Political Education and Haymarket Books.

• Opening plenary featuring Alicia Garza, with a special performance by Kiwi Illafonte
• Session 1: What’s Left?: Building Power after the Elections, speakers include Ash-Lee Henderson, Justin Charles, Ollie Vargas and Ejeris Dixon
• Session 2: If the Kids Are United: Building Power against the Far Right, with Tarso Ramos
• Session 3: Build it on up: Tools for the Fight, speakers include The Red Nation and Marisol Ocampo of LeftRoots

Black Futures in Politics

Black to the Future Action Fund, 2020 Alicia Garza Black to the Future, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Latosha Brown Black Votes Matter, Rashad Robinson Color of Change, Angela Rye Impact Strategies, Glynda Carr Higher Heights, Derrick Johnson NAACP, Nse Ufot New Georgia Project, Michael Harriot The Root.com.

This is Not a Drill

LIVE, July 1: Bernie and Black Political Struggle.

In this OrgUp exclusive, hosts Adam Gold and Rishi Awatramani tackle these difficult questions and more with Bill Fletcher, Jr. (Global African Worker), Alicia Garza (Black Futures Lab), Claire Sandberg (Bernie 2020), and Marcus Ferrell (Black Male Voter Project).

Leadership 2020

Black Futures Lab leadership 2020.

• Alicia Garza Principal
• Demetria Huntsman, MBA Director of Operations & Finance
• Nife Olufosoye Organizing Director
• Keauna Gregory Political Director
• Brittany Ferrell, BSN, RN Organizer
• Devonte Jackson Organizer
• Sessen Holloway, JD Communications Associate

"Insurgent Voices'

Alicia Garza, Anna Deavere Smith, Lateefah Simon.

Black Lives Matter

Alicia Garza created #BlackLivesMatter with Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, two of my sisters, as a call to action for Black people after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was post-humously placed on trial for his own murder and the killer, George Zimmerman, was not held accountable for the crime he committed. It was a response to the anti-Black racism that permeates our society and also, unfortunately, our movements.

Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folks’ contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.

"Black Women Vote"

November 2019, Care in Action presents "Black Women Vote" with Kerry Washington, Alicia Garza, Ai-jen Poo, Jessica Morales Rocketto, Delegate Lashrecse Aird, Ghazala Hashmi, Sheila Byrnum-Coleman and Jennifer McClellan.

Can't Care Wait Summit

Gina Raimondo, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Devon Still, Alicia Garza, Cristela Alonzo, Dawn Lyen-Gardner, Tina Tchen, Lauren Miller Rogen, Ady Barkan, Ai-jen Poo.

National Domestic Workers Alliance

Nikema Williams was National Domestic Workers Alliance Deputy Director of Civic Engagement and Deputy Director for Care in Action. Ai-jen Poo was Senior Advisor to Care in Action, Jessica Morales Rocketto was Executive Director and Alicia Garza was Senior Advisor.

Matt Haney comrades

Van Jones, Alicia Garza, Lateefah Simon at Matt Haney for School Board Event August 4, 2016.

Lateefah Simon connection

Lateefah Simon is very close friends with Alicia Garza.

SOUL and POWER

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Alicia Garza has organizedwith local communities of color for racial and economic justice for the past 7 years.

As Co-Executive Director, Alicia Garza supports POWER staff and members to build the power of working class communities of color by coordinating the growth of a sustainable, dynamic organization that is ready to meet the challenges of this new era. A

In 2009 serving on the boardof SOUL in San Francisco were;

Alicia Garza, Adam Gold, Stacy Kono, Danielle Mahones, Genevieve Negron-Gonzales and Maria Poblet.

POWER Leaders

From Steve Williams: Over the years hundreds of people who have served on POWER’s staff, membership, leadership bodies, and Board of Directors. They are too many to mention by name, but I do want to extend special appreciations to Alicia Garza, Jaron Browne, Jason Negron-Gonzales, Marisa Franco, Aspen Dominguez, Cindy Wiesner, Ilana Berger, Nora Calderon, Larry Lattimore, Emma Harris, Gloria Esteva, Manuela Esteva, Donaji Lona, Juana Tello, Ernest Stokes, Beatriz Herrera, Karen Gibson, Lorren Dangerfield, Jesse Tello, Regina Douglas, Garth Ferguson, Brian Russell, Patty Snitzler, Thabiti Hayes, Khalil Abdul Samad, Jane Martin.

A Call to the Black Left

Back in June 2007 at the U.S. Social Forum, over 50 brothers and sisters gathered in Atlanta to discuss the state of the Black liberation movement and role of the Black Left. Most agreed that the Gulf Coast/Katrina disaster is a defining moment that requires that Black revolutionaries unite and work to build a National Black United Front. It’s initial focus being the development and support of a Gulf Coast Reconstruction Movement. This movement would be a part of a strategic flank of the wider National Black Liberation Movement.

We are inviting you to join this effort and would like to include your name on the Call as an official endorser and participant of a National Gathering of Black Leftist to be sent out to others inviting their participation. The Gathering will be held at the Sonja Hayes Stone Center for Black Culture and History on the UNC Campus in Chapel Hill, NC on May 30 – June 1, 2008. This became the Black Left Unity Network.

Endorsers included:

• Steve Williams – POWER, San Francisco, CA
• Alicia Garza – POWER, San Francisco, CA

Movement Generation delegation to Klimateforum09

Thursday December 17, 2009, 12 noon, Copenhagen time Movement Generation delegation members to the Klimateforum09 in Copenhagen gathered at the American Embassy, Copenhagen.

North American indigenous Delegation, Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project, and the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, along with other grassroots groups from the United States will deliver a letter to President Barack Obama demanding that the United States take real, rights-based approaches to climate change and ecological debt.

Speakers scheduled were:

• Diana Lopez- (Southwest Workers Union San Antonio, TX)
• Michele Roberts – (Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, LA/DC)
• Representatives from indigenous communities from the United States and Canada
• Moderator: Kalila Barnett (Alternatives for Communities and Environment, Boston, MA)

Other Resource people from many other organizations were also present, including: Gopal Dayaneni, Movement Generation; Alicia Garza, People Organized to Win Employment Rights (San Francisco, Right to the City, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance); Mari Rose Taruc, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (Movement Generation Bay Area network, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Richmond); Marisa Franco, Right to the City (NY); Roxana Aguilar, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (Right to the City, Los Angeles); Jill Johnston, Southwest Workers Union (Grassroots Global Justice Alliance); Diana Lopez, Southwest Workers Union (Grassroots Global Justice Alliance); Jose Bravo, Just Transition Alliance (Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, San Diego); Cecil Corbin-Mark, West Harlem Environmental Actiobn (Environmental Justice Leadership Forum, New York); Jacqui Patterson, Women of Color United (GA); and Diana Pei Wu, Movement Strategy Center (CA).

US Social Forum National Planning Committee

Contact Sheet for the National Planning Committee of the U.S. Social Forum, Detroit 2010. Original April 09, 2009, Updated February 23, 2010.

• People Organized to Win Employment Rights, POWER (San Francisco, CA) - Alicia Garza.

Right to the City

In 2011 Alicia Garza, Chairperson of the Right to the City National Alliance (RTTC) Steering Committee.

In 2010 Right to the City gave thanks and appreciation to the hard work of outgoing Steering Committee members: Denise Perry, Dawn Phillips, and Rickke Mananzala. At the 2010 U.S. Social Forum, the membership elected a new Steering Committee, consisting of: Anita Sinha, Advancement Project; Jon Liss, Tenants and Workers United/Virginia New Majority; Kalila Barnett, Alternatives for Community and Environment; Alicia Garza, POWER; Mark Swier, Mothers On The Move; Eileen Ma, Korean Immigrant Workers Association; Yvette Thierry, Safe Streets Strong Communities; Gihan Perera, Miami Worker Center/Florida New Majority; and Leonardo Vilchis, Union De Vecinos.

"Towards Collective Liberation" editorial crew

Chris Crass', 2013 book " was "Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy..." was edited by a team consisting of Chris and Molly, Rahula Janowski Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, Nisha Anand, Sasha Vodnik, Cile Beatty, Danni Marilyn West, Amie Fishman, Jeff Giaquinto , Sharon Martinas, Gabriel Sayegh, Clare Bayard, Z. Lula Haukeness, Cindy Breunig, Jardana Peacock, Betty-Jeane Ruters-Ward, Betita Martinez, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Paul Kivel, Ingrid Chapman, Dan Berger, Josh Warren-White, Rachel Luft, Kerry Levenberg, Johnna Bossuot, Leah Jo Carnine, Berkley Carnine, Leah Close, Vivian Sanati, Dara Silverman, Helen Luu, Pauline Hwang Nrinder, N.K. Nann, Marc Mascarenhas-Swan, Max Elbaum, Keith McHenry, James Tracy, Alice Nuccio, Laura McNeill, Azedeh Ghafari, J.C. Callender, Nilou Mostoufi, April Sullivan-FitzHugh, Michelle O'Brien, Joe Tolbert, Tufara Waller Muhammad, Karly Safar, Jayanni Webster, Joshua Kahn Russell, prof. Laura Head, Andrew Cornell, Harjit Singh Gill, Emily Thuma, Rami Elamine, Chanelle Gallant, Charlie Frederick, Amar Shah, Alicia Garza, Elandria Williams, Carla Wallace, Ernesto Aguilar, Lisa Albrecht.

"Towards Collective Liberation" followers

Melanie Cervantes, follow · March 11, 2013;

From author Chris Crass: " When I first imagined a poster promoting my new book, Towards Collective Liberation: anti-racist organizing, feminist praxis,and movement building strategy, the images that came to mind were the people in Melanie Cervantes’ “We are the 99%” posters, coming together to build the multiracial, feminist, working class-based movement for collective liberation that we need. M... See More — with Carla F. Wallace, Mari Mujica, Steve Williams, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Ingrid Chapman, Dawn Haney, James Haslam, Cindy Wiesner, Marquez Rhyne, Jayanni Elizabeth, Malachi Garza, Miguel CarItu, Chris Crass, Carl Patrick, Abbey Lolcano, Maria Poblet, Kate Cardona, Z. Lula Haukeness, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, Elandria Williams, Harsha Walia, Marc Mascarenhas-Swan, Jason Lydon, Jardana Peacock, Chris Dixon, Gabriel Haaland, Betty-Jeanne Ruters-Ward, Mel Baiser, Nisha Anand, Mimi Thi Nguyen, Becki Winchel, T. Gonzales, Rahula S. Janowski, Dani Burlison, Harjit Singh Gill, Leah Jo Carnine, Karly Safar, Emily Han Zimmerman, Alicia Garza, Sistufara W. Muhammad, Pamela Jean McMichael, Caitlin Elly Breedlove, Kate Kanelstein, Mei-ying Williams, James Tracy, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Shannon Garth-Rhodes and Cindy Jeanne.

BLM/Freedom Road

CBC/Black Lives matter

September 2015, D.C.'s Convention Center was the site for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 45th Annual Legislative Conference where the development of the #BlackLivesMatter movement was given intense attention from many different perspectives. More than 70 education, health, civic engagement and economic empowerment sessions under the theme, "With Liberty and Justice for All?" filled September 16-20 during the day as concerts, receptions and networking gatherings filled the evenings.

Thursday's first event was the National Town Hall: "Black Lives Matter-Ending Racial Profiling, Police Brutality and Mass Incarceration." Roland Martin, Managing Editor of TVOne NewsOne Now moderated a panel which included Congressional Representatives Elijah Cummings, Sheila Jackson Lee, Hakeem Jeffries, and G.K. Butterfield. Others on the panel included Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Network (#BLM); Alphonso Mayfield, president of the SEIU Florida Public Service Union; and Val Demings, former police chief of Orlando, Fla., the first woman to hold the position.

Roland Martin reminded the audience that while 24 criminal justice reform bills have been passed since the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., no action has yet been taken by the prosecutor in Cleveland one year after Tamir Rice was gunned down. Ms. Garza underscored that the criminal justice system as currently instituted "is not broken; it is designed to work just as it does work." And Rep. Hakeem Jeffries from Brooklyn, N.Y. declared, "Black men are viewed as economic commodities. Democrats and Republicans built a prison industrial complex and then filled it through mass incarceration."

The People's World was represented at the conference by participants from DC, Daytona Beach, St. Louis and Baltimore.

We learned that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has met with #BLM about strengthening accountability mechanisms within police departments, but that the DOJ has put on record that their mandates at a local level are "too high."

Elijah Cummings praised Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore's elected prosecutor for her bravery in pursuing legal remedies in the Freddie Gray police murder trials. "We want to be sure that the wheels of justice turn and are not stopped," he said.

Moderator Roland Martin encouraged voting as the answer to racism in the criminal 'injustice' system, since so many District Attorneys are elected. "Having a Black DA matters, but that doesn't happen if Black folks don't vote." Martin said that as a result of a new DA in one district, there have been more innocent African Americans freed in one year than in the 20 previous years.

Alicia Garza said that it is a requirement for activists to fight for "the right of Black people to live in our full dignity and our full humanity," at every level, including in federal, state and local government. In terms of police departments, she said that Black and progressive police are fighting police injustice from within, attempting to change a culture of racism and 'police loyalty' and replace it with police integrity.

What was clear from the panel discussion was that the Congressional Black Caucus strongly supports the Black Lives Matter Network in the work it is doing. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee stated, "I'm proud that we the CBC have had the wisdom to follow Black Lives Matter. It engenders a diverse, generational movement. As we do the policy, I believe Black Lives Matter can be the catalyst-like the movement that brought about voting and civil rights legislation in the '60s."

During Q & A, the first question to the panel at the Town Hall was that Black on Black violence had not been addressed. Garza's answer was that people will reach for power, whether it be against their neighbor or against the real forces keeping them down. Other panelists answered that white on white crime is also greater than interracial violent crimes.

Collective bargaining, stated one member of the audience, can act as a bar to getting police accountability. Mayfield of the SEIU offered that contract negotiations are with City governments and thus can be influenced by citizens. He countered other panelists, declaring that police can be suspended without pay for misconduct under some contracts.

Other questions resulted in the panel talking about widening the struggle to include the right to a good education and creating the labor force to fill the 1.4 new technical jobs that will be needed in the next five years.

CBC/Black Lives Matter

September 2015, D.C.'s Convention Center was the site for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 45th Annual Legislative Conference where the development of the #BlackLivesMatter movement was given intense attention from many different perspectives. More than 70 education, health, civic engagement and economic empowerment sessions under the theme, "With Liberty and Justice for All?" filled September 16-20 during the day as concerts, receptions and networking gatherings filled the evenings.

Thursday's first event was the National Town Hall: "Black Lives Matter-Ending Racial Profiling, Police Brutality and Mass Incarceration." Roland Martin, Managing Editor of TVOne NewsOne Now moderated a panel which included Congressional Representatives Elijah Cummings, Sheila Jackson Lee, Hakeem Jeffries, and G.K. Butterfield. Others on the panel included Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Network (#BLM); Alphonso Mayfield, president of the SEIU Florida Public Service Union; and Val Demings, former police chief of Orlando, Fla., the first woman to hold the position.

Roland Martin reminded the audience that while 24 criminal justice reform bills have been passed since the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., no action has yet been taken by the prosecutor in Cleveland one year after Tamir Rice was gunned down. Ms. Garza underscored that the criminal justice system as currently instituted "is not broken; it is designed to work just as it does work." And Rep. Hakeem Jeffries from Brooklyn, N.Y. declared, "Black men are viewed as economic commodities. Democrats and Republicans built a prison industrial complex and then filled it through mass incarceration."

The People's World was represented at the conference by participants from DC, Daytona Beach, St. Louis and Baltimore.

We learned that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has met with #BLM about strengthening accountability mechanisms within police departments, but that the DOJ has put on record that their mandates at a local level are "too high."

Elijah Cummings praised Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore's elected prosecutor for her bravery in pursuing legal remedies in the Freddie Gray police murder trials. "We want to be sure that the wheels of justice turn and are not stopped," he said.

Moderator Roland Martin encouraged voting as the answer to racism in the criminal 'injustice' system, since so many District Attorneys are elected. "Having a Black DA matters, but that doesn't happen if Black folks don't vote." Martin said that as a result of a new DA in one district, there have been more innocent African Americans freed in one year than in the 20 previous years.

Alicia Garza said that it is a requirement for activists to fight for "the right of Black people to live in our full dignity and our full humanity," at every level, including in federal, state and local government. In terms of police departments, she said that Black and progressive police are fighting police injustice from within, attempting to change a culture of racism and 'police loyalty' and replace it with police integrity.

What was clear from the panel discussion was that the Congressional Black Caucus strongly supports the Black Lives Matter Network in the work it is doing. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee stated, "I'm proud that we the CBC have had the wisdom to follow Black Lives Matter. It engenders a diverse, generational movement. As we do the policy, I believe Black Lives Matter can be the catalyst-like the movement that brought about voting and civil rights legislation in the '60s."

During Q & A, the first question to the panel at the Town Hall was that Black on Black violence had not been addressed. Garza's answer was that people will reach for power, whether it be against their neighbor or against the real forces keeping them down. Other panelists answered that white on white crime is also greater than interracial violent crimes.

Collective bargaining, stated one member of the audience, can act as a bar to getting police accountability. Mayfield of the SEIU offered that contract negotiations are with City governments and thus can be influenced by citizens. He countered other panelists, declaring that police can be suspended without pay for misconduct under some contracts.

Other questions resulted in the panel talking about widening the struggle to include the right to a good education and creating the labor force to fill the 1.4 new technical jobs that will be needed in the next five years.

Mapping Socialist Strategies

Mapping Socialist Strategies was convened from August 1-4 in Briarcliff Manor, NY, by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office. It brang together 100 influential progressives and leftists from across the United States, Canada, and Europe for an “un-conference” on socialist strategies.

Attendees included Alicia Garza, Special Projects Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

Ear to the Ground Project

Ear to the Ground Project;

We would like to express our deep respect and appreciation for everyone who took the time to talk with us, and the organizations that generously hosted us during our travels. Interviews were confidential, but the following people have agreed to have their names listed for this publication:

Most of those listed were connected to Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Alicia Garza was among those on the list.

Comrades

Mary Ratcliff, October 3, 2015.

Alicia Garza, Mary Ratcliff, Willie Ratcliff and Lateefah Simon at Black Media Appreciation Night 2015 on Sept. 12 at San Francisco's African American Art & Culture Complex -- see you there next year! Photo by Malaika H. Kambon.

CPA 40th anniversary

On August 4th 2012 to celebrate Chinese Progressive Association (San Francisco)'s 40th Anniversary. CPA was proud to honor the National Guestworkers Alliance and New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice, the Free MUNI for Youth Coalition, and Jobs with Justice San Francisco.

Host Committee:

Rolland Lowe and Kathy Lowe • Grace Lee Boggs • Josue Arguelles • Supervisor John Avalos • Angelica Cabande • Supervisor David Campos • Mike Casey • Supervisor David Chiu • Antonio Diaz • Reverend Norman Fong • Conny Ford • Maria Guillen • Alicia Garza • Roger Kim • Supervisor Jane Kim • Helen Kim • Jee Kim • Mario Lugay • Supervisor Eric Mar • Gordon Mar • Alisa Messer • Luke Newton • Supervisor Christina Olague • Vincent Pan • Tim Paulson • Ai-jen Poo • Raquel Redondiez • Peggy Saika • Shiree Teng • Makani Themba-Nixon • Helena Wong • Miya Yoshitani

Left Forum 2015

Building the Black Lives Matter Movement: Assessments and Perspectives

• Akua Ofori, Chair Millions March NYC, International Socialist Organization
• Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
• Cid Nichols Millions March NYC
• Danette Chavis .Founder, National Action Against Police Brutality
• Alicia Garza #BlackLivesMatter

Also a Panel/Workshop with Glen Ford, Alicia Garza, Paul Jay, Thenjiwe McHarris, Makayla Price, and Kshama Sawant,

Black Workers event

The annual Black Workers for Justice event commemorating the death of Dr. King and highlighting his support for workers was held Saturday, April 11 2015 at the NCAE Building located at 700 Salisbury Street. The guest speaker will be Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

The theme, “Reclaim Dr. King’s Legacy of Resistance: Black Lives Matter/Stop the War on Black America” was selected because it captures the horrible reality we are facing and suggests a way forward. The murders just keep on coming. The world is watching the video of a white police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina gun down a fleeing Walter Scott, a 50 year old 2015 banquet flyer.colorAfrican American man. He was stopped for a minor traffic infraction.

Self-Determination Awards were given to Elandria Williams (cooperative economic development), Robert Dawkins( police accoutability), Milton Pitt & Shafeah M'Balia (worker/member) and Mari Caldwell & Ajamu Dillahunt-Holloway (youth activist).

The Movement for Black Lives

The Black Lives Matter "Movement for Black Lives" conference was held in Cleveland Ohio, July 24-26, 2015.

Turn Down on Each other, Turn up on the State: Conflict Resolution 101, Alicia Garza.

LeftRoots/Vietnam

In December, 2017, three LeftRoots cadres—Merle Ratner, N'Tanya Lee, and Rose Brewer—got to spend a few weeks on women’s delegation to Vietnam, one of the few surviving 20th century socialist experiments. On April 19, 2018, the three of them, along with LeftRoots compas and fellow delegates Cathy Dang and Juliet Ucelli, hosted a national LeftRoots hangOut to talk about their experience.

The delegation included US-based movement leaders from the labor movement, Black Lives Matter and national women’s organizations. It was hosted by the Vietnam Women's Union.

Alicia Garza was part of the delegation.

LeftRoots

HangOut with Alicia Garza on the Black Lives Matter Movement February 25th, 3pm-4:30pm PST * 6-7:30pm EST.

Join LeftRoots for our first HangOut of 2015, on the moment and movement of #BlackLivesMatter! Our featured guest will be Alicia Garza, co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter, Special Projects Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and LeftRoots member. We'll explore the origins of #BlackLivesMatter, its relationship to the Black Liberation Movement, and the critical questions facing Black communities nationally and internationally. We will also tackle the question of whether #BlackLivesMatter is a moment or a movement, and what we can do as revolutionaries and leftists to forward a liberation agenda for Black lives and all lives.

Check out these resources before the HangOut:

• A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter movement by [Alicia Garza]
• Turn Up: 21st-Century Black Millennials Are Bringing Direct Action Back by Malkia Cyril

LeftRoots leaders

The LeftRoots Coordinating Committee, August 2014;

Subject: Celebrate LeftRoots 1st Anniversary! Become a LeftRoots Compa! /Celebrar el Primer Aniversario de LeftRoots!

Alicia Garza, Maria Poblet, Timmy Lu, Josh Warren-White, Alex Tom, Cinthya Munoz, Steve Williams, N'Tanya Lee.

Ferguson report back HangOut

Resistance in Ferguson, led primarily by young Black people, has continued for more than two months, with direct action, organizing, base-building and other forms of resistance. To date, hundreds have been arrested seeking justice—organizers want to make sure there is not only not one more Mike Brown, but also not one more Darren Wilson.

LeftRoots sent a delegation to St. Louis to lend our support to the leaders from organizations like Millennial Activists United, Hands Up United, Organization for Black Struggle, and Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment. We know that to turn this from a moment into a movement, we will need to connect our seemingly isolated fights around gentrification, workers rights, police violence, education justice and more into a strong, resilient and connected movement that can transform our communities, our country and our world.

The program will include reflections from Alicia Garza, Neva Walker, Christine Cordero, Lucia Lin and Steve Williams as well as others who participated in the Weekend of Resistance.

LeftRoots HangOut with Willie Baptist

Please join LeftRoots Friday August 15th (2014) for our next HangOut with Willie Baptist about the importance of leadership, leadership development and understanding who the ruling class is and what their strategies are.

On May 1, 1990, the National Union of the Homeless (NUH) launched a nationally coordinated campaign taking over federally-owned houses in eight cities across the country. Willie Baptist, our guest on the next LeftRoots HangOut, was one of the organizers of the NUH.

Founded in 1985 by formerly homeless people, the Union was on the move in the late 1980s. At its height, the Homeless Union counted on 25 chapters with as many as 15,000 members. Then, through a combination of drugs, prison-sentencing and co-optation, the ruling class mounted a concerted effort to break the Union. The organization dissolved by 1993.

Willie Baptist is one of the best examples of a movement intellectual. Willie is a formerly homeless father who came out of the Watts Uprisings, the Black Student Movement and has been an organizer with the United Steelworkers as well as the National Union of the Homeless and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. Today, Willie is the Scholar-in-Residence with the Poverty Initiative.

The LeftRoots CC: Alex Tom, Alicia Garza, Cinthya Munoz, Josh Warren-White, Maria Poblet, N'Tanya Lee, Steve Williams and Timmy Lu.

1st Anniversary of the #Ferguson Uprising

Maurice Moe Mitchell August 5, 2015,

1. UnitedWeFight: 1st Anniversary of the #Ferguson Uprising - National Conference Call. Thurs. 8PM EST / 7PM CST — with Justin Hansford, Scott A. Roberts, Mary Hooks, Kayla M. Reed, Diamond Latchison, Kareem Jackson, Bukky Gbadegesin, Katrina Gamble, Tanya Lucia Bernard, Tory Russell, Cedric Lawson, Alicia Garza, Leslie Mac, Charlene Carruthers, Patrisse Cullors, Cherrell Brown, Dante Barry, Waltrina Middleton, Damon Turner, Marbre Stahly-Butts, Ash-Lee Henderson, Damon Davis, Thenjiwe Tameika McHarris, Mari Morales-Williams, Mervyn Marcano, Nicole Lee, Elandria Williams, Opal Ayo, Jonathan Pulphus, Dara Cooper, Michael McBride, Umi Selah, Osagyefo Sekou, Tara Tee, Rose Berry, Sistufara W. Muhammad, Purvi Shah, Cid Nichols, Ingrid Benedict, Jade Ogunnaike, James Hayes, Anita Nichole, Joe Worthy and The Movement for Black Lives.

Solidarity Against Racism

Solidarity Against Racism, November 21, 2015 ·

1st anniversary of Akai Gurley Killed By Police — with Bill Breidenstein, Alicia Garza, Shirley Henry Jenkins, Stevan Kirschbaum, Osagyefo Sekou, Marshata Caradine, Shay Ase Dune, Ash-Lee Henderson, Cat Brooks, Faye Venetia Harrison, Justice For Akai Gurley Family and Justice for Akai Gurley.

A Year Without Justice for Tanisha Anderson

1. JusticeForTanishaAnderson — with Elisa J. Cook, Camilla Freitag, Sumumba Sobukwe, Beechie X. Keeton, Howard Rotman, Gregg L. Greer, Faye Venetia Harrison, Osagyefo Sekou, Jasmine Johnson, Frank Lara, Alicia Garza and Rob Rogers.

LeftRoots HangOuts

LeftRoots HangOuts are national, online political education spaces for social movement leftists - revolutionaries and radicals engaged in frontline mass organizing, movement building, people's struggles - to have dialogue about critical left ideas and inspiring movement work collectively. Past HangOuts have featured Alicia Garza on Black Lives Matter, Marta Harnecker on 21st Century Socialism, George Ciccariello-Maher on Venezuela, comrades from MXGM & FRSO on Jackson Rising, and Sandra Moran on Grassroots Internationalist Feminisms, M. Adams, a Black Queer Wimmin, dad, political theorist, movement scientist and community organizer. She is the co-executive director of Freedom Inc. and co-founder of Young Gifted and Black Coalition in Madison, WI. Biju Mathew is Secretary of the National Taxi Workers Alliance and is active in developing transnational strategy to combat the religious right.

Chattanooga event

The Unity Group of Chattanooga and Concerned Citizens for Justice are excited to host #BlackLivesMatter Co-Founder Alicia Garza as part of the 46th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Week, Tuesday, January 12, 2016 at 6pm.

Historic First Baptist Church Chattanooga, TN.

For more information on the event or to learn how to be involved with Chattanooga's #BlackLivesMatter affiliated organization, contact Concerned Citizens for Justice...

Opal Tometi at the UN

Matt Meyer, July 13 2016;

Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi addressing the United Nations at the High Level UN@70 discussion on Human Rights at the Centre of the Global Agenda. She eloquently spoke for reparations, justice, an end to mass incarceration - and a connected analysis which includes struggle against white supremacy, capitalism, imperialism, and militarism. — with David Ragland, Signe Harriday, Nesrin Kenar, Meg Starr, Amilcar Shabazz, Johanna Fernandez, Ibrahim Shaw, Opal Tometi, Melina Abdullah, Cris Toffolo, Osagyefo Sekou, Emily Welty, Alicia Garza, Carlito Rovira, Cyril Obi, Mark Norris Lance, Stellan Vinthagen, Dequi Kioni-sadiki, Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) and International Peace Research Association - IPRA.

Revolutionary Strategies to Beat the Rising Right Wing

Revolutionary Strategies to Beat the Rising Right Wing, was a nationwide conference call organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Sunday October 30, 2016.

What's the nature of this right-wing threat? What has this election cycle changed about the political terrain we're fighting on? How do we need to prepare for whats coming after the election? Hear about these crucial questions from our panel of top political strategists, including Nelini Stamp, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Linda Burnham, and Sendolo Diaminah.

Those invited, on Facebook included Alicia Garza.

Now What? Defying Trump and the Left's Way Forward

Now What? Defying Trump and the Left's Way Forward was a phone in webinar organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization in the wake of the 2016 election.

Now what? We’re all asking ourselves that question in the wake of Trump’s victory. We’ve got urgent strategizing and work to do, together. Join Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson of the Movement for Black Lives and Freedom Road, Calvin Cheung-Miaw, Jodeen Olguin-Taylor of Mijente and WFP, Joe Schwartz of the Democratic Socialists of America, and Sendolo Diaminah of Freedom Road for a discussion of what happened, and what we should be doing to build mass defiance. And above all, how do we build the Left in this, which we know is the only solution to the crises we face?

This event will take place Tuesday November 15, 2016 at 9pm Eastern/8pm Central/6pm Pacific.

Those invited, on Facebook included Alicia Garza.

Awid Forum 2016

Paris Hatcher September 9, 2016:

Black Feminisms. Black love. Black power. Squad ❤️ forever. — feeling Black Feminist Bliss with Stephanie J. Alvarado, Charlene Carruthers, Morathi Adams, Mary Hooks, Alicia Garza, Tanya Lucia Bernard and Lynn Roberts at Awid Forum 2016.

Marxist meme

October 23, 2016 Jodeen Olguin-Tayler, Yong Jung Cho, Xochitl Oseguera, Latchmi Gopal, Heather McGhee, Nikki Fortunato Bas, Sarita Gupta, Alicia Garza, Laura Dawn, Agunda Okeyo, Greisa Martinez Rosas, Edith Sargon, Renata Pumarol, Ai-jen Poo, Trina Greene Brown, Naila Awan, Pramila Jayapal, Cindy Wiesner, Brigid Flaherty, Serena Perez and Angel Kyodo Williams, were part of a #GOPHandsOffMe meme.

Building Black Political Power

Beyond Impact II: The Importance of 501(c)(4) Funding in Dismantling Mass Incarceration, July 12, 2017.

Building Black Political Power

• Lateefah Simon, Akonadi Fondation (Moderator)
• Taina Vargas-Edmond, Initiate Justice
• Jessica Byrd, Three Point Strategies, Movement for Black Lives Action Fund
• Alicia Garza, Black Futures Lab, National Domestic Workers Alliance
• Nicole Boucher, California Donor Table

War Times crew

In 2017, the "War Times Crew" consisted of Rebecca Gordon, Sasha Wright, Jan Adams, Hany Khalil, Clare Bayard, Lynn Koh, Rami El-Amine, Jen Soriano, John Trinkl, Gary Hicks, Carlos Martinez, Christine Ahn, Francesca Fiorentini, Felicia Gustin, Greg Hom, Max Elbaum, Nathan Paulsen, Michael Reagan, Sarah Lazare, Alicia Garza, Elvis Mendez, Becca Tumposky.

Movement for Black Lives webinar

Alicia Garza March 8, 2017:

really excited to join some really amazing folks like Dara Cooper, Lola Cuevas Smallwood, Ed Whitfield and Elandria Williams on tonight's Movement for Black Lives webinar on Economic Power and talk about the amazing work domestic workers are doing to transform the economy in the image of those who hold up half the sky. Join us tonight?

Host Committee

The Chinese Progressive Association (San Francisco) Celebrates 45 years of Resilience and Resistance.

On Saturday, October 7, 2017, the Chinese Progressive Association (San Francisco) will celebrate our 45th anniversary with the theme, “Harnessing the Strength of a Thousand Rivers.

Host committee members were:

Fahd Ahmed, Alysabeth Alexander, Mike Casey, Myra Chow,Cathy Dang, Antonio Diaz, Supervisor Sandy Lee Fewer, Norman Fong, Conny Ford, Alicia Garza,George Goehl, Rudy Gonzales, Corinna Gould, Sherry Hirota, Dana Kawaoka-Chen, Helen Kim, Supervisor Jane Kim, Aarti Kohli, Laura Livoti, Gordon Mar, Xavier Morales, Vanessa Moses, Tim Paulson, Supervisor Aaron Peskin, Ai-jen Poo, and Mu Ping Poo, Supervisor Hillary Ronen, Saket Soni, Sarath Suong, Mabel Teng, Shiree Teng, Supervisor Norman Yee, Haeyoung Yoon, Miya Yoshitani, Anand Singh.

Amandla Training

Sendolo Diaminah February 1 2018

Hey Black organizers & those who love us: BOLD has re-opened our application period for Amandla, our organizer training program. We have just a few more slots we wanted to make available, so now is your chance if you missed the deadline!

Alicia Garza, Ajamu Dillahunt, Aaron Gamal, Whitney Maxey, Hashim Benford, Ociele Hawkins, Bryan Proffitt, Bennett D. Carpenter, Courtney Sebring, Cazembe Murphy Jackson, Reece Chenault, Charlene Carruthers, Chanelle Croxton, D’atra Jackson, Dove Kent, Fresco Steez DeLaflyy, Maria C. Fernandez, Aiden Riley Graham, Kaji Reyes, Laila Nur, Theo Luebke, Maria Poblet, N’Tanya Lee, Taliba O Njeri, Orisanmi Burton, Quinton Harper, Roberto Tijerina, Mary Hooks, Serena Sebring, Adaku Utah, Vanessa Moses, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Thomas Wayne Walker, Jayanni Elizabeth, Jayda Rasberry, Amber Evans, Dara Cooper, Yotam Marom.

Black Ideological Struggle Webinar

Black Ideological Struggle: Radical, Liberal, Conservative Public · Hosted by Sendolo Diaminah and Cazembe Jackson

Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 8:30 PM

Created for Black August Practice Group

Join Sendolo Diaminah for a conversation about why Black radicals can and must learn how to effectively engage liberal and conservative ideologies among our people.

September 2, 2017. Hey family! Here is the final recording from the Black August webinars! Sendolo Diaminah took lots of patience and creativity breaking down Black Ideological Struggle for us.

Those saying they would attend, on Facebook included Alicia Garza.

"Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect?"

Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States. Edited by Joe Macare, Maya Schenwar, and Alana Yu-lan Price, Foreword by Alicia Garza. From Haymarket Books 2016.

Black Millennial Political Convention

Tami Sawyer June 20 2018.

Can’t wait to be in conversation at the opening plenary of Black Millennial Political Convention tomorrow with my brother Wes Bellamy & the incomparable Alicia Garza.

2018 Demos Gala Host Committee

Honorary chairs of the 2018 Demos Gala Host Committee included Naomi Aberly, Sharon Alpert, Bob Bland, Charles Blow, Alan S. Davis, Alicia Garza, Mary Kay Henry, Anne Hess, Craig Kaplan, Gara LaMarche, Nancy Meyer and Marc Weiss, Craig Newmark, Hillary Pennington, Robert Reich, Frances Rodgers and Charles Rodgers, Anthony D. Romero, Linda Sarsour, Martin Schneider, Ted Snowdon and Duffy Violante, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Darren Walker, John Walsh, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Lola West, Marianne Williamson.

State of OUR Union

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal January 30 2018.

I'm thrilled to be speaking tonight at the State of OUR Union with all-stars like Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Rep. Judy Chu, Tarana Burke of the #MeToo movement, Cecile Richards, Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner of MomsRising.org, Alicia Garza and Ai-jen Poo. #SOTU.

She the People 2018 Summit

She the People's three-year initiative kicked off with its inaugural She the People Summit on September 20, 2018 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco. The sold-out, first-ever national summit of women of color in politics drew nearly 600 attendees, mostly women of color, from 36 states.

Speakers included Alicia Garza.

"A letter from the movement to the movement'

In September 2019 Alicia Garza was one of 100 black leaders, many affiliated with Liberation Road who signed A letter from the movement to the movement defending Maurice Mitchell and Nelini Stamp of the Working Families Party for endorsing Elizabeth Warren instead of Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

Alicia Garza connection

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Eric Mar, Alicia Garza, Pam Tau Lee.

CPA 40th Anniversary

Chinese Progressive Association (San Francisco), August 8, 2012.

Junior Tello, Mario Yedidia, Aspen Dominguez, Tina Sataraka, Jaron Browne, Beatriz Herrera, Alicia Garza, Ann Jo Lina, Happy Yang, Emily Ja-ming Lee.

N'Tanya Lee with Alicia Garza.