Nekima Levy-Pounds
Nekima Levy-Pounds (Armstrong) is married to Marques Armstrong.
The Law
- Former Professor of Law at University of St. Thomas School of Law
- Former Visiting Professor of Law at University of Illinois College of Law
- Former Fellow at Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Education
- Studied Law at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Studied Afro-American Studies at University of Southern California
- Went to Brooks School
Black Lives Matter
Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi formed Black Lives Matter., Other Black Lives Matter leaders include: DeRay Mckesson, Shaun King, Marissa Johnson, Nekima Levy-Pounds, Johnetta Elzie.
BLM Minnesota controversy
Keith Ellison was thrown into another maelstrom when, in the fall of 2015, Minneapolis police shot and killed Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old unarmed black man, as he lay handcuffed on the ground. After Black Lives Matter protesters began an occupation at the fourth police precinct headquarters, Ellison flew home to meet with them. At first, he backed the encampment. With the city on edge, he moved easily between different groups, negotiating a meeting between Clark’s family and the Democratic governor, Mark Dayton.
For more than a week, Ellison hung with the BLM organizers, even as the Minneapolis Star Tribune published a photo of Ellison’s middle son, Jeremiah Ellison, with his hands up while a policeman pointed a gun in his direction. (Ellison called the photo “agonizing.”) But after a white man opened fire* on the mostly black protesters, injuring five people, Ellison finally broke with the demonstrators and supported the mayor’s call to relocate the encampment for public safety. Debating with activists on Twitter, he insisted he was merely proposing a change in tactics; the goal had stayed the same. Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds, filling the role Ellison once played of the organizer chipping away at the system from the outside, dismissively referred to him as “the old guard,” and protesters held signs calling him a “sellout.” When Ellison showed up at a North Minneapolis community meeting to explain himself, Levy-Pounds refused to give him the floor and Ellison left without speaking. “It was essentially the establishment versus the community,” Levy-Pounds says.[1]
Ilhan Omar endorsement
Ilhan Omar February 16, 2016:
Join Civil Rights Attorney, Advocate, and Professor Nekima Levy-Pounds in supporting Ilhan on March 1st.