Si Kahn

Si Kahn

Si Kahn is a North Carolina activist. He executive director of Grassroots Leadership and has spent 40 years as a civil rights, labor and community organizer and musician in the South.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Kahn began his organizing career in 1965 in Arkansas with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the student wing of the Southern Civil Rights Movement. During the War on Poverty, he served as the deputy director of an eight-county community action agency in rural Georgia, and coached the first racially integrated Little League team in that part of the state.

Union work

During the 1970's, he worked with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) during the Brookside Strike in Harlan County, Kentucky, and was an Area Director of the J.P. Stevens Campaign for the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). These historic labor struggles are portrayed in the movies Harlan County U.S.A. and Norma Rae.

Grassroots Leadership

In 1980, Kahn founded Grassroots Leadership, and served as its Executive Director until February 1st, 2010 when he became Executive Director Emeritus. Grassroots Leadership recently won a major national victory through its Campaign to End Immigrant Family Detention, when the Federal government ended the appalling practice instituted by the Bush Administration in which children as young as infants were imprisoned together with their parents. The New York Times wrote, "The decision to stop sending families there - and to set aside plans for three new family detention centers - is the Obama administration's clearest departure from its predecessor's immigration enforcement policies."

SEAC, 1995 conference

This October 13-15, 1995, Student Environmental Action Coalition returned to its roots at UNC-Chapel Hill to host ts fourth National Conference. The conference will bring young people together from all over the country to learn more about current environmental issues.

Partial speakers list;

• Vandana Shiva (Third World Network)
• Barbara Dudley (Executive Director, Greenpeace)
• Cecilia Rodriguez (USA spokesperson for National Commission for Democracy in Mexico and the EZLN)
• Laura Flanders (FAIR, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting)
• Jeanette Galanis (President, USSA)
• Lina Cabaero (Asian Student Association)
• Si Kahn (Director, Grassroots Leadership)
• Rebecca Flores Harrington (United Farm Workers)
• Guy Lopez (International Indian Treaty Council)
• Suk Rhee (Southwest Network for Environmental & Economic Justice)
• Spring Diep (Asian Immigrant Women Advocates)
• Rich Cowan (Center for Campus Organizing)
• Abbie Illenberger (Empty the Shelters, Atlanta)

Rosenberg Fund for Children

In 2003 Si Kahn was on the Advisory Board of the Rosenberg Fund for Children. Si Kahn serveson the Advisory Board of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.

Jewish Funds for Justice

As at Jan. 18, 2011, Kahn served on the board for Jewish Funds for Justice.

Kopkind Colony

The Kopkind Colony Program Advisory Committee, as of 2015; The Kopkind Colony Honorary Board, as of 2015; Angela Ards, Fred Azcarate, Jennifer Berkshire, Pamela Bridgewater, Francis Calpotura, Margaret Cerullo, Tim Costello, Kim Diehl, Heidi Dorow, Scott Douglas, Theo Emery, Laura Flanders, Ku‘umeaaloha Gomes, Joe Grabarz, Jennifer Gordon, Pronita Gupta, Muna Hamzeh, Amber Hollibaugh, Mary Howell, Janine Jackson, Si Kahn, Robin D. G. Kelley, KipuKai Kuali‘i, Brad Lander, Eric Mann, Nikki Morse, Scot Nakagawa, Debbie Nathan, Amy Newell, Rev. James Orange, Robert Pollin, Verandah Porche, Luis Rodriguez, Deb Schwartz, Barbara Smith, Makani Themba-Nixon, Jerry Tucker