Whitney Maxey
Whitney Maxey is a Tennessee activist. She has done community organizing for the past 10+ years primarily in electoral and housing issues in Florida. She currently does organizing work with an independent political organization in Memphis, Tennessee called Memphis For All. All of her organizing experience has been working predominantly within working-class Black and Latinx communities. In 2020 Whitney Maxey joined the Editorial Collective of Organizing Upgrade.
Whitney Maxey has done community organizing for the past 10+ years primarily in electoral and housing issues in Florida. For the past 4 years she has primarily been focused on state-based grassroots political organization and power building projects. All of her organizing experience has been working predominantly within working-class Black and Latinx communities. She is a member of the Organizing Upgrade editorial collective.
Whitney Maxey grew up in Tallahassee Florida and went to on a basketball scholarship at Chipola College and then worked three years as an engineer. Laid off in 2008 crash. Began working with Miami Workers Center.
In 2020 Whitney Maxey was on the National Executive of Liberation Road.[1]
Durham for All
I'm excited to announce that Whitney Maxey has joined our staff team as our new Lead Organizer!
Whitney (she/her) is a southerner from Florida with a passion and commitment to multiracial, working-class liberation. Her work spans over a decade, with a long history of both national and local organizing. She is a trainer for BOLD (Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity) and a board member and contributor to Organizing Upgrade, where she has written about the political landscape and strategy for our movements.
Whitney is no stranger to Durham For All; she has led solidarity brigades to mobilize volunteers across the country to boost our base-building and get-out-the-vote efforts. In Memphis, Tennessee, where she has most recently lived and organized, she was part of building up a similar grassroots political organization to Durham For All.
"Freedom in the Fall"
According to Janet Tucker "Freedom in the Fall" was held October 3-8 2020 virtually in North Carolina.. This was sponsored by the Left Inside/Outside Project. While initially planned as an in person event, as many other things, had to go virtual.
This event was hosted by Durham For All, Carolina Federation, and Down Home North Carolina. A broad array of members and friends of the sponsoring organizations came together to do deep canvassing phone banking. Saturday October 3 was a day of orientation, presentations from the hosting groups, and small group discussions of sharing experience.
Whitney Maxey from Liberation Road and the Left Inside/Outside Project opened the day with a moment of silence for those lost to COVID and police violence. People were encouraged to put the names in the chat.
After this she went on to explain that the Left Inside/Outside Project is looking at what a longer term impact would look like by creating more space for the left to develop strategy and tactics. The goals of the program are:
- Provide theoretical skills and praxis training for the broad left
- Working to build independent political organizatioons (IPO) and defeat the far right.
- Freedom in the Fall"Serve as a basis of shared praxis for putting the inside/outside ideas into practice
- Freedom in the Fall"attract new layers of politically active organizers and activists to the strategic importance of the electoral arenas
- Part of a larger plan to cohere the socialist left and advance electoral strategy[2]
We're at a crossroads
On Tuesday June 30 2020.
We're at a crossroads. Social movements on the left and the right are on the move, in the midst of a global pandemic, an unrelenting economic crisis, the threat of ecological collapse, and growing attention to the institutional brutalities committed against Black people. The Trump administration is steering the U.S. towards a precipice, doubling down on white supremacy and the aggressive protection of capital. The left, with all of its gains over the past several years, is wrestling with how to orient to the 2020 electoral races in general and the Biden candidacy in particular.
Join the Left Inside/Outside Project and Organizing Upgrade in a discussion with radical electoral organizers Sendolo Diaminah of The Carolina Federation, Kristian Hernandez of Democratic Socialists of America, and Sochie Nnaemeka of Working Families Party to take stock of the rapidly shifting political terrain and how it should inform the left's electoral strategy.
Co-sponsored by CCDS, CPUSA, LeftRoots, Liberation Road, and the People's Advocacy Institute.
Moderated by Whitney Maxey of the National Executive Committee of Liberation Road and Rishi Awatramani of LeftRoots.
Liberation Road
Waging a Two-Pronged Battle: Socialists Assess How to Win From a Biden Candidacy
Road Signs asked three socialists who are deep in the trenches of electoral organizing in the US South to share their perspective on what’s at stake in the 2020 election. How should we engage the battle to defeat Trump, even as we grow our independent political bases, build pressure on Biden to embrace progressive demands, win people to Socialism and shift the U.S. political terrain?
- Whitney Maxey (WM) she/her is a movement organizer in Memphis, Tennessee
- Melanie Barron (MB) is a labor organizer based in Knoxville, Tennessee.
- Bennett Carpenter (BC) (they/them) is a movement organizer in Durham, North Carolina
Coordinators
In September 2020 Whitney Maxey and Calvin Cheung-Miaw were co-coordinators of the Left Inside/Outside Project.[3]
Organizing Upgrade personnel
The Organizing Upgrade Editorial Collective, April 2020:
Whitney Maxey, Stephanie Luce, Luke Elliott-Negri, Claire Tran, Jacob Swenson-Lengyel, Julie Chinitz, Max Elbaum, Rishi Awatramani.[4]
Send Memphis For All to WiLD
Send Memphis For All to WiLD.
Memphis For All has demonstrated the potential for our city to join together and take action in
But now more than ever, we need to strengthen our movement, and organize the thousands of people who have pledged to build a Memphis For All.
Help us raise the $2000 by Wednesday, October 2nd, so that we can send our Steering Committee member Whitney Maxey to the WiLD training, to sharpen our skills and gain new tools for the movement.
A Vision for Black Lives
An Immediate End to the Criminalization and Dehumanization of Black Youth Across All Areas of Society Including, but Not Limited to, Our Nation’s Justice and Education Systems, Social Service Agencies, Media, and Pop Culture.
Authors & Contributors of this 2017 report included ● Whitney Maxey, Miami Public School Teacher ● Kwame Torian Easterling, MD, MPH ● Monica McLemore, PhD, MPH, RN, University of California, San Francisco ● JoHanna Thompson, MPA ● Nimaako Brown, MPH, CHES ● Thena Robinson Mock, Education Law Center ● Ruth Jeannoel, Power U Center for Social Change ● Rachel Gilmer, Dream Defenders ● Chelsea Fuller, Advancement Project ● Marbre Stahly-Butts, Center for Popular Democracy ● Rachel Herzing Soros Justice Fellow ● Mary Hooks, Southerners On New Ground ● Mark-Anthony Johnson, Dignity and Power Now ● Tanya Greene, Attorney at Law ● Daryl Atkinson, Southern Coalition for Social Justice ● Andrea Ritchie, Soros Justice Fellow ● Arielle Humphries, Center for Popular Democracy ● Carl Lipscombe, Black Alliance for Just Immigration ● Crystal Peters, Center for Popular Democracy ● Chinyere Tutashinda, The Center for Media Justice ● Malkia Cyril, The Center for Media Justice ● Pete Haviland-Eduah, Million Hoodies Movement For Justice ● Kesi Foster, Urban Youth Collaborative ● Montague Simmons, Organization for Black Struggle ● DeAngelo Bester, Workers Center for Racial Justice ● Dorian Warren, Center for Community Change ● Dara Cooper, National Black Food and Justice Alliance ● Brandon King, Cooperation Jackson ● Linda Tigani ● Anja Rudiger, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative ● Cathy Albisa, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative ● Karl Kumodzi, Black Youth Project 100, Blackbird ● Steven Pitts, National Black Workers Center ● Richard Wallace, Workers Center for Racial Justice ● Benjamin Ndugga-Kabuye, Black Alliance for Just Immigration ● Erica Smiley, Jobs with Justice ● Patrick Mason, Ph.D., Florida State University, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative ● Beatriz Beckford, National Black Food and Justice Alliance ● Rose Brewer, PhD, University of Minnesota ● Ife Kilimanjaro ● Toussaint Losier, Chicago Anti Eviction Campaign ● Mya Hunter, Spirit House ● M. Adams, Freedom, Inc. ● Jonathan Stith, Alliance for Educational Justice ● Lumumba Bandele ● Emmanuel Caicedo, Demos ● Viviana Bernal, Demos ● Damon L. Daniels, Demos ● Trupania Bonner, Open Democracy Project/Crescent City Media Group[5]
Miami Workers Center
In 2013 Whitney Maxey, was organizer for the Miami Workers Center — an organization that participated in demonstrations and aims to create a progressive political and social environment for South Florida’s low-income communities of color.[6]
Whitney Maxey, left, and Angela Samuels, members of the Miami Workers Center, a social justice group, canvass communities, reaching out to residents in foreclosed properties, to invite them to community meetings to discuss their rights.
Eviction protest
March 2012, 84-year-old Adline Pierre held her granddaughter, fighting tears. A young man is bent down next to her trying to comfort her. “We are here to make sure you don’t end up in the street,” Hashim Benford told her.
Pierre has no idea who he is or the other dozen people standing in front of her are. They amassed here as news spread her family was about to be evicted for their home.
Benford is one of a handful of activists from the Miami Workers Center who began an email blitz upon learning about the eviction set for 5 p.m.
Whitney Maxey hadn’t met the family until Wednesday.
“No one needs to be kicked out of their home and that’s all we need to know.” Maxey told CBS4’s David Sutta.
The bank is foreclosing on Pierre’s home of 20 years, because her daughter Dean Senecharles could no longer pay the mortgage.
“It’s not that easy when you lose your job and you are already paycheck to paycheck trying to survive,” Senecharles explained. “It’s not that easy for you to judge me.”
Tuesday night they received an eviction notice to be out by five. And so strangers took up their yard planning to form a human blockade.
“We literally put people in front of the front door, where the sheriff is trying to walk in to evict the family. And we just block their way,” said Maxey. “You have people who are on the front row who are OK with being arrested.”
This tactic, tested on Angie Samuels home in January, sent the cops and the eviction away for now.
“I’m still in my home. Still fighting. Still fighting until the end,” Samuels said.
She said she is fighting mortgage fraud but is willing to stand with any homeowner facing eviction. This group of activist has learned the only way to get something done these days is to stand in the way of what’s happening.
Emma Latson was in the crowd forming the blockade, because the issue hits close to home, literally.[7]
Racial policing panel
After high-profile deaths at the hands of police and "failures to indict in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York", the ACLU of Florida Greater Miami Chapter convened a panel of experts on Wednesday, January 21 2015, at the University of Miami Law School, to discuss the racial component of policing in Miami-Dade County. Chapter Treasurer Daniel Palugyai arranged the event.
Around 75 students and community leaders heard from Paul George, Miami’s preeminent historian; Donald Jones, University of Miami law professor; Whitney Maxey, community organizer; and Cristina Beamud, executive director of the Miami Civilian Investigative Panel. ACLU of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon moderated.[8]
FRSO friends
There's a brand new Family Dollar on this corner now...#Hope — with Marcia Olivo, Trenise Bryant, Sendolo Diaminah, Badili Ifadoyin Jones-Goodhope, Whitney Maxey, Tiffany Tya Benford, Julia Daniel, Ruth Jeannoel, Denise Perry, Jacob Coker-Dukowitz and Bryan Proffitt.
“This is Bigger than Football…”
Vinny Villano and Whitney Maxey wrote an article for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, October 17 “This is Bigger than Football…” on racism, Colin Kaepernick and football.[9]
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.
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Whitney Maxey is on national staff of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
Female comrades and friends
Thomas Wayne Walker March 8, 2018 · Memphis, TN · Lisa Yopp, Bonnie Berrong, Charlene Walker, Katie Haworth, Karly Safar, Anne Barnett, Melanie Barron, Jean Padgett, Jessica Carmichael, Jessica Walker Kim Yopp, Kelly Yopp, Becky Dunlap, Jessica Hruz, Becky Hruz, Alex Hruz, Heather Dockins Lamonya Davis, Larissa Hunt, Jasmine Wallace, Bingham Graves, Aimee Boer, Sandy Hicks, Earnestine Jenkins, Diana Moyer, Jayanni Webster, Cassie Watters, Janet Miles, Thelma Jean Rimmer, KB Brower, Kim Hinchey, Doris Conley Brooks, Jessica Ann Buttermore, Lindsey Smith, Ruba Nuwayhid, Angie Navratil, Jennifer Hayes, Ash-Lee Henderson, Juliet Ucelli, Ashley Underwood, Dana Asbury, Victoria Ledbetter, Amanda Robertson, Ashley Susong, Elly Leary, Mary Jo Connelly, Kim Diehl, Andrea Morales, Emilie Bowman, Tami Sawyer, Anne Smith, Rachel Knox, Anjie Ash, Elizabeth Owen, Dana Smith, Amira Al-Dasouqui, Whitney Maxey, Mischa Nyberg, Lindsey Hill / a personal history with women who held me hold me down held me hold me up taught me teach me loved me love me & a lot more too but like a pig i left you off the list - women hold up half the sky, and i'm confident, cause the sky's in your hands