.jpg)
.jpg)
Note-In light of the recent release of the DOJ report on patterns and practices of the Louisville Metropolitain Police, it is appropriate to feature the work of Tamika Mallory. Mallory, founder of Until Freedom, played a leading role in highlighting the Breonna Taylor case
Every generation produces memorable leaders. This is not a result of fate or otherworldly factors; it is part of concerted effort by activists and leaders in earlier generations to cultivate individuals with special talents and gifts in another generation. It is not doubt true that “every generation carries the light of freedom.” If this well-known dictum (rule or saying or law) in the American community is true, then Tamika Mallory is its embodiment. Mallory was born in Harlem in 1980. She later moved to the Bronx when she was 14. Raised in an activist home, Malory became involved in the National Action Network ( NAN). NAN was founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton in 1991. Both of her parents were active in the organization. Malory became a staff organizer at 14 and an executive director in 2009. She is the single mother of Tarique Mallory. The father of her son, Jason Ryans, was murdered in 2001.
Mallory, no doubt exemplifies many of the traits of an exemplary leader. She grew up in an activist family. She was a prodigy of sorts and rose quickly through the ranks at NAN. She navigated the challenges of single motherhood and lost her partner to violence. All of these experiences have honed her sense of passion and urgency around the problems and challenges facing African Americans in the social, political, and economic spheres. Her tenacity in addressing these issues has won her both supporters and detractors. Unafraid of controversy, a fearless advocate, and a tireless champion for social justice, she has come to embody the face of 21st century social activism.
While her activism began at an early age, Mallory became widely known in 2017 as one of the four co-organizers of the 2017 Women’s March. Mallory burst into the national and international spotlight along with Carmen Pérez, a Chicana American activist; Linda Sansour, a Palestinian American activist and Bob Bland, a women’s fashion designer. The idea for the March originated with Teresa Shook, a retired grandmother in Hawaii. She created a Facebook page and invited 40 friends. Overnight the meeting had over 10,000 people who had clicked the attend button. Simultaneously, Bob Bland was organizing a similar event. Using “The Nasty Woman” and “Bad Hombre”’ t-shirts, she raised $20,000 in support of Planned Parenthood. Mallory brought her activism with NAN as a Civil Rights activist and gun control advocate to the mix. Bland connected with Sansour and Mallory to ensure the March was inclusive and intersectional, aligned with the idea that injustice impacts a multiplicity of groups in unique and varied ways but which must be considered in relationship to one another in order to be understood and appreciated. The Women’s March drew its name from the March on Washington. It was careful not to replicate the problematic policies of earlier marches by either disregarded Blacks and women or relegating them to the back of the line.
The 2017 Women’s March was unprecedented in scale and represented a herculean effort at several different levels. The March was a global protest of the election of Donald J. Trump’s. In the run up to the 2016 election, Trump made a number of statements that were perceived as sexist and anti-woman. The March drew crowds of 500,000 in Washington, DC, which was the largest single day number since the protests of the 1960’s. Globally, more than 4.6 million people voiced their opposition. Volunteers worked to organize the effort untangling a maze of logistics and fundraising challenges to bring the Women’s March to fruition. Some of the largest marches occurred in New York (400,000); Los Angeles (500,000-750,000); Chicago (250,000); Seattle (120,000-175,000) Solidarity marches sprung up in San Francisco, Park City, Raleigh, Shreveport, Albuquerque, Paris Acc,ra and Warsaw. More than 616 marches occurred around the world. Mallory described the effort as essential in “ensuring that the voices of women of color, that their voices are heard and that we are the mouthpiece to be able to speak on their behalf, and to be a woman in their country.” Malory was honored by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Women. While Mallory’s involvement in this event catapulted her to national and international recognition, it was not without controversy and contestation.
Mallory’s time in the spotlight was short lived. Less than a year after the success of the 2017 Women’s March, the 2018 Women’s March occurred under a cloud of controversy. Mallory and two other organizers were accused of being anti-Semitic. According to news reports, Mallory and Carmen Perez were accused of making inappropriate comments at a planning meeting in November 2016. Participants in the meeting quoted Mallory as asserting “Jewish people bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of Black and Brown people.” Additionally, at a January 2017 meeting, it was alleged Mallory confronted Vanessa Wruble, an activist and Jewish participant, regarding her Jewish identity. This account was confirmed by Wrube. However, Cassady Fendlay, Communication Director of the Women’s March, who was present at both meetings said the account was false.
Accusations continued to swirl after Mallory’s appearance at the Nation of Islam’s Saviour’s Day event. She later posted a message on Twitter describing Farrakhan as the G.O.A.T. Mallory later defended her work with Farrakhan citing his work with incarcerated Black men. Undeterred by criticism and opposing views, Mallory refused to disassociate herself from Farrakhan. Both Mallory and Sansour stated that they worked in communities that have great respect for Farrakhan. By September 2019, the cfriticism and controversy surrounding it had taken its toll. Linda Sansour, Bob Bland and Tamika Mallory decided to resign and go their separate ways.
Mallory’s resignation from the Women’s March leadership was not an end, but a beginning. It inaugurated another and more powerful chapter of activism for the young activist. Her leadership skills, ability to galvanize people around a cause, garner local and national media attention as well as her large following, made her an ideal leader for another cause. Mallory immediately leveraged her notoriety and skill sets by co-founding along with Mysonne Linen , Angelo Pinto, Esq, and Linda Sansour in a social advocacy and Civil rights organization Until Freedom. The organization is “an intersectional social justice organization rooted in the leadership of diverse people of color to address systematic and racial injustice.” The group serves as a clearinghouse for a wide range of social justice activists. Until Freedom accomplishes it goals through campaign development, rapid response and triage, training and resource development, media advocacy, and partnerships with influencers.
The founding of Until Freedom occurred shortly before the murder of Breonna Taylor. Taylor’s murder at the hands of Louisville police in March 2020 occurred at the height of the pandemic. As a result, the details of her murder surfaced several months after the events in question. The story is shocking but reflects the ongoing struggle to address police brutality against African Americans going back to Trayvon Martin’s death in 2012. Taylor’s death was a case of mistaken identity based on a no-knock warrant. These warrants do not require law enforcement to announce their presence. Officers obtained a warrant but battered down Taylor’s door based on faulty information. Her boyfriend responded to the incident by firing on police whom he thought were burglars. In the ensuing hail of gunfire, Taylor was struck several times as she slept. The protest surrounding her murder and the effort to formally indict the officers for murder became the subject of national and international media attention.
One of the signature projects of Until Freedom is the Justice for Breonna Taylor campaign. Until Freedom along with Mallory as the most vocal and visible activist played a central role in publicizing the Breonna Taylor case. Mallory launched an aggressive campaign to demand justice for Breonna Taylor, which meant firing the officers involved in her shooting and banning no knock warrants. At one point, Mallory vowed to stay in the streets of Louisville until Breonna Taylor received justice. She also worked to increase public awareness of Breonna’s Law, a bill introduced in the US Senate by Senator Rand Paul to end no knock warrants.
In the midst of Until Freedom’s campaign for Breonna Taylor, the George Floyd murder occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd was murdered by police officer Derrick Chauvin, who placed his knee of Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes and 29 seconds. This act led to Floyd’s death. Chauvin was subsequently convicted of Floyd’s murder and received a sentence of 22.5 years in jail. In May 2020, Mallory gave a powerful speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota in which she outlined the struggles African Americans faced in the struggle for social justice and civil rights. She also criticized the media’s portrayal of demonstrators as looters. She argued that looting was an outgrowth of the frustration generated by inaction on social justice issues. The speech went viral and was characterized by numerous commentators as the “speech of a new generation of activists.”
Floyd’s murder gave added momentum in the fight to achieve justice for Breonna Taylor Mallory worked tirelessly to heighten media awareness and increase public attention regarding the plight of Breonna Taylor. Through a series of marches in the street of Louisville and constant pressure on local authorities, she achieved tangible results. In June 2020, the Louisville City Council unanimously endorsed Breonna’s Law. Until Freedom also released a video with a detailed action plan on how ordinary citizens can impact the political process to effect change.
Despite the decision of the Keith Cameron, Kentucky’s Attorney General, not to charge the officers with murder involved in the Breonna Taylor killing, the fight for justice continued. In September 2020, the City of Louisville agreed to pay the Breonna Taylor’s family $12 million, in what was at the time the largest payout of a municipality to the family of a victim of police brutality or misconduct. and to institute significant reforms. Reforms included officer credits for living in the districts where they work, high-ranking commanders must approve search warrant requests, and increased involvement of social workers to address non life threatening events and additional drug testing for officers.
Mallory’s visibility on issues related to police brutality once again generated negative press. This time the critics were the mothers of children impacted by police misconduct. Following a performance by Mallory with Da Baby at the Grammy’s in 2021, Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, and Lisa Simpson, the mother of 18-yer old Richard Risher, who was killed by the Los Angeles police officer in 2016, criticized her activist style. The mothers demanded Mallory and a host of other activists “step down, step back and stop monopolizing and capitalizing our fight for justice and human rights.” In an official statement released to the media by Rice and Simpson, they stated their grievances: “We never hired theme to be the representatives or fight for justice for our dead loved ones murdered by the police. The activists have events in our cities and have not given us anything substantial for using our loved ones’ images and names on their flyers…We don’t want or need y’all parading in the streets accumulating donations, platforms, movie deals, etc off the death of our loved ones, while the families and communities are left clueless and broken. Don’t say our loved ones’ names period. That is our truth!”
Although no doubt stung by the criticism, Mallory took in it stride. She responded to Rice’s comment by pointing out her desire to speak directly as a fellow mother and acknowledge Rice’s pain and trauma and support her feelings. Malloy also went on to say that “We all failed her.” Mallory also pointed out that Until Freedom has not used images of Tamir Rice, nor had she ever met Samaria Rice. She also promised not to use Rice’s name is any campaigns and to respect her wishes regarding the use of her son’s name and image in fundraising or activist work. Mallory also clarified comments made about “clout-chasing.” If you actually talk to families that I have worked with for 25 years, Mallory said, “you will not hear sentiments like we are clout chasing or that we used their children.”
Tamika Mallory is a leader for our times. Defying the stereotypical leadership styles of the past which were often rooted in a singular male figure who essentially was the face and voice of a particular cause, Mallory offers what she terms a “leader full” approach. This leadership style draws on the collective talents of various leaders, activists and organizers to build movements. These leaders work to accomplish goals collectively.
This style of leadership is reflected in her pioneering work with the Women’s March and Until Freedom. Mallory’s work has made her the pulse of Black activism. She has been active in establishing important grassroots organizations, building a large public platform for her work, publishing an important book, titled State of Emergency on Black struggle and liberation. advocating for the importance of highlighting the experience of Black victims and responding to criticism in the public spotlight. All of these unique skills and experiences make her a 21stcentury leader dedicated to using strategies that harness the collective powers of individuals and groups to effect change.