Alicia Garza | |
|---|---|
 Garza in 2016 | |
| Born | (1981-01-04)January 4, 1981 (age 44) Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Alicia Schwartz |
| Education | University of California, San Diego (BA) |
| Occupation | Activist |
| Known for | Black Lives Matter, People Organized to Win Employment Rights, National Domestic Workers Alliance |
| Movement | Black Lives Matter,Movement for Black Lives |
| Spouse | |
Alicia Garza (néeSchwartz; born January 4, 1981) is an Americancivil rights activist and writer known for co-founding theBlack Lives Matter movement. She is a recognized advocate forsocial andracial justice, with a particular focus on issues affectingmarginalized communities, includingBlack women,LGBTQ+ people, and immigrants. Garza is also a writer and public speaker. She has written extensively on issues related to race, gender, and social justice, and her work has appeared in numerous publications. Her editorial writing has been published byTime,Mic,Marie Claire,Elle,Essence,The Guardian,The Nation,The Feminist Wire,Rolling Stone,HuffPost, andTruthout.
Garza has worked with organizations such as theNational Domestic Workers Alliance and the Black Futures Lab, which focuses on building political power for Black communities. She has also engaged in community organizing efforts and initiatives aimed at creating systemic change and challenging inequality.
Garza has served as aboard member ofForward Together's Oakland branch,Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity, and Oakland'sSchool of Unity and Liberation/SOUL.
Garza was born to asingle mother inOakland, California. Her family lived first in San Rafael and thenTiburon, and ran an antiques business, assisted later by her brother Joey, eight years her junior.
When she was 12 years old, Alicia engaged in activism, promoting schoolsex education aboutbirth control.[1] Enrolling in theUniversity of California, San Diego (UCSD), she continued her activism by working at the student health center and joining the student association calling for higher pay for the university's janitors.
In her final year at college, she helped organize the first Women of Color Conference, a university-wide convocation held at UCSD in 2002.[2] She graduated in 2002 with a degree in anthropology and sociology.[3]
In 2003 Garza returned to the Bay Area, where she began a training program in political education with theSchool of Unity and Liberation (SOUL) that taught young people of color how to organize, by placing them with local community based organizations in West Oakland. Garza began working withJust Cause Oakland.[4]
Completing her internship at SOUL, Garza joined a campaign that researched the relationship between increasing economic security for People Of Color, and increased community security.[5] Her initial project with PUEBLO was to gather community resistance in East Oakland against a proposed Walmart.[6] Despite the effort, the first Walmart in that area opened in 2005.
Garza worked with the grassroots organization POWER inBayview–Hunters Point, where she advocated for economic, environmental, racial, and gender justice by promoting public housing and transit accessibility, and fought against a controversial development project, although the initiative she supported was ultimately defeated.[4][5][7]
Following a brief sabbatical, Garza joined the National Domestic Workers Alliance, creating a program focused on Black domestic workers.[5] Shortly before that, she foundedBlack Lives Matter withPatrisse Cullors andOpal Tometi.
stop saying we are not surprised. that's a damn shame in itself. I continue to be surprised at how little Black lives matter. And I will continue that. stop giving up on black life. Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter.
WithOpal Tometi andPatrisse Cullors, Garza birthed theBlack Lives Matter hashtag.[9][10] She is credited with inspiring the slogan when, after the July 2013 acquittal ofGeorge Zimmerman of murder in the death ofTrayvon Martin, she posted onFacebook: "I continue to be surprised at how little Black lives matter... Our lives matter." Cullors shared this with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. She was also struck by the similarities ofTrayvon Martin to her younger brother, Joey, feeling that Joey could have been killed instead.[11]
The organization Black Lives Matter was spurred on by the killings ofBlack people by police, racial disparities within the U.S. criminal legal system,mass incarceration,police militarization, andover-criminalization.[12] In particular, the movement was born and Garza's post became popularized after protests emerged inFerguson, Missouri, following the death ofMichael Brown.[13]
Garza led the 2015 Freedom Ride to Ferguson, organized by Cullors andDarnell Moore, that launched the building of BlackLivesMatter chapters across the United States and the world.[14] Garza does not think of the Black Lives Matter Movement as her creation; she feels her work is only a continuation of the resistance led by Black people in America.[12] The movement and Garza are credited for popularizing the use of social media for mass mobilization in the United States, a practice called "mediated mobilization". This practice has been used by other movements, such as the#MeToo movement.[15]
On April 10, 2020, Garza debuted her podcast, "Lady Don’t Take No", named after the song "Lady Don't Tek No" byLatyrx. It is a tribute to the Bay Area, where she discusses "political commentary with a side of beauty recommendations".[16]
Garza's first book,The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart, was published in October 2020 by Penguin Random House. Described as "an essential guide", the book tells Garza's story as an activist and shares lessons for future activists.[17]
We can’t be afraid to establish a base that is larger than the people we feel comfortable with. Movements and bases cannot be cliques of people who already know each other. We have to reach beyond the choir and take seriously the task of organizing the unorganized—the people who don’t already speak the same language, the people who don’t eat, sleep and breathe social justice, the people who have everything at stake and are looking to be less isolated and more connected and who want to win changes in their lives and the lives of the people they love.
"My experience with BLM toughened my skin and softened my heart...it taught me how to recommit to work that broke my heart every day",[18] Garza wrote in the book. When asked about this quote in an interview with Angelica Ross, Garza responded, "I wanted people to see under the hood and under the curtains of what goes on in this work.. I’ve had the experience of feeling like I was not cut out for this work, and I wanted to humanize the movement".[19]
Garza was one of the protesters holding back the BART train in Oakland, California, in 2014. Once this protest ended, she started a new generation of civil rights leaders. Garza is now the 27th most influential African American (behind her collaborator,Patrisse Cullors) on theRoot 100, an annual list of black influencers.[20] She has given speeches to audiences across the country, from union halls to the United Nations Office of the High Commission on Human Rights.[4]
Garza's editorial writing has been published byThe Guardian,[21]The Nation,[22] The Feminist Wire,[23]Rolling Stone,HuffPost, andTruthout. She currently directs Special Projects at theNational Domestic Workers Alliance.[24]
Previously, Garza had served as the director of People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) in theSan Francisco Bay Area. During her time in the position, she won the right for youth to use public transportation for free in San Francisco, and campaigned against gentrification and police brutality in the area.[25] Garza is an active participant in several Bay Area social movement groups. She is on the board of directors ofForward Together's Oakland California branch and is also involved with Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity.[26] She is also on the board of directors for Oakland's School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL).[23] In 2011, she was the chairperson ofRight to the City Alliance[27]
In 2015, Garza was selected as the Member's Choice for Community Grand Marshal at 2015 Pride celebration, as she was considered a local hero inOakland for her contributions to theLGBTQ community and society at large. Over two dozen Black Lives Matter organizers and supporters marched in thePride Parade behind Garza, who sat next totransgender rights activistMiss Major, the previous year's Community Grand Marshal.[28]
Garza presented at the 2016 Bay Area Rising event, speaking about the propagation of Black Lives Matter and human rights.[29][better source needed]
In her 2017 speech to graduating students fromSan Francisco State University, Garza praised the indomitable spirit of Black women who laid the foundation for activism. She emphasized their crucial role in historical events, from the Underground Railroad to contemporary protest songs. Garza recognized the significant impact of Black women voters and celebrated their magic, resilience, and diverse contributions.[30][31]
In 2021, Garza was the keynote speaker atUC San Diego's 2021 Commencement ceremonies.[32]
Garza participated in an attempt to stop aBay Area Rapid Transit train for four and a half hours, a time chosen to reflect the time thatMichael Brown's body was left in the street after he was killed. The protesters stopped the train for an hour and a half by chaining themselves both to the inside of the train and the outside, making it impossible for the door to close. The event ended when police removed the protestors by dismantling part of the train.[33]
Supermajority was established in the spring of 2019 and is focused on creating political power for American women.[34] The organization Supermajority was created by Garza,Cecile Richards, andAi-jen Poo. Supermajority intends to "train and mobilize two million women across America to become organizers, activists, and leaders ahead of the 2020 election" to create a "multiracial, intergenerational movement for women's equality."[35][36] One of the main goals of Supermajority is to create "a women's new deal", with women's issues like "voting rights, gun control, paid family leave, and equal pay" seen as "issues that impact everyone" for the 2020 presidency, as well as build a greater platform for women in politics.[34][37] In the2020 election, cofounder Cecile Richards says "[the group will be successful] if 54% of voters in this country are women and if we are able to insert into this country the issues that women care about and elect a president who’s committed to doing something about them."[38]
In 2018 Garza launched Black Futures Lab, whose goal is to engage with advocate organizations to advance policies that make black communities stronger.[39] Black Futures Lab's first project was the Black Census Project, the largest survey on Black people since theReconstruction era of the United States.[40] The survey included questions on subjects such as political attitudes, organization affiliation, experiences withracism andpolice violence, perceptions ofsocial movements, access to healthcare, and economic well-being. Black Future Labs plans to use the results of the Black Census Project to determine pressinglegislative and policy issues. Garza divided theBlack Census Project into creating separate studies focusing on the black LGBTQ community as well as the black community's political engagement in the United States.[41]
While Garza has been critical ofDonald Trump,[42] she has also been critical ofBarack Obama[43] for adopting "right-wing talking points" about "racial disparities in our criminal justice system",[44] as well asBill Clinton,[44] andHillary Clinton, saying: "The Clintons use black people for votes, but then don't do anything for black communities after they're elected. They use us for photo ops."[45] She voted forBernie Sanders in California's Democratic primary, but promised to do everything in her power "to make sure that we are not led by Donald Trump", and voted for Clinton in the general election.[46][47]
Garza gave a speech to a crowd of 200 students on the 2020 elections in celebration ofBlack History Month.[48] She spoke about how the Black Lives Matter Movement is misinterpreted as anti-white, anti-law enforcement, or a terrorist organization. In this speech, she showed support for theGreen New Deal, condemnedvoter suppression, and called for more voter involvement. Garza endorsedElizabeth Warren in theDemocratic primary.[49]
Garza was recognized on the Root 100 list of African American Achievers between the ages of 25 and 45. She was also recognized on the Politico50 2015 guide to Thinkers, Doers, and Visionaries, along with Cullors and Tometi.[50]
Garza has received the Local Hero award from theSan Francisco Bay Guardian. She has been twice awarded by theHarvey Milk Democratic Club the Bayard Rustin Community Activist Award for her work fighting racism and gentrification in San Francisco. She has also been awarded theJeanne Gauna Communicate Justice Award from the Centre for Media Justice.[51]
In 2015, Garza, Cullors, and Tometi (as "The Women of #BlackLivesMatter") were among the nine runners-up forThe Advocate's Person of the Year.[52]
In 2017, Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi were awarded theSydney Peace Prize.[53]
In 2018, Garza was named in the inaugural cohort of the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity (AFRE). This first cohort of 29 Atlantic Fellows are focused on challenging racism in the U.S. and South Africa and disrupting the rise of white nationalism and supremacy.[54]
In 2020, Garza was named toFortune magazine's '40 Under 40' list under the "Government and Politics" category.[55]
In 2020, Garza was included inTime magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020[56] and on the list of the BBC's100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.[57]
In 2020, Garza also was number 32 onFast Company's Queer 50 list.[58] In 2022, she was number 40 on the list.[59]
In 2004, Garza came out asqueer to her family. She was married to Malachi Garza, also a community activist, for 13 years. They met in 2004, married in 2008 and lived in Oakland until they announced the end of their relationship in 2021.[60][61][62]
Garza's chest tattoo, inspired byJune Jordan's "Poem about My Rights," reads "I am not wrong: Wrong is not my name. My name is my own my own my own," reflecting the profound connection between#Black Lives Matter and the deep roots of African American culture.[4][63]
In 2018, Garza's mother died fromglioblastoma.[64]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
