Patrisse Cullors

Patrisse Cullors
The Laura Flanders Show · CC BY 3.0 · source
Name	Patrisse Cullors
Birth date	20 June 1983
Birth place	Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Activist; artist; writer; organizer
Known for	Co-founding Black Lives Matter

Patrisse Cullors is an American activist, artist, writer, and organizer best known as a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement. Her work spans grassroots organizing, prison abolition advocacy, community arts projects, and authorship, connecting campaigns against police violence with campaigns for criminal justice reform and LGBTQ+ liberation. Cullors has engaged with a range of institutions, media, and legal forums while drawing on influences from prison abolitionists, civil rights leaders, and contemporary social justice movements.

Early life and education

Cullors was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in the San Fernando Valley and South Los Angeles. She attended Dorsey High School (Los Angeles) and later pursued higher education at Los Angeles Community College before studying at Arizona State University and enrolling in graduate work at the University of Southern California and Otis College of Art and Design. Her upbringing intersected with experiences involving the Los Angeles County Jail, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and families affected by incarceration, which informed her connections to abolitionist thinkers such as Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and movements linked to the Civil Rights Movement and Harlem Renaissance cultural legacies.

Activism and career

Cullors developed a public profile through organizing with groups such as Dignity and Power Now, Critical Resistance, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. She worked alongside activists from Sierra Club-adjacent environmental justice campaigns, community-based groups like LA CAN (Los Angeles Community Action Network), and faith-based organizers from congregations connected to the United Methodist Church and Black churches. Her career includes collaborations with artists and activists associated with Intersectionality-influenced networks, drawing on scholarship from bell hooks and Patricia Hill Collins while engaging with local elected officials in Los Angeles City Council forums and national coalitions that interacted with the Department of Justice and congressional hearings on policing reform influenced by cases like Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.

Co-founding Black Lives Matter

Cullors co-founded Black Lives Matter with colleagues in response to high-profile deaths including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner. The decentralized movement connected chapters and partners such as Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, community organizers involved with Campaign Zero, and allied groups like Color Of Change and NAACP. The movement engaged in protests in cities including Ferguson, Missouri, New York City, Baltimore, and Los Angeles, and intersected with policy debates influenced by legislation such as the First Step Act. Cullors worked with fellow co-founders and organizers from networks shaped by exchanges with activists linked to Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, DeRay Mckesson, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, and international solidarity movements referencing events like the Arab Spring and anti-apartheid campaigns.

Writing and media work

Cullors authored books and essays and appeared in documentaries, television interviews, and curated exhibitions at institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), and festivals like Sundance Film Festival. Her publications engage with themes similar to works by writers such as Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michelle Alexander, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and Rosa Luxemburg. She contributed to anthologies alongside scholars from Columbia University, Harvard University, and New York University and participated in panels hosted by organizations including The New Yorker, TED, The Atlantic, and the Human Rights Watch conferences. Cullors has also collaborated with filmmakers and producers connected to Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler, and Ken Burns-style documentary projects.

Controversies and legal matters

Cullors faced scrutiny related to organizational governance at the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation and public debate over transparency and fiscal oversight involving nonprofit reporting to agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and interactions with accounting practices common to 501(c)(3) organizations. Media coverage and investigations by outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, CNN, and Los Angeles Times prompted discussions about leadership models reminiscent of debates surrounding activists such as Van Jones and controversies comparable to those in nonprofit histories like Red Cross reporting disputes. Legal and political opponents referenced local property transactions and board governance while supporters highlighted legal consultation from firms connected to nonprofit law and defense by civil liberties advocates associated with American Civil Liberties Union and public interest litigators who have worked on cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Awards and recognition

Cullors has received awards and fellowships from institutions such as the Ford Foundation, Haas Jr. Fund, Echoing Green, and artist residencies affiliated with Art+Practice in Los Angeles. She was recognized in listings by media outlets including Time (magazine), Forbes, and The Guardian and honored by cultural institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and Museum of Modern Art for contributions to contemporary activism and art. Her work has been cited alongside laureates from prize programs such as the MacArthur Fellows Program, recipients celebrated by the Guggenheim Fellowship, and leaders acknowledged by civic awards presented by entities like the Brookings Institution and Human Rights Campaign.

Category:American activists Category:Writers from Los Angeles