We are thrilled to announce that longtime activist, educator, and Cooperation Jackson co-founder Kali Akuno has joined the ISE as our Racial & Environmental Justice coordinator. This September he’ll be launching a new educational series featuring leaders in the intersecting fight for racial and environmental justice, including Max Ajl, Monica Atkins, Bineshi Albert, Nerdeen Kiswani, and more.
Kali is a longtime organizer, educator, and writer for human rights and social justice. He is the co-founder and director of Cooperation Jackson, a network of worker cooperatives and supporting institutions building economic democracy in Mississippi and the South. Kali also served as the Director of Special Projects and External Funding in the Mayoral Administration of the late Chokwe Lumumba of Jackson, MS. His focus was supporting cooperative development, sustainability, human rights and international relations.
Kali is co-editor of “Jackson Rising: the Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination in Jackson, MS,” and the author of numerous articles and pamphlets including the Jackson-Kush Plan: the Struggle for Black Self-Determination and Economic Democracy,” “Until We Win: Black Labor and Liberation in the Disposable Era,” “Operation Ghetto Storm: Every 28 Hours report,” and “Let Your Motto Be Resistance: A Handbook on Organizing New Afrikan and Oppressed Communities for Self-Defense.”
He is the former Co-Director of the US Human Rights Network. Kali also served as the Executive Director of the Peoples’ Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) based in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. And was a co-founder of the School of Social Justice and Community Development (SSJCD), a public school serving the academic needs of low-income African American and Latino communities in Oakland, California.
We look forward to working together – stay tuned for upcoming details on his fall lecture series!
