Tamika Mallory, one of the voices of the Minneapolis protests

“They are angry and there is an easy way to stop it; arrest the cops. Report the police. Report all police officers. Not just some of them, not just here in Minneapolis. Denounce them in every city in America where our people are being murdered”, said activist Tamika Mallory in one of the speeches of the demonstrations in Minneapolis, in the United States, after the murder of George Floyd. George, a black man, was choked by white police officers last week.

The video with Tamika’s speech ran on social media not only in the United States, but all over the world. The alert to the damage that institutional and structural racism has caused the population for hundreds of years is not restricted to this moment.

Responsible for organizing the 2017 Women’s March, the daughter of Stanley and Voncile Mallory was influenced by her parents’ relationship with the civil rights movement. The activists are founders of the National Action Network in New York, which Mallory joined at age 11 and of which she became the youngest executive director at 15.

In 2013, the activist withdrew from the institution’s administrative activities to take a walk in activism in favor of feminist causes, in the Black Lives Matter movement and in gun control. The latter even earned her, in 2014, a place in the New York Crisis Management System of Mayor Bill de Blasio, which focused on efforts on armed violence.

After the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, the search for intersectionality and diversity led Tamika to the activism of the Women’s March. In an interview with Ebony, she says that it all started with similar ideas from Teresa Shook, Bob Bland, Breanne Butler, among other organizers, of bringing women together on the street to claim their rights. With that, the 2017 Women’s March took shape. Vanessa Wruble, co-founder and co-president of Okayafrica, was responsible for Mallory’s arrival on the organizing team.

“To present an opportunity for people not only to be sad and frustrated, but to feel that there is power in numbers and in being organized”, he commented in this 2017 interview. The phrase also fits with the meaning of the demonstrations of the last few weeks. She adds: “I wanted to make sure that black women’s voices were defended, exalted and that our problems were solved, but that couldn’t happen unless we sat at the table”, she pointed out.

Called the “leader of tomorrow” by Valerie Jarrett, the main advisor to the Barack Obama administration, Tamika’s name was also marked by the intervention she made in a case of racism at the Starbucks coffee chain, in Philadelphia, in 2018. , two black men were arrested at the establishment as suspects. The duo was questioned and the justification used by the police is that the posture was part of the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “The ADL sends US police to Israel to learn their military skills. This is deeply troubling. Let’s not even talk about your attacks on black lives,” Maloni tweeted. After pressure from her and other activists, the coffee chain withdrew the organization from its safety training.

Currently, Tamika is co-founder and president of Mallory Consulting, where she provides guidance on corporate initiatives in New York. In addition, the activist is also a member of the board of directors of the Gathering for Justice, an institution that acts against child incarceration and the reduction of mass incarceration. In 2019, Mallory left the Women’s March for controversial reasons. After participating in a ceremony by the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, who uttered anti-Semitic speeches, her presence began to be questioned internally. However, the activist declares that she has no involvement and does not endorse Louis’ comments and that his departure was only due to the end of his term.

All women can (and should) take an anti-racist stance