Patrisse Cullors

• Born: 1984

• Patrisse Cullors is a Los Angeles-based organizer, artist, activist, and co-founder of Black Lives Matter.

Cullors was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her teen years and home life were difficult and when she came out as queer to her parents at age sixteen, they kicked her out of the house. While dealing with homelessness and navigating her sexuality, Cullors still managed to enroll at the University of California, Los Angeles. At UCLA, she majored in religion and philosophy, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, and graduated in 2012. At twenty-two, she was awarded the Mario Savio Young Activist Award, an award presented to a young person with a deep commitment to human rights and social justice.

Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi were acquainted with one another through their organizing. Cullors had been following the series of murders of Black teens between 2012 and 2016 and growing frustrated. Tometi found herself saddened and angered on July 13, 2013, when George Zimmerman was acquitted of any wrongdoing in the killing of Travyon Martin. Garza wrote a Facebook post that was a “love letter to Black people,” and she summarized the feelings of Cullors and many others. Cullors began to use the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter that night.

Over the coming years, more Black teens would be murdered, and the sentiment of the hashtag would only grow. In 2014, police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Even though witnesses contradicted Wilson’s testimony—that Brown ran at the patrol car, attacked Wilson, and reached for his gun—Wilson was not charged with a crime. A subsequent Department of Justice investigation in the Ferguson Police Department found rampant racism in the department, as well as policies that aimed to offset declining city revenues with fines and fees from minor traffic violations. The traffic stops disproportionately impacted the African American community and the fees disproportionately affected the poor African American community as well. For many protesters in the subsequent weeks and months, the Ferguson Police Department was a prime example of structural racism. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter succinctly articulated the overwhelming and systemic racism that the Black community faced.

In 2018, Cullors published When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir," which was cowritten with journalist asha bandele, a former features editor for Essence magazine. Cullors discusses her adolescence in the book as well as Black Lives Matter. When They Call You a Terrorist rose to number twelve on the nonfiction hardcover New York Times Best Seller list. Cullors signed a deal with Warner Bros. in 2020 to create shows that recount Black experiences. However, the deal ended in 2022, reportedly because Cullors did not produce any content. Cullors published a second book, An Abolitionist's Handbook: 12 Steps to Change Yourself and the World, in 2022. The book is a guide to becoming a modern-day abolitionist.

In May 2021, Cullors resigned from her position as executive director of Black Lives Matter, a position she had held for six years. This followed controversy in which she was accused of using money from Black Lives Matter to purchase several homes. She also hired her brother for security and consulting, paying him a salary of more than eight hundred thousand dollars from Black Lives Matter.

Also in 2021, Cullors was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

Cullors's cousin, Keenan Anderson, died on January 4, 2023, after an incident with Los Angeles Police officers after a traffic accident. Anderson was tased by an officer while another officer had an elbow on his neck for about thirty seconds. Anderson lost consciousness and was transported to a hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and died. Anderson, who was thirty-one years old, was an English teacher in Washington, DC, who had been visiting Los Angeles. According to CNN on June 20, 2023, the coroner found that Anderson had died from cocaine use and an enlarged heart. His family was seeking one hundred million dollars because of his death.

Adams, Char. "Black Lives Matter Leaders Condemn Allegations of Mismanaged Funds." NBC News, 12 Apr. 2022, www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-lives-matter-leaders-condemn-allegations-mismanaged-funds-rcna23882. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.

Choquette, Iziaih. "'Juneteenth Is a Promise': Patrisse Cullors on the Twin Goals of Queer Liberation and Abolition." Los Angeles LGBT Center, 21 June 2024, lalgbtcenter.org/vanguard/juneteenth-is-a-promise-patrisse-cullors-on-the-twin-goals-of-queer-liberation-and-abolition/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.

Guzman, Alyssa, and Harriet Alexander. "BLM Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors Is Quietly Dumped from Warner Bros. after Her Multi-Platform TV Deal to Create Original Shows Telling Black Stories Produced Zero Content After Two Years." DailyMail.com, 26 May 2023, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12130191/BLM-founder-quietly-dumped-Warner-Bros-produced-ZERO-content-two-years.html. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.