Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele

Patrisse Khan-Cullors was born in Los Angeles County in 1984 and grew up at the height of the war on drugs. As a low-income Black child, she experienced racial profiling in school and watched both her disabled brother and nonviolent father go in and out of the prison system. In adulthood, she became a community organizer, focusing on addressing the effects of prison and over-policing on Black and Latinx neighborhoods in LA while also making art on the subject. After Trayvon Martin’s death in 2012—and the subsequent acquittal of his killer, George Zimmerman, in 2013—Khan-Cullors started the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, along with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi. Khan-Cullors self-identifies as queer and advocates for the centering of queer and trans voices in the BLM movement. As of 2021, Khan-Cullors continues to lead the Black Lives Matter Global Network while making art, writing books and television scripts, teaching at Prescott University, and raising her son, Shine.