Patrisse Cullors

Cullors co-endorsed Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, calling for unity from progressives to "beat the Bloombergs of the world and the Bidens of the world".

Her book, When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir was published in January 2018.

For me, seeking spirituality had a lot to do with trying to seek understanding about my conditions—how these conditions shape me in my everyday life and how I understand them as part of a larger fight, a fight for my life.

Cullors has served as executive director of the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence in L.A. Jails. The group advocated for a civilian commission to oversee the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in order to curb abuses by officers. By organizing former jail inmates as a voting bloc, the group hoped to sway the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to create such a commission, as well as gather enough votes to elect a replacement for Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who resigned in 2014 for separate reasons. However, the group did not succeed in its efforts.

Cullors is also a board member of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, having led a think tank on state and vigilante violence for the 2014 Without Borders Conference.

In 2014 Cullors produced the theatrical piece POWER: From the Mouths of the Occupied, which debuted at Highways Performance Space. She has contributed articles about the movement to the LA Progressive, including an article from December 2015 titled "The Future of Black Life" which pushed the idea that activists could no longer wait for the State to take action, and called her followers into action by encouraging them to begin building the world that they want to see.

Cullors is a Fulbright scholar. She was named 2007 Mario Savio Young Activist of the Year. She has also received the Sidney Goldfarb award. She was named an NAACP History Maker in 2015. Also in 2015 Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza (as "The Women of #BlackLivesMatter") were listed as one of the nine runners-up for The Advocate's Person of the Year. She was also named a Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year 2016. Also in 2016, she was named one of Fortune's World's Greatest Leaders and an Honorary Doctorate from Clarkson University, among several others. She is the 2018 recipient of the José Muñoz Award from CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Patrisse Cullors (born June 20, 1983) is an American artist and activist. Cullors is an advocate for prison abolition in Los Angeles and a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement. She also identifies as a queer activist.