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Melina Abdullah

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Melina Abdullah
Abdullah in 2016
Born
Melina Rachel Reimann

1972 (age 51–52)
Oakland, California, U.S.
EducationHoward University (BA)
University of Southern California (MA, PhD)
EmployerCalifornia State University, Los Angeles
Children3
RelativesGünter Reimann (grandfather)

Melina Reimann Abdullah (born 1972) is an American academic and civic leader. She is the former chair of the department of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, and is a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter Grassroots, for which she also serves as co-director.[1]

As an original member of the group that convened to form Black Lives Matter, she serves as a matriarch for the current movement in Los Angeles. In addition to organizing work with BLM Los Angeles, she has hosted three local radio shows, "Move the Crowd" and "Beautiful Struggle" on KPFK and "This Is Not a Drill" on KBLA.[2]

On April 10, 2024, independent 2024 presidential candidate Cornel West announced Abdullah as his running mate.[3]

Early life and education

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Melina Rachel Reimann was born in the East Oakland section of Oakland, California. Her father, John Reimann, was "a union organizer and self-proclaimed Trotskyist." according to LA Weekly.[4] Her paternal grandfather was Günter Reimann (born Hans Steinicke), a German-Jewish Marxist economist and member of the Communist Party of Germany who opposed Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.[5][6][7] Her mother is Linda Fowler Blackston; later remarried Oji "Baba" Blackston (not to be confused with Baba Oje of the music group Arrested Development).

Abdullah graduated from Howard University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in African American Studies.[8] She subsequently earned Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in political science from the University of Southern California.[8][9]

She changed her surname from Reimann to Abdullah due to her marriage to filmmaker Phaylen Abdullah and kept the name after their divorce.[10]

Career

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Abdullah is a tenured professor and served as chair of the department of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles.[8] She was interviewed in 13th, a 2016 documentary about mass incarceration in the United States.

Abdullah has served on the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission since 2014.[8] She is a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation chapter in Los Angeles, California,[4] and regularly writes articles for the LA Progressive.[11]

She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.[12][13]

Activism

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Abdullah is a self-described "womanist scholar-activist." She has said that her academic roles are connected with her activist role in fighting for liberating those who have been exploited many times.[14] She serves on several boards, including Black Community, Clergy and Labor Alliance (BCCLA), Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA-CAN), and Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE).[8] Abdullah has also worked closely with Rabbi Brous in Los Angeles, speaking on many panels with Brous about white supremacy and allyship with the Black/Jewish Justice Alliance (BJJA).[15][16] She has been featured on season two of Rabbi Heather Miller's podcast "Keeping It Sacred".[17]

As part of her activism, Abdullah has been detained several times. She has accused the city of Los Angeles of bringing charges for the sole purpose of quashing her activism, which often includes antagonistic encounters at Police Commission meetings.[18]

Abdullah was arrested on suspicion of battery against a police officer, following an incident in which she allegedly grabbed the officer's arm during the arrest of protester Sheila Hines-Brim at an LAPD police commission hearing. Hines-Brim allegedly threw an unknown powdery substance at Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, which she claimed were the cremated ashes of her niece Wakiesha Wilson (who died in LAPD custody in 2016).[19] Abdullah was charged with misdemeanor battery, as well as seven other counts: these charges included interfering with a public business establishment and the lawful business of the Police Commission during separate incidents in 2017. The criminal charges against Abdullah were eventually dismissed.[20] The city later agreed to pay Wilson's family nearly $300,000 to settle a lawsuit they filed over her death.[21]

During a debate by ABC7 for the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election, police removed Melina Abdullah, at Cal State LA as well as other protesters from the room as they did not have tickets to the event.[22]

Controversies

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In February 2024, Abdullah was criticized for a tweet in which she stated that being a fan of Taylor Swift is "slightly racist" ("Why do I feel like it's slightly racist to be a Taylor Swift fan?")[23] and another tweet that stated her belief that the result of Super Bowl LVIII was a "right-wing, white-supremacist conspiracy".[24][25]

Personal life

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Abdullah resides in Mid-City, Los Angeles.[26] She has three children.[4]

Publications

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  • Abdullah, Melina. "The emergence of a black feminist leadership model: African-American women and political activism in the nineteenth century." Black women's intellectual traditions: Speaking their minds (2007): 328–345.[27]
  • Abdullah, Melina, and Regina Freer. "Bass to bass: Relative freedom and womanist leadership in Black Los Angeles." Black Los Angeles (2010).[28]
  • Abdullah, Melina, and Freer, Regina. 2008. "Towards a Womanist Leadership Praxis: The History and Promise of Black Grassroots/Electoral Partnerships in California." In Racial and Ethnic Politics in California: Continuity and Change, edited by Cain, Bruce and Bass, Sandra, 95–118.[29]
  • Abdullah, Melina. "What the Black Lives Matter Movement Demands of Ethnic Studies Scholars." Ethnic Studies Review 37.1 (2014): 5–9.[30]

Awards and nominations

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In October 2021, Melina received "Chatham House Centenary Diversity Champion Award".[31]

Credits

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Year Title Role
2015 Tavis Smiley guest[32]
2016 Democracy Now! self
2016 13th self[33]
2017 Waking the Sleeping Giant: The Making of a Political Revolution self
2019 Touré Show guest
2019 THE CALL with Melina Abdullah host
2019 Hello, Privilege. It's Me, Chelsea self
2019-2021 Good Trouble self[32]
2020 CNN Newsroom self[34]
2021 Invisible Blackness with Adrian Younge guest
2021 Rising Up self
2022 Liberal Hivemind self

References

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  1. ^ "A sordid fight over money between Black Lives Matter factions". World Socialist Web Site. September 15, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  2. ^ Flournoy, Angela (August 18, 2021). "Melina Abdullah is showing L.A. how to be accountable to a future we can't yet see". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  3. ^ Pellish, Aaron (April 10, 2024). "Cornel West announces fellow academic Melina Abdullah as running mate". CNN. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Aron, Hillel (November 9, 2015). "These Savvy Women Have Made Black Lives Matter the Most Crucial Left-Wing Movement Today". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on July 8, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  5. ^ McGahan, Jason (January 21, 2019). "The People v. Melina Abdullah". theLAnd. 1 (1).
  6. ^ "Profiles: Günter Reimann", Mises Institute.
  7. ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (April 4, 2005). "Guenter Reimann, Economic Publisher, Is Dead at 100". The New York Times.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Melina Abdullah". Department of Pan-African Studies. California State University, Los Angeles. November 23, 2013. Archived from the original on July 8, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  9. ^ "Pan-African Studies | Melina Abdullah". Cal State LA. November 23, 2013. Archived from the original on June 6, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  10. ^ "Black Lives Matter L.A. Leader Melina Abdullah is One of the Most Outspoken Critics of the LAPD. Now She's Facing Eight Criminal Charges". theLAnd. January 21, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  11. ^ Abdullah, Melina (April 16, 2020). "Black Los Angeles Demands in Light of COVID-19 and Rates of Black Death". LA Progressive. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  12. ^ Reed, Megan (August 8, 2020). "Divine Nine protests in Los Angeles and Inglewood". Los Angeles Standard Newspaper. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  13. ^ Garza, Alicia. "Meet the Women Who Have Made #BlackLivesMatter the Most Crucial Political Movement Today". Good Black News. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  14. ^ "Pan-African Studies | Melina Abdullah". Cal State LA. November 23, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  15. ^ "The 2nd Annual Heschel/King Forum - Presented by the Black Jewish Justice Alliance". District Attorney Accountability Coalition. October 8, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  16. ^ "Participants & Speakers – Freedom of Expression in a Changing World: What Cannot Be Said". Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  17. ^ "Keeping It Sacred: People Keeping It Sacred S2E5: Dr. Melina Abdullah and Rabbi Heather Miller on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  18. ^ Queally, James (February 8, 2019). "L.A. city attorney agrees to drop charges against Black Lives Matter leader amid public outcry". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  19. ^ "Black Lives Matter L.A. Leader Melina Abdullah is One of the Most Outspoken Critics of the LAPD. Now She's Facing Eight Criminal Charges". theLAnd. January 21, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  20. ^ Service • •, City News. "Criminal Case Dismissed Against Black Lives Matter Leader". NBC Los Angeles. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  21. ^ "Melina Abdullah, professor and co-founder of BLM Los Angeles, on police commission hearing arrest". FOX 11. May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  22. ^ Park, Jeong; Newberry, Laura; Wick, Julia (May 1, 2022). "Police forcibly remove Black Lives Matter-L.A. leader from mayoral debate". Los Angeles Times.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ "x.com". Archived from the original on May 8, 2024.
  24. ^ "Is This Black Lives Matter Leader Right About a 'Racist' Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce Obsession?". The Root. February 26, 2024. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  25. ^ Wilford, Denette (February 26, 2024). "BLM co-founder calls Taylor Swift fans 'slightly racist'". Calgary Herald.
  26. ^ "2108 Wellington Rd, Los Angeles".
  27. ^ Black Women's Intellectual Traditions: Speaking Their Minds. University Press of New England. 2007. doi:10.2307/j.ctv22vd7j2.19. ISBN 978-1-58465-634-0. JSTOR j.ctv22vd7j2. S2CID 243958690.
  28. ^ Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Racial Realities. NYU Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0-8147-3734-7. JSTOR j.ctt9qfzv0.
  29. ^ Hardy-Fanta, Carol; Sierra, Christine Marie; Pinderhughes, Dianne; Lien, Pei-te, eds. (2016), "References", Contested Transformation: Race, Gender, and Political Leadership in 21st Century America, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 417–456, doi:10.1017/CBO9781139031165.012, ISBN 978-0-521-14454-4, retrieved March 27, 2023
  30. ^ Abdullah, Melina (January 1, 2017). "What the Black Lives Matter Movement Demands of Ethnic Studies Scholars". Ethnic Studies Review. 37–38 (1): 5–9. doi:10.1525/esr.2017.37_38.1.5. ISSN 1555-1881.
  31. ^ "Chatham House Centenary Diversity Champion Award". Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  32. ^ a b "Melina Abdullah". TVGuide.com. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  33. ^ 13th Metacritic, retrieved March 28, 2023
  34. ^ "Black Lives Matter founding member says Trump is the 'embodiment of white supremacist terrorism' | Express Digest". July 3, 2020. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
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