Ayọ Tometi

Ayọ Tometi (born August 15, 1984), formerly known as Opal Tometi, is an American human rights activist, writer, strategist, and community organizer. She is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM). She is the former Executive Director of the United States' first national immigrant rights organization for people of African descent, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), working there in various roles for over nine years.

With BLM, Tometi brings attention to the racial inequities faced by black people. She started as an active community organizer in her hometown advocating for human rights issues. She has campaigned for advancing human rights, migrant rights, and racial justice worldwide. She also worked as a case manager for survivors of domestic violence.

Early life and education

Early life

Ayọ Tometi is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants, who hail from the city of Lagos. Her parents are of Yoruba ethnicity and they speak the Yoruba and Esan languages. Her great-great-great-grandfather was born in the country of Togo, and his son, Tometi's great-grandfather was from Cameroon. Eventually, Tometi's grandfather was born in Cameroon before emigrating to Nigeria. She is the oldest of three children and has two younger brothers. She grew up in mostly suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona with other children of immigrants. In addition to Yoruba and Esan, Tometi grew up speaking Pidgin English.

Her parents moved from Nigeria to United States as undocumented immigrants in 1983, the year before Tometi's birth. During Tometi's middle school years, they faced deportation and her mother was unable to return to Nigeria for the burial of her father, Tometi's maternal grandfather, because of the ongoing case. Her parents were eventually successful in defeating their deportation case and able to remain in the United States. However, other family and friend's of Tometi, including her uncle, also battled deportation during her youth. Tometi's parents later opened a church at which her father is a pastor, Phoenix Impact Center in Phoenix, Arizona, that also serves to help new immigrants adjust to life in the United States. Tometi visited Nigeria for the first time when she was 17 years old and credits these experiences with shaping her approach to pro-immigration advocacy work.

Education

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public/Applied History from the University of Arizona in 2005 and a Masters in Communication Studies, with a specialization in Advocacy and Rhetoric from Arizona State University in 2010. On May 7, 2016, she received an honorary doctor of science degree from Clarkson University. Tometi is a former case manager for survivors of domestic violence and still provides community education on the issue.

Career

Early activism

After her parents won their deportation case, Tometi began demonstrating with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She worked as a legal observer at the US-Mexico border. While studying at the University of Arizona, Tometi advocated against Arizona SB 1070, one of the strictest anti-immigration bills passed in the history of the United States, with the Alto Arizona campaign. At the Black-Brown Coalition of Arizona, she also previously held a position as the lead architect. In 2010, Tometi also worked as a spokesperson for the Puente Movement, an immigrants rights group in Arizona.

Black Lives Matter

Tometi, with community organizers, Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza, founded Black Lives Matter (BLM) in 2013. Originally, Garza wrote a Facebook post in response to George Zimmerman's acquittal in the murder of Trayvon Martin. In a response to the post, Cullors used #blacklivesmatter for the first time. Then, Tometi contacted Cullors and Garza, interested in buying a website domain by the same name. The three organizers agreed and Tometi purchase
Blacklivesmatter.com
established Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter pages for the movement. Following this, Tometi contacted numerous other activists in the Black community, alerting them of the new plans and inviting them to join by using the hashtag. Tometi is also credited with selecting black and yellow as the organization's colors, in addition to forming BLM's social media platforms and strategy.

A year later, Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Witnessing the unrest unfolding in the city via social media, Tometi led a mobilization of 500 community activists to demonstrate in the city. Tometi has referred to this as a "Black Lives Matter Freedom Ride" and believes that it ignited a desire to make Black Lives Matter into a global movement.

After Eric Garner was killed, Tometi organized with a campaign called Safety Beyond Policing in New York. She is a proponent of defunding the police.

Black Alliance for Just Immigration

From 2011 to 2020, Tometi worked as co-director and communications director, prior to becoming the executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), the first national immigrant rights organization for people of African descent  . She was working as the executive director of BAJI when she first saw Garza's Facebook post in 2013. In this role, Tometi was responsible for directing staff within the BAJI organizing committees throughout Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Los Angeles, Oakland, New York, as well as committees within the South on various initiatives concerning racial justice and immigrant rights in the United States. Her other contributions included leading organizing efforts for a rally for immigrant justice and the first Congressional briefing on black immigrants in Washington, DC. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, many Haitians were displaced and Tometi led BAJI in securing family reunification visas for those affected by the disaster. Tometi also helped start BAJI's partnership with Race Forward’s Drop the I-Word campaign.

Additional work

Diaspora Rising

In 2020, Tometi create
Diaspora Rising
a center focused on cultivating a global Black community, operating mostly on social media.

Other projects

Tometi also collaborates with the Black Immigration Network and the Pan African Network in Defense of Migrant Rights. She has also been a part of the Global Forum on Migration and Commission on the Status of Women. She serves on the board of directors for the International Living Future Institute and the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity.

Tometi has spoken at Susquehanna University, the Facing Race Conference of 2012, the Aspen Institute's Ideas Summit, and the Grinnell College Technology and Human Rights Symposium. She has presented at the United Nations and has participated with the United Nations Global Forum on Migration and the Commission on the Status of Women. While at The University of Arizona, Tometi volunteered with the American Civil Liberties Union. She is additionally involved with Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity and is a member of Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Inc.

She has appeared in several media outlets, including ''Glamour'', ''Essence'', CNN, MSNBC, and BET. Her written works have been published by several media outlets including ''The Huffington Post'' and ''Time''. Tometi continues to collaborate with communities in Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York City, Oakland, Washington D.C. and communities throughout the Southern states.

Personal life

As of December 2021, Tometi lives in Brooklyn, New York City.

Recognition and awards

* An Essence New Civil Rights Leader (2013)
* With Garza and Cullors, Tometi was named to ''Time'' magazine's 100 Women of the Year (2013)
* Cover story of ''Time'' Magazine (2013)
* A Los Angeles Times New Civil Rights Leader (2014)
* One of The Root's 100 List of African American Achievers between 25 and 45 (2015)
* With Garza and Cullors, Tometi was named as an awardee of Politico 50's Guide to Thinkers, Doers, and Visionaries (2015)
* With Garza and Cullors, ''Fortune'''s List of World's Greatest Leaders (2015)
* Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award Recipient (2017)
* ''The Guardians 200 Leaders Who Embody the Work of Frederick Douglass (2018)
* With Garza and Cullors, PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award for ''When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir'' (2019)
* Coretta Scott King Legacy Award Recipient from the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom (2019)
* Cover story of ''The Guardian Nigeria'' (2020)
* One of ''Time'' magazine's 100 Most Influential People (2020)
* One of ''BBC'' 's 100 Women (2020)
* With Garza and Cullors, Nobel Peace Prize nominee (2021)
* Featured in National Museum for African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)
* City University of New York scholarship namesake, "Opal Tometi Scholarship" (2017)
* Clarkson University Honorary PhD recipient (2016)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tometi, Ayo
1984 births
Living people
American political activists
Black Lives Matter people
University of Arizona alumni
American women activists
American people of Nigerian descent
Activists from New York City
People from Brooklyn
BBC 100 Women
21st-century American women
Women civil rights activists
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American people
20th-century African-American women
American people of Cameroonian descent
American people of Togolese descent
American people of Yoruba descent
Yoruba women activists
Arizona State University alumni