Cat Brooks is an American activist, playwright, poet and theater artist. She was a mayoral candidate in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

's 2018 election.

Early life and education

Brooks received her bachelor's degree from

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the ...

, where she studied theater.

Career

After graduating, she began her acting studying at the National Royal Theater Studio in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

, before moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and working at

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. It is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients. In March 2016, CAA had 1,800 emplo ...

. In 2002, Brooks joined the nonprofit organization Community Coalition, where she focused on issues of education and racial justice. After the

shooting of Oscar Grant Oscar Grant III was a 22-year-old African-American man who was killed in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009 by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California. Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid ...

by a

BART police The BART Police (BARTPD), officially the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department, is the transit police agency of the BART rail system in the U.S. state of California. The department has approximately three hundred police personnel, including ...

officer, Brooks became active in organizing against

police violence Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

. She co-founded the Anti Police-Terror Project and served as the executive director for the Bay Area

National Lawyers Guild The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a progressive public interest association of lawyers, law students, paralegals, jailhouse lawyers, law collective members, and other activist legal workers, in the United States. The group was founded in 1937 ...

. She also became an organizer for the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police brutali ...

movement. In 2015, Brooks was arrested protesting Oakland Mayor

Libby Schaaf Elizabeth Beckman Schaaf (born November 12, 1965) is an American politician who has been Mayor of Oakland, California since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served on the Oakland City Council. Schaaf won the November 4, ...

's ban on night-time marches on public roadways. In 2018, Brooks was a candidate for

mayor of Oakland The city of Oakland, California, was founded in 1852, and was incorporated in 1854. Until the early 20th century, all Oakland mayors served terms of only one or two years each. Terms * Office terms: ** 1 year 1854 – mayor elected by fellow ...

, running against the incumbent, Libby Schaaf. Her campaign involved collaborative assembly meetings intended to gather public feedback on local policies. She endorsed repealing the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. After taking a break for the duration of her unsuccessful mayoral campaign, Brooks resumed her job as co-host of the weekday morning program ''UpFront'' on

Pacifica Radio Pacifica may refer to: Art * ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition Places * Pacifica, California, a city in the United States ** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier * Pacifica, a conce ...

station

KPFA KPFA (94.1 FM) is an American listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station si ...

-FM in Berkeley. Her one-woman show ''Tasha'' is loosely based on Natasha McKenna, who was tasered to death in police custody.

Personal life

Brooks was born in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

, Nevada, to a black father and a white mother. Brooks's mother was an anti-nuclear activist who took her to protests as a child. She lives in

West Oakland West Oakland is a neighborhood situated in the northwestern corner of Oakland, California, United States, situated west of Downtown Oakland, south of Emeryville, and north of Alameda. The neighborhood is located along the waterfront at the ...

Electoral history

References

External links

Official mayoral campaign website

Anti Police Terror Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Cat African-American activists Black Lives Matter people American stage actresses African-American actresses African-American radio personalities Pacifica Foundation people Candidates in the 2018 United States elections Politicians from Oakland, California University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni 1970s births Living people 21st-century American actresses Women civil rights activists 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women