Jodie Evans (born September 22, 1954) is an American political

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, and documentary

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

. Evans served in the cabinet of California Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

and managed his 1992 campaign for the presidency. Evans co-founded the women's anti-war activist organization

Code Pink Code Pink: Women for Peace (often stylized as CODEPINK) is a left-wing internationally active non-governmental organization that describes itself as a "grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end U.S.-funded wars and occupations, ...

with

Medea Benjamin Medea Benjamin (born Susan Benjamin; September 10, 1952) is an American political activist who was the co-founder of Code Pink with Jodie Evans and others.

and others. She is the board chair of the

Rainforest Action Network Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, and first gained national prominence with a gr ...

Early life

Evans was born and raised 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 Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. She first became interested in social justice activism when she worked as a maid in a major Las Vegas hotel as a teenager—as her coworkers organized, she marched in favor of a living wage.

Activism

Her CODEPINK protest actions include disrupting

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...

's speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention, and a 2009 protest in Santa Monica against Israeli cosmetics company

Ahava Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, Limited ( he, אהבה, ''Love'') is an Israeli cosmetics company with headquarters in Lod that manufactures skin care products made of mud and mineral-based compounds from the Dead Sea. The company has flagship ...

. Upon returning from Afghanistan, she delivered signatures from women in that country and the US to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

asking him to send no new troops into the conflict there. In March, 2010, during a book signing by

Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August 3 ...

, she and other Code Pink members caused disruptions. At one point, Evans charged the stage towards Rove with a pair of handcuffs, declaring that she was making a citizen's arrest. On January 30, 2011, Evans was arrested for disruptive behavior at a Rancho Mirage hotel where she was leading a protest against

David H. Koch David Hamilton Koch ( ; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held c ...

and

Charles G. Koch Charles de Ganahl Koch ( ; born November 1, 1935) is an American billionaire businessman. As of November 2022, he was ranked as the 13th richest person in the world on ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', with an estimated net worth of $66 billio ...

over their financial support of part of the

Tea Party Movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defic ...

. She is the co-founder and president of the People’s Support Foundation, a non-profit which was established in 2017 with support of former staff of software company ThoughtWorks. In 2019, Evans joined actress and activist

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda is the recipient of various accolades including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, sev ...

in a series of weekly rallies and acts of civil disobedience, called Fire Drill Fridays, at Washington DC's Capitol to highlight the global climate crisis, where Evans was arrested on multiple occasions along with Fonda. She was an editor of the books ''Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation'' (2004) (Co-Editor) and ''Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism'' (2005) (Co-Editor).

Personal life

She was married to

Max Palevsky Max Palevsky (July 24, 1924 – May 5, 2010) was an American art collector, venture capitalist, philanthropist, and computer technology pioneer. He was known as a member of the Malibu Mafia – a group of wealthy American Jewish men who donate ...

until his death on May 5, 2010. Shecurrently lives in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed b ...

. Evans' partner is tech entrepreneur

Neville Roy Singham Neville Roy Singham (born May 13, 1954) is an American businessman and social activist. He is the founder and former chairman of ThoughtWorks, an IT consulting company that provides custom software, software tools, and consulting services. Earl ...

Controversies

In the summer of 2010, controversy arose over Evans' alleged 2008 remark to Debbie Lee, the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq that "Your son deserved to die in Iraq if he was stupid enough to go over there." Republican candidate

Meg Whitman Margaret Cushing Whitman (born August 4, 1956) is the US ambassador to Kenya, an American business executive and former gubernatorial candidate for California. She is a board member of Procter & Gamble and General Motors. Whitman was previously ...

repeated this charge in her 2010 California gubernatorial campaign, demanding that Jerry Brown return money from a fundraiser that Evans hosted. Later during the controversy, Lee told the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' that she could not identify Evans and was not sure who made the insulting remark.

Films

* ''Stripped and Teased: Tales from Las Vegas Women'' (1999) (Producer) * '' The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends'' (2006) (Executive Producer) * ''South Central Farm: Oasis in a Concrete Desert'' (2008) (Executive Producer) * '' The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers'' (2009) (Executive Producer) * ''

The People Speak The People Speak is an online community of young people who want to get involved in global issues. The community engages people of all ages and backgrounds in thoughtful discussions about the value of international cooperation for the United State ...

'' (2009) (Producer) * ''Rooted in Peace'' (2012) (Self) * '' The Square'' (2013) (Executive Producer) * '' Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia'' (2013) (Self) * ''We Are Many'' (2014) * '' The Yes Men Are Revolting'' (2014) * '' The Brainwashing of My Dad'' (2015) (Executive Producer) * '' This Changes Everything'' (2015) (Executive Producer) * '' Shadow World'' (2016) (Co-Executive Producer) * ''Always in Season'' (2019) (Co-Executive Producer)

Organizations and boards

Evans is a member of a number of organizations and boards including: * CODEPINK: Women for Peace (Co-founder) *

California Arts Council The California Arts Council is a state agency based in Sacramento, United States. Its eight council members are appointed by the Governor and the state Legislature. The agency's mission is to advance California through arts, culture and creativi ...

* The People's Forum *

Drug Policy Alliance The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is a New York City–based nonprofit organization that seeks to advance policies that “reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and b ...

Institute for Policy Studies The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is an American progressive think tank started in 1963 that is based in Washington, D.C. It was directed by John Cavanagh from 1998 to 2021. In 2021 Tope Folarin was announced as new Executive Director. ...

* World Festival of Sacred Music *

826LA 826LA is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6–18 with their creative and expository writing skills and helping teachers inspire their students to write. Programs are structured around the beliefs th ...

Office of the Americas The Office of the Americas is a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, California and founded in April 1983 by Theresa Bonpane, who along with her husband, Blase Bonpane, Blase, continue as the Director and Founding Director, respectively, ...

* Sisterhood is Global Institute *

Women's Media Center Women's Media Center (WMC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit women's organization in the United States founded in 2005 by writers and activists Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem.

* Global Girl Media *

Schumacher Center for a New Economics The Schumacher Center for a New Economics (formerly the E. F. Schumacher Society) is a tax exempt nonprofit organization based in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The Schumacher Center promotes the 'new economy', which includes the concepts buy ...

Awards

Levantine Cultural Center The Markaz (literally "the center"), originally The Levantine Cultural Center, was a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles, which existed from 2001 until 2020. It offered artistic and educational programs focusing on the Middle East and North Afr ...

2010 East-West Vision of Peace Award * Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains 2008 Tedi Winograd Courage Award - Outside the Party *

Death Penalty Focus Founded in 1988, Death Penalty Focus is a non-profit organization dedicated to the abolition of capital punishment through grassroots organizing, research, and the dissemination of information about the death penalty and its alternatives. With o ...

2007 Rose Elizabeth Bird Commitment to Justice Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Jodie 1954 births American anti-war activists American documentary filmmakers American women's rights activists Living people People from the Las Vegas Valley American women documentary filmmakers