Maurice "Moe" Mitchell is an American activist and musician, currently serving as the National Director of the Working Families Party, a progressive political party known for cross-endorsing candidates through fusion voting. Mitchell has served in the role since April 2018, having succeeded Dan Cantor.

Early life and education

Mitchell was born and raised in

Long Beach, New York Long Beach is an oceanfront Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County in New York (state), New York, United States. It takes up a central section of the Long Beach Barrier Island, which is the weste ...

, the son of Caribbean immigrants. In high school, Mitchell was a member of the Long Island Student Coalition for Peace and Justice. Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Howard University.

Career

After college, Mitchell returned to

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, where he worked at for the Long Island Progressive Coalition. Mitchell then worked as an organizing director for

Citizen Action Citizen Action was a national liberal consumer and public activist group that was active in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s. State-level affiliates have continued on in Connecticut, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The affiliates of Citi ...

. During the Ferguson unrest after the

shooting of Michael Brown On August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Brown was accompanied by his 22-year-old male friend Dorian Johnson, who later stated that Brow ...

, Mitchell temporarily relocated to Ferguson, Missouri to work with other activists. In addition to his work in activism and political organizing, Mitchell is a founding member of the hardcore punk band,

Cipher In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...

, established by Mitchell and several high school classmates in 1996. In 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mitchell and the Working Families Party had to recall waves of organizers and canvassers.

Personal life

In 2012, Mitchell's home in

was destroyed during Hurricane Sandy. Mitchell is vegan. MF DOOM (Daniel Dumile) and DJ Subroc (Dingilizwe Dumile), legendary MC's/rappers, were Mitchell's older cousins.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Maurice Working Families Party politicians Living people People from Long Beach, New York Howard University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)