Melina Abdullah (born Melina Rachel Reimann on September 18, 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
California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, ...
, and a co-founder of the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
chapter of
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 br ...
. She is also a supporter of the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...
designated hate group,
Nation of Islam.
Early life and education
Melina Rachel Reimann was born on September 18, 1972, at
East Oakland, Oakland, California
East Oakland is a geographical region of Oakland, California, United States, that stretches between Lake Merritt in the northwest and San Leandro in the southeast. As the southeastern portion of the city, East Oakland takes up the largest port ...
, U.S.
Her father, John Reimann, was "a union organizer and self-proclaimed
Trotskyist
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...
."
Her mother is Linda Fowler Blackston and she was raised by Oji "Baba" Blackston. Her paternal grandfather was
Günter Reimann
Hans Steinicke (November 13, 1904 – February 5, 2005), better known by his pen-name Günter Reimann, was a German-born economist and writer. He was noted as founder and editor of ''International Reports'', a New York-based weekly publicatio ...
(born Hans Steinicke), a German-Jewish Marxist economist and member of the
Communist Party of Germany who opposed
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
She graduated from
Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...
, where she earned a bachelor's of arts (B.A.) degree in African American Studies.
She subsequently earned a master's degree (M.A.) and doctoral degree (PhD.) in political science from the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
.
Reimann changed her surname to Abdullah due to her marriage to filmmaker Phaylen Abdullah and kept the name after their divorce.
Activism
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. 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).
Career
Abdullah is a tenured professor and served as chair of the department of Pan-African Studies at
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, ...
.
She was interviewed in ''
13th
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...
'', a 2016 documentary about
mass incarceration
Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceratio ...
in the United States.
Abdullah has served on the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission since 2014.
She is a co-founder of 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 br ...
chapter in Los Angeles, California,
and regularly writes articles for the ''LA Progressive''.
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
Charles Lloyd Beck (born June 27, 1953) is a retired police officer, formerly serving as the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and subsequently as the Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. A veteran of the department ...
, which she claimed were the cremated ashes of her niece
Wakiesha Wilson (who died in
LAPD custody in 2016). 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. The city later agreed to pay Wilson’s family nearly $300,000 to settle a lawsuit they filed over her death.
During the Sunday debate by
ABC7 for the
2022 Los Angeles mayoral election
The 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the mayor of Los Angeles, California. A top-two primary was held on June 7, 2022. Candidates could win the election outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote, b ...
, police removed Melina Abdullah, at Cal State LA as well as other protesters from the room as they did not have a tickets to the event.
Controversy
Abdullah is a supporter of
Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, Black supremacy, black supremacist, Racism, anti-white and Antisemitism, antisemitic Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist, and former singer who hea ...
and the
Nation of Islam, and has previously partnered with Farrakhan. The Nation of Islam has been categorized as a
hate group by the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...
for its anti-white, antisemitic, and anti-LGBT rhetoric. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam have been extensively condemned by the
Anti-Defamation League, which combats antisemitism.
Personal life
Abdullah resides in Mid-City, Los Angeles.
She has three children.
References
External links
Black Community, Clergy and Labor Alliance (BCCLA)Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA-CAN)Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE)LA Progressive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdullah, Melina
1972 births
Living people
Activists from Oakland, California
People from Crenshaw, Los Angeles
Howard University alumni
University of Southern California alumni
California State University, Los Angeles faculty
African-American women academics
African-American academics
21st-century African-American academics
21st-century American academics
Black Lives Matter people
Activists from Los Angeles
American Trotskyists
American women academics
American people of German-Jewish descent
21st-century American women