Movita Johnson-Harrell (born April 21, 1966) is an American politician from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

who served as a Democratic member of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

for the 190th district from March to December 2019. She is the first female

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She resigned after pleading guilty to various criminal acts related to a charity she worked for. She was sentenced to 3 months in jail followed by 8.5 months on house arrest, 11 months on parole, and 2 years probation.

Early life and career

Johnson-Harrell was raised in poverty in a family that suffered from generations of substance abuse. She received support from

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

and lived in

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

. She earned an

associate's degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

in behavioral health in 1999. She also earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in applied science in 2002 and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in social work from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 2004. Johnson-Harrell worked as supervisor of victim services for the

Philadelphia District Attorney The office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia is the largest prosecutor's office in the state of Pennsylvania and oversees a jurisdiction that includes more than 1.5 million citizens of both the city and county of Philadelphia. The current ...

's office. She is the founder of the CHARLES Foundation (Creating Healthy Alternatives Results in Less Emotional Suffering) which was established in 2011 after the mistaken identity shooting death of her 18-year-old son, Charles André Johnson. The CHARLES foundation is focused on improving the lives of young people, their neighborhoods and "common-sense" gun control legislation to reduce violence.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Johnson-Harrell was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 190th district on March 12, 2019 during a special election held after Vanessa Lowery Brown resigned due to her conviction on corruption and bribery charges. She was sworn into office on March 25, 2019. During her swearing in, she made headlines after state Representative Stephanie Borowicz made a Christian prayer that invoked Jesus 13 times, praised Trump, praised Israel, and said, "''God forgive us — Jesus — we’ve lost sight of you, we’ve forgotten you, God, in our country, and we’re asking you to forgive us, Jesus.''" Johnson-Harrel criticized this as "weaponized prayer" and as an example of

Islamophobia Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism. The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...

Criminal charges

In December 2019, Johnson-Harrell pled guilty to charges of

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

, tampering with public records, theft by unlawful taking and

theft Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

by deception and contributions of corporations related to her personal use of $500,000 over the course of a decade from a non-profit organization Motivation Education and Consultation Associates. She announced that she would resign from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives due to these charges. In August 2020, Johnson-Harrell was released from prison to begin serving house arrest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson-Harrell, Movita 1966 births 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century Muslims African-American state legislators in Pennsylvania African-American women in politics American community activists American gun control activists American Muslims Living people Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Politicians from Philadelphia Pennsylvania politicians convicted of crimes University of Pennsylvania alumni Women state legislators in Pennsylvania 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women