Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha (born November 16, 1970) is an American politician and poet. He is a Democratic member of the

Delaware House of Representatives The Delaware State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Delaware General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is composed of 41 Representatives from an equal number of constituencies, each of whom is ...

, representing District 1. He is also the current Poet Laureate of Delaware, along with his twin brother, Al Mills.

Early life and career

Chukwuocha was born on November 16, 1970, in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

, two minutes before his twin brother, Albert Mills. Their father, William "Hicks" Anderson, was a "legendary" community leader in Wilmington and the city's only community center is named after him. Chukwuocha described his upbringing as a "community-centered family." From an early age, the brothers were interested in writing and poetry. They began writing at age six and were performing together by age seven to children at their grandmother's foster home. A pivotal moment of their lives was when their younger brother died after being struck by a stolen car. Chukwuocha enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and was stationed in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. His brother also served in the Army, in both Iraq and Kuwait during the first

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. Chukwuocha is a

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

er and works as a director at Interfaith Community Housing of Delaware. With his brother, he founded a nonprofit, Art for Life, that seeks to "use the power of the arts to save and transform lives by empowering individuals and communities to create, utilize and support life giving art." He has worked in the nonprofit field for over 30 years.

Twin Poets

Chukwuocha and his brother, Al Mills, are known as the "Twin Poets". Both brothers are veterans of the U.S. Army and social workers from

. They have written and performed together since a young age. Their poetry deals with issues such as gun violence, poverty, and the criminal justice system, and is informed by their social work and daily engagement with vulnerable populations in Wilmington. The brothers work collaboratively in their creative process. They have a strong rapport on-stage, often speak in unison or intermingle their voices, and are able to uniquely punctuate one another with their "rhythmic" spoken poetry. Mills described his brother as writing longer poems. The Twin Poets have won several awards for their work and appeared on HBO's

Def Poetry ''Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry'', better known as simply ''Def Poetry Jam'' or ''Def Poetry'', is a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def and airing on HBO between 2002 and 2007. The series features performances by estab ...

. They were the subject of a documentary called ''Why I Write''.

Delaware Poets Laureate

On December 13, 2015, the Twin Poets were named the 17th Poets Laureate of the State of Delaware. As

poets laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

, they serve as ambassadors and advocates of poetry for the state. They are the first co-laureates appointed by any state and are the first siblings to share the position. During their swearing-in ceremony, they recited the oath of office in "perfect unison."

Political career

In 2012, Chukwuocha was elected to the Wilmington City Council, where he was elected

president pro tempore A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being". ...

in 2018. He was appointed to serve on the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission by

Jack Markell Jack Alan Markell (born November 26, 1960) is an American politician who currently serves as the United States ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. He previously served as the 73rd governor of Delaware from 2 ...

. In 2018, he was elected to the Delaware House of Representatives after defeating

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

Charles Potter Jr. in the Democratic primary race. He represents District 1, which covers the area north of the

Brandywine River Brandywine Creek (also called the Brandywine River) is a tributary of the Christina River in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware in the United States. The Lower Brandywine (the main stem) is longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydr ...

and west of North Market Street in Wilmington. In November 2018, Chukwuocha's twin brother was unanimously recommended to be his replacement for his Wilmington City Council seat by a council committee after hours of hearings that were closed to the public. The committee recommendation was voted down by the full council after a contentious debate in late December. A decision on the replacement was pushed forward until February 2019.

Personal life

Chukwuocha is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

Electoral history

*In 2018, Chukwuocha won the Democratic primary with 2,306 votes (59.5%) against incumbent Charles Potter Jr. He was elected unopposed in the general election.

References

External links

Official page
at the

Delaware General Assembly The Delaware General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Delaware Senate with 21 senators and the Delaware House of Representatives with 41 representatives. It meets at Legisla ...

Official page
at the Delaware Division of the Arts
Official page
for the Twin Poets
Campaign siteDocumentary site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chukwuocha, Nnamdi 1970 births Living people Poets Laureate of Delaware Poets from Delaware African-American poets Delaware city council members Democratic Party members of the Delaware House of Representatives African-American state legislators in Delaware 21st-century American politicians American civil rights activists Writers from Wilmington, Delaware Military personnel from Delaware 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people