Robin Wonsley (born 1991) is an American activist and

Democratic Socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...

politician who is a member of the

Minneapolis City Council The Minneapolis City Council is the lawmaking body of Minneapolis. It consists of 13 members, elected from separate wards to four-year terms, via a ranked-choice method. The council structure has been in place since the 1950s. In recent elections ...

from the 2nd Ward.

Early life and education

Wonsley was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1991 and grew up on the South Side. She attended

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

as a

Posse Foundation The Posse Foundation is a national nonprofit organization that partners with select colleges and universities in the United States to provide student scholarships and leadership training. Posse connects a network of more than 10,000 scholars and ...

Scholar and graduated in 2013 with a B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies. After graduation, she was awarded a

Watson Fellowship The Thomas J. Watson Foundation is a charitable trust formed 1961 in honor of former chairman and CEO of IBM, Thomas J. Watson. The Foundation's stated vision is to empower students “to expand their vision, test and develop their potential, an ...

that supported her travel to Canada, Australia, South Africa and Ireland, where she studied criminal justice policies and practices. She moved to Minneapolis in 2014 and became the program coordinator for the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

Women's Center and a board member for Restorative Justice Community Action. She completed a mini MBA in Nonprofit Management from St. Thomas University in 2015 and began a Ph.D. program at the University of Minnesota in 2018. During her Ph.D. program, she conducted research on housing and racial disparities, and completed her Ph.D in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies.

Career

After the 2015

killing of Jamar Clark On November 15, 2015, two police officers fatally shot Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old African-American man, in Minneapolis. The two shooters were Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze. They were a part of the Minneapolis Police Department which subs ...

by police officers in Minneapolis, she became politically active over the next several years, including in 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 bruta ...

movement and

Fight for $15 The Fight for $15 is an American political movement advocating for the minimum wage to be raised to USD$15 per hour. The federal minimum wage was last set at $7.25 per hour in 2009. The movement has involved strikes by child care, home health ...

organizing efforts to raise the minimum wage in the city. She joined the Twin Cities chapter of

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing Democratic Socialists of America#Tendencies within the DSA, multi-tendency Socialism, socialist and Labour movement, labor-oriented political organization. Its roots ...

in March 2020. In the summer of 2020, she participated in the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...

. She also became an organizer in the

defund the police "Defund the police" is a slogan that supports removing funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and o ...

movement, an effort to reallocate some community resources towards crime prevention services and programs.

Minneapolis City Council

In 2021, she became the first Black

to win a seat on the

after she defeated 14 year incumbent

Cam Gordon Cameron A. Gordon (born 1955) is an American politician who was a Green Party of the United States, Green Party member of the Minneapolis City Council from 2006 to 2022. He was a co-founder of the Green Party of Minnesota and was called "the mos ...

, a member of the

Green Party of Minnesota The Green Party of Minnesota is a green political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States. History The Minnesota Greens Confederation, founded 1990–91, fostered the development of local ...

. The election also became the first time Minneapolis elected a majority of people of color to the city council. Wonsley represents the 2nd Ward, which includes the neighborhoods of

Cedar-Riverside Cedar-Riverside, also referred to as the West Bank, or simply Riverside, is a neighborhood within Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River to the north and east, Interstate 94 to the south, and Hiawatha Avenue and Interst ...

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

, Prospect Park, Seward, and the

University District University District can refer to a location in the United States: *University District, Detroit, Michigan * University District, Columbus, Ohio *University District, San Bernardino, California *University District, Seattle The University District ...

. After the election, she identified housing as a major issue for the ward, and

rent control Rent regulation is a system of laws, administered by a court or a public authority, which aims to ensure the affordability of housing and tenancies on the rental market for dwellings. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves: *Price cont ...

as one of her policy priorities. She also advocated for the development of policy to address encampments in Minneapolis and the needs of encampment residents and joined four other councilmembers in supporting the development of a rent control policy. In January 2022, she called for a stop to evictions from homeless encampments, and was joined at a protest against eviction at the Near North homeless encampment by councilmembers Elliot Payne,

Jeremiah Ellison Jeremiah Bey Ellison (born October 23, 1989) is an American politician and artist serving as a member of the Minneapolis City Council, representing Ward 5. Ellison is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. Early life Ell ...

, Jason Chavez, and Aisha Chughtai.

Personal life

In 2017, she married her husband in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

. She resides in the Seward neighborhood of

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worlobah, Robin Wonsley Living people 1991 births Carleton College alumni African-American activists Democratic Socialists of America politicians from Minnesota 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American politicians Minneapolis City Council members African-American city council members in Minnesota Politicians from Chicago Women city councillors in Minnesota African-American women in politics 21st-century American women politicians