Melina Abdullah

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Melina Abdullah
File:Melina Abdullah (27700459240) (cropped).jpg
Melina Abdullah on a panel at the 2016 Politicon at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California.
Born Melina Rachel Reimann[1]
East Oakland, Oakland, California, U.S.
Education Howard University (B.A.)
University of Southern California (M.A., PhD.)
Occupation Academic
Employer California State University, Los Angeles
Parent(s) John Reimann (father)[2] Linda Fowler Blackston (mother)
Relatives Günter Reimann (grandfather) Oji "Baba" Blackston (raised by)

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, and a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter.

Early life and education

Melina Rachel Reimann was born on September 18, 1972 at East Oakland, Oakland, California, U.S.[3] Her father, John Reimann, was "a union organizer and self-proclaimed Trotskyist."[3] Her mother is Linda Fowler Blackston and she was raised by Oji "Baba" Blackston. Her paternal grandfather was Günter Reimann (born Hans Steinicke), a German-Jewish Marxist economist and member of the Communist Party of Germany who opposed Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.[4][5][6]

She graduated from Howard University, where she earned a bachelor's of arts (B.A.) degree in African American Studies.[7] She subsequently earned a master's degree (M.A.) and doctoral degree (PhD.) in political science from the University of Southern California.[7][8] Reimann changed her surname to Abdullah due to her marriage to filmmaker Phaylen Abdullah and kept the name after their divorce.[9]

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.[10] 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).[7]

Career

Abdullah is a tenured professor and served as chair of the department of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles.[7] She was interviewed in 13th, a 2016 documentary about mass incarceration in the United States.

Abdullah has served on the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission since 2014.[7] She is a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Los Angeles, California.[3] She was arrested and released after paying a $20,000 bail in May 2018.[11] Abdullah regularly writes articles for the LA Progressive.[12]

Personal life

Abdullah resides in Crenshaw, a neighborhood of Los Angeles.[3] She has three children.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ "Profiles: Günter Reimann", Mises Institute.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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