Patrisse Cullors

Patrisse Cullors
Born	1984 (age 32–33) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation	Activist, artist, playwright
Notable work	Black Lives Matter

Patrisse Cullors (born 1983) is an African-American artist and activist from Los Angeles, an advocate for criminal justice reform in Los Angeles and co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Cullors was born in Los Angeles. She grew up in Pacoima, a low-income neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. She became an activist early in life, joining the Bus Riders Union as a teenager. She later earned a degree in religion and philosophy from UCLA. She teaches at Otis College of Art and Design in the Public Practice Program.

Cullors recalls being forced from her home at 16 when she revealed her queer identity to her parents. She was involved with the Jehovah's Witnesses as a child, but later grew disillusioned with the patriarchal church. She developed an interest in the Nigerian religious tradition of Ifá, incorporating its rituals into political protest events. She told an interviewer:

For me, seeking spirituality had a lot to do with trying to seek understanding about my conditions—how these conditions shape me in my everyday life and how I understand them as part of a larger fight, a fight for my life.

Along with community organizers and friends Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, Cullors founded Black Lives Matter. The three started the movement because of frustration over George Zimmerman's acquittal in the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Cullors wrote the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter to corroborate Garza's use of the phrase in making a Facebook post about the Martin case. Cullors further described her impetus for pushing for African-American rights as stemming from her 19-year-old brother being brutalized during imprisonment Los Angeles County jails.

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