DeRay Mckesson

DeRay Mckesson
Mckesson in 2024
Born (1985-07-09) July 9, 1985 (age 39)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Alma materBowdoin College
Occupation(s)Activist, podcaster
AwardsPeter Jennings Award, Howard Zinn Freedom to Write Award
Honors
  • Fortune's World's Greatest Leader's List
  • Foreign Policy Magazine 100 Global Thinkers List
  • The Root 100
  • Out 100
  • Honorary doctorate from the New School

DeRay Mckesson (born July 9, 1985) is an American civil rights activist, podcaster, and former school administrator.[1][2][3] An early supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, he has been active in the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland and on social media outlets such as Twitter and Instagram.[2] He has also written for HuffPost[4] and The Guardian.[5] Along with Johnetta Elzie, Brittany Packnett, and Samuel Sinyangwe, Mckesson launched Campaign Zero, a policy platform to end police violence.[6] He is currently part of Crooked Media and hosts Pod Save the People.[7]

On February 3, 2016, Mckesson announced his candidacy in the 2016 Baltimore mayoral election. He finished with 3,445 votes (2.6%), placing sixth in the Democratic Party primary on April 26.[8]

Mckesson is the author of On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope, a memoir about his life and time as a Black Lives Matter organizer.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference baltimoresun_appointment was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Kang, Jay Caspian (May 4, 2015). "Our Demand Is Simple: Stop Killing Us". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  3. ^ "DeRay Mckesson | CCJ Task Force on Policing". Task Force on Policing. November 12, 2020. Archived from the original on August 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  4. ^ Mckesson, DeRay; Packnett, Brittany; Elzie, Johnetta (November 18, 2014). "An Open Letter From Ferguson Protesters and Allies". HuffPost. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  5. ^ "Ferguson and beyond: how a new civil rights movement began – and won't end". The Guardian. August 9, 2015. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  6. ^ Rao, Sameer (August 24, 2015). "DeRay Mckesson, Johnetta Elzie and Co. Launch Campaign Zero To End Police Brutality". Colorlines. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  7. ^ Sands, Darren (April 26, 2017). "DeRay Mckesson Is Going To Host A Crooked Media Podcast". BuzzFeed. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  8. ^ Broadwater, Luke (February 3, 2016). "DeRay Mckesson files to run in Baltimore mayoral race". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  9. ^ "Deray Mckesson Official Website". Deray.com.