Jawanza James Williams is a Black, radical Queer, abolitionist, socialist, feminist, Christian engaged in social critique and grassroots social movement building. He is a PhD Political Science student at the CUNY Graduate Center. Williams is originally from Beaumont, Texas and earned a BA in English from Schreiner University in 2012 before moving to NYC where he worked with the grassroots membership, harm-reduction organization VOCAL-NY for 13 years. He helped launch their national formation, VOCAL-US, where he worked as their Director of Movement Building, following 6 years of being the Director of Organizing with VOCAL-NY.

Williams has organized for Black liberation, universal housing, healthcare, prison abolition, climate justice, and an end to the AIDS epidemic.  He is a member of a number of political organizations, including BYP100, CPUSA, and DSA. Williams is also a multi-disciplinary artist using film, songwriting, and many mediums to explore and express the human condition