South Fulton Forever! • New Vision for a New City.
Councilman khalid, who coined the term "Elected Activist," is a lifelong community organizer. His name, lower-cased in the Yoruba African tradition, emphasizes the community over the individual and literally means "eternal quiet warrior."
|
The first #BlackLivesMatter organizer elected to public office in the country, Councilman khalid is leading a generation of young activists from protests to politics. This #Fightfor15 organizer & Bernie Sanders Delegate is part of the inaugural City Council of South Fulton, GA, which is poised to become the largest progressive city in the South.
With a population that is 90 percent African American, South Fulton, Georgia is now the blackest big city in America. Councilman khalid's vision is turn South Fulton into a real-life Wakanda which empowers its citizens to become their best selves in the style of historic American cities like Greenwood (Tulsa), Oklahoma or Rosewood, Florida. 
Councilman khalid with Senator Bernie Sanders & President Jimmy Carter at The Carter Center's Human Rights Defenders Forum
|
|
khalid is the only memeber of South Fulton's City Council born & raised South Fulton, Georgia. His father, an accountant for Atlanta Workforce Development, and mother, manager of Grady's Bankhead clinic, instilled in him Christ's teaching that "whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me."
Raised on Old National Highway, khalid attended the original Old National Christian Academy (on the grounds of what is now World Changer's Ministries), Love T. Nolan Elementary and Ronald E. McNair Middle schools. It was at McNair, at the age of 13, that he staged his first demonstration – where his petition to include African nations in the predominately black middle school's Olympics-themed "Field Day" became a full-fledged student protest covered by local news. |
khalid Addresses Peers at McNair Middle School
|
With Congressman John Lewis at Summit of #BlackLivesMatter & SNCC Leaders
|
His organizing continued through high school (Banneker, Tri-Cities) and Ithaca College in New York, where he became well-known as a passionate defender of the working poor, women, LGBT people and the environment.
At Tri-Cities, his peers nicknamed him "Captain Planet," after the popular 90s cartoon. A college semester abroad studying South Africa's post-Apartheid democracy sealed his lifelong commitment to social justice. After college, khalid spent his early adulthood working as a Financial Analyst and Operations Manager for non-profit agencies in New York, Los Angeles & Atlanta, including Harlem United, Girls Prep Charter Schools, Morehouse College and the Black AIDS Institute before attending John Marshall Law School in Atlanta.
|
"When there’s a call to action on issues of social justice, some people stand silent while others lead. One such person who is ready to act is khalid."
RollingOut.com
RollingOut.com
Atlanta Activists Shut Down KKK Rally at Stone Mountain Park
As an AT&T Wire Tech, khalid installed & repaired VoIP and cable in all weather for residential & commercial customers.
When the economy took a downturn, khalid took a series of blue-collar jobs, working on telephone polls as a wire tech for AT&T, and a bus driver for MARTA. These jobs gave him first-hand experience with organized labor and unions fighting to hold on to living wages and employee benefits that are vanishing due to corporate greed. khalid's personal experience with America's — and Atlanta's — shrinking middle class, increased his compassion for working class families.
In fact, it was his experience fighting the outsourcing of MARTA's Mobility Service workers that lead khalid into politics full time; first as labor activist with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), then as a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign and the Democratic Party.
An activist with prophetic vision to pursue progressive policies ' in the streets & the suites,' khalid enrolled and graduated from Fulton County Citizens University, while being an active member of Atlanta Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) V (Mechanichsville), where he organized a neighborhood watch program; and NPUs P (Camp Creek) & L (Vine City), where he participated in Economic Development negotiations around the new Mercedes-Benz arena.
In fact, it was his experience fighting the outsourcing of MARTA's Mobility Service workers that lead khalid into politics full time; first as labor activist with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), then as a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign and the Democratic Party.
An activist with prophetic vision to pursue progressive policies ' in the streets & the suites,' khalid enrolled and graduated from Fulton County Citizens University, while being an active member of Atlanta Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) V (Mechanichsville), where he organized a neighborhood watch program; and NPUs P (Camp Creek) & L (Vine City), where he participated in Economic Development negotiations around the new Mercedes-Benz arena.
khalid & Dr. Cornel West at 2016 DNC Platform Meeting
|
khalid helped organize the Atlanta chapter of #BlackLivesMatter and served as a Field Organizer for the Georgia House Democratic Caucus. In 2016, he was elected as an At-Large Delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
A college-educated, community activist with a career in nonprofit management and experience in blue-collar jobs, Councilman khalid uses his unique blend of professionalism, compassion & working class struggle to ensure the new city of South Fulton, Georgia builds a table big enough for everyone to have a seat at it. Help make South Fulton, GA the Largest Progressive City in the South.
|