Ja'Mal Green

Ja'Mal Green (born August 9, 1995) is an American community activist from Chicago, Illinois. A Black Lives Matter activist, he was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Chicago in 2019 and 2023.

Early life and education
Born in 1995, Green grew up in the Englewood, Gresham, and Beverly neighborhoods of Chicago. He was educated at Wendell Phillips Academy High School.

Career
In 2016, Green served as the official surrogate for Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. In the same year, he was arrested along with 19 others at the Taste of Chicago, where an anti-police brutality event was being organized.

In 2018, Green along with his team founded Majostee Allstars, an urban center which provides guidance and training to underprivileged youth.

During 2019 Chicago mayoral election, Green ran for the office as a candidate, but withdrew on January 1, 2019 citing insufficient campaign resources to fight a challenge by Willie Wilson to signatures on his ballot petition. Green endorsed Lori Lightfoot in the runoff election.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Green created Mobile Nail Salon.

In June 2020, Green started protesting along with other activists against Chase Bank's loan policy and demanded to retain and implement Community Reinvestment Act. On June 3, 2020, WBEZ published a report in which it was written that, in over a six year period, Chase Bank only handed out 1.9 percent of total loans to black-majority neighborhoods. Due to his persistent protests, he was banned from entering Chase Bank branches in July 2020.

In July 2020, Green created The Small Business Repair Program along with David Doig to help black-owned businesses which were affected due to looting. The amount for the program was raised through donations.

Green became well-known after his activism surrounding the Laquan McDonald case. In February 2022, he was again arrested for taking part in a protest which was demanding the arrest of a police officer named Jason Van Dyke for his murder of Laquan McDonald.

In June 2022 Green announced that he intended to run for mayor of Chicago again on a platform focused on public safety, modernizing city government, economic development, and climate change. Green filed petitions to be on the ballot for the 2023 Chicago mayoral election in December of 2022 and won a lottery to be the first candidate listed on the ballot. In the initial round of the election, Green was defeated, placing sixth of nine candidates with 12,239 votes (2.17% of the election's overall vote). Green endorsed Paul Vallas in the runoff election.

Green is also the founder of an organization called My Turn to Own.

Books

 * Class Clown: Three Strikes But Not Out (2014)

Filmography

 * Of Boys and Men (2008)
 * It Takes a Village (2009)
 * Reggie Yates: Life and Death in Chicago Film (2016)