Wikipedia

Charlene Carruthers

Charlene A. Carruthers is a black queer feminist activist and author[1][2] whose work focuses on leadership development. Carruthers has worked with high-profile activist organizations including Color of Change and Women's Media Center, and she was an integral founding member of Black Youth Project 100. She served as BYP100's founding National Director or National Coordinator from 2013-2018.

Charlene A. Carruthers
Born1985 (age 40–41)
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Alma mater
OccupationBlack Youth Project 100 National Director
Years active2013-2018

Activist career

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Carruthers cites her studies in South Africa at age 18 as her political awakening. Much of her work since has centered on developing broad based political participation and leadership for marginalized communities. She was worked with or sat on the boards of the Arcus Foundation,[3] SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective,[4] Wellstone Action,[5] and the NAACP.[6] She has also focused on coalition-building between different marginalized groups, including traveling as part of a delegation of African-American activists to Palestine to create personal and organizational ties between organizers in both countries.[7] In US electoral politics, Carruthers expressed her intent to vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 elections.[8]

Black Youth Project 100

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In July 2013, Carruthers was one of 100 black millennial activist leaders from across the country assembled by the Black Youth Project in Chicago for a meeting aimed at building networks of organization for black youth activism across the country. On the second day of that meeting news from Florida announced the acquittal of George Zimmerman on an all charges relating to his February 26, 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin. This verdict galvanized Carruthers and the other activists into the formation of the Black Youth Project 100 to organize young black activism in resistance to structural oppressions.[9]

Though initially hesitant to assume the role of national coordinator herself, Carruthers ultimately came to realize the rare opportunity afforded by the erupting turmoil.[10] The BYP100 invests heavily in the training of leaders and the teaching of reformers, empowering a generation of black activism. In public actions and in the press Carruthers has emphasized that oppressive structures like race, gender, sexuality, and economic status overlap with one another in such a way that prohibits the resistance to any one structure at a time. Rather, they demand united action by marginalized action to overturn the whole system together.[11] BYP100's initiatives embody this outlook of intersecting oppressions by targeting issues that tie into multiple systemic oppressions. For instance the publication "Agenda to Keep us Safe" identifies economic justice and the development of local economic power as essential tools to achieve gender and racial justice.[12] Carruthers has been a particularly vocal critic of how the prison-industrial complex and the school-to-prison pipeline play a huge role in shaping the experiences of oppression for people and communities of color, transgender & non-binary people, and the poor.[11]

Police brutality

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Carruthers is an outspoken critic of unchecked police brutality, inadequate government responsiveness to major brutality cases, and the American criminal justice system's fundamental motivations and mechanisms.[11] In August 2014, she went to Ferguson, Missouri to train and organize black youth response as the city reeled from the shooting of 18-year-old Mike Brown at the hands of Darren Wilson.[13]

Chicago Police Department

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As a native of Chicago's South Side, Carruthers has been a frequent critic of the Chicago Police Department, organizing demonstrations over the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd.[14] Carruthers also responded to the murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by an on-duty police officer, condemning the city's handling of the event, especially the involvement of the mayor's office in the year long coverup of the footage. She demanded the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez.[15]

Films

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In 2022, Carruthers wrote, directed, and co-produced The Funnel, a short film about love, ancestral power, and the Black experience of displacement and resilience.[16][17] Carruthers also directed and co-wrote, with Deivid Rojas, La Salida that same year.[17][18] In 2025 she directed, wrote, and starred in Plenum, a short about "two siblings navigate the AIDS crisis at a historical Black queer conference."[18][19][20]

Published works

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  • Carruthers, Charlene (2018), "Hearing Assata Shakur's Call: A Black Feminist Reflection on "To My People"", WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, 46 (3–4): 222–225, doi:10.1353/wsq.2018.0042, OCLC 7900054322, S2CID 91312572
  • Carruthers, Charlene (2018), Unapologetic: a Black, queer, and feminist mandate for radical movements, Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, OCLC 1014037040

References

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  1. ↑ Evans-Winters, Venus (2018). "Charlene Carruthers, US: African American Youth Activist". Activists under 30: Global Youth, Social Justice, and Good Work. Youth, Media, and Culture Series. Vol. 7. Brill. pp. 21–26. doi:10.1163/9789004377189_003. ISBN 978-90-04-37718-9. OCLC 1033565664. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  2. ↑ Petersen, Lilli; West, Chandler (15 February 2016). "How This Activist Is Building Change From A Black, Queer, Feminist Lens". Refinery29. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  3. ↑ Marra, Andy (15 May 2015). "Arcus Announces 13 Executive Directors to Participate in Arcus Leadership Fellowship". Arcus Foundation. Archived from the original on 25 April 2025. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  4. ↑ "Sistersong Board Members". SisterSong. Archived from the original on 29 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Ennis, Dawn (14 May 2015). "Meet 13 Emerging Leaders in Social Justice Selected as Arcus Fellows". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 16 December 2025. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  6. ↑ "Charlene A. Carruthers". Black Youth Project 100. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Bailey, Kristian Davis (9 January 2015). "Dream Defenders, Black Lives Matter & Ferguson Reps Take Historic Trip to Palestine". Ebony. Archived from the original on 13 January 2026. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  8. ↑ Charlene #Defund2AbolishPolice Carruthers [@CharleneCac] (19 September 2020). "I've voting for Joe Biden in November and spending the rest of my life doing work to abolish things like the Supreme Court" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 19 September 2020 – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Holliday, Darryl (22 February 2016). "The New Black Power". Chicago. Archived from the original on 26 April 2026. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  10. ↑ Wilson, Jamia (30 January 2015). "Why Can't I Be You: Charlene Carruthers". Rookie. No. 41. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  11. 1 2 3 MacLeod, Scott (Winter 2016). "Black Power: Chicago activist Charlene Carruthers on the first African American president, the campaign against police brutality, and the struggle for black liberation". The Cairo Review of Global Affairs. American University in Cairo. Archived from the original on 15 February 2026. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  12. ↑ "Agenda to Keep Us Safe" (PDF). Agenda to Keep Us Safe. Black Youth Project 100. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  13. ↑ "How the New Black Activists Are Fighting Back in Ferguson". The Nation (published 15 September 2014). 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 12 November 2025. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  14. ↑ Smith, Angelique (16 December 2015). "Charlene Carruthers talks Black Youth Project 100". Windy City Times. Archived from the original on 28 April 2026. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  15. ↑ Muwakkil, Salim (8 February 2016). "Not Your Grandfather's Black Freedom Movement: An Interview with BYP100's Charlene Carruthers". In These Times. Archived from the original on 17 February 2026. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  16. ↑ Hill, Tonia (29 September 2022). "Charlene Carruthers' debut film, 'The Funnel' is selected for Black Harvest Film Festival". The Triibe. Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  17. 1 2 "38th Annual Sojourner Truth Lecture: Charlene A. Carruthers, author and filmmaker". Harvey Mudd College. 2026. Archived from the original on 17 February 2026. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  18. 1 2 "Charlene Carruthers". OTV Atlas. Archived from the original on 3 June 2026. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  19. ↑ "Together: In the Life". Black Harvest Film Festival. 2025. Archived from the original on 28 October 2025. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  20. ↑ Emoghene, Vera (17 February 2026). "Charlene Carruthers builds Black liberation beyond theory: The activist, filmmaker, and PhD candidate discusses BYP100, her film Plenum, and building movements through a Black queer feminist lens". Rolling Out. Archived from the original on 18 February 2026. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
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