Opal Tometi

She also organized what she called the Black Lives Matter Freedom Ride, mobilizing hundreds of activists to draw broader attention to systemic racial violence and injustice.

Tometi has emphasized that BLM was born of organizing roots—not just online activism—and that the digital platform needed to be grounded in real organizing work.

Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)

Before and during her involvement with BLM, Tometi played a central role in BAJI, an immigrant rights organization focused on Black immigrant communities.

From around 2011 to 2020, she served first as communications director or co-director, and later as Executive Director of BAJI. In that role, she coordinated campaigns, staff, and advocacy across cities including Phoenix, Los Angeles, Oakland, New York, and Washington, D.C.

Some of BAJI’s initiatives under her leadership included:

• Advocating for family reunification visas for Haitian migrants after the 2010 earthquake.

• Organizing the first Congressional briefing focused on Black immigrants in Washington, D.C.

• Collaborating with broader immigrant rights and racial justice campaigns, such as “Drop the I-Word” (which challenged using the word “illegal” to describe immigrants).

After nearly a decade of leadership, Tometi stepped away from the executive role around 2019.

Diaspora Rising & Global Black Organizing

In 2020, Tometi launched Diaspora Rising, a platform aimed at cultivating global Black community and conversations about Black identity, migration, and transnational justice—primarily via social media and digital content.

She also sits on boards and collaborates with various organizations: International Living Future Institute, Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity, Black Immigration Network, and the Pan African Network in Defense of Migrants’ Rights.

Tometi has spoken at numerous forums: United Nations, Global Forum on Migration, the Commission on the Status of Women, universities, and conferences focused on human rights, migration, and racial justice.

Recognitions & Honors

Tometi’s work has earned her numerous awards and public acknowledgments:

• Named one of TIME 100 Most Influential People (2020).

• Along with Garza and Cullors, featured in TIME 100 Women of the Year (2013).

• Recognized by Essence Magazine as a “New Civil Rights Leader.”

• Received the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award (2017).

• With her cofounders, earned the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award for When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir (2019).

• Awarded an honorary doctorate from Clarkson University in 2016.

• Featured in Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) for her contributions to modern movements.

These honors reflect both her symbolic and substantive influence in civil rights, social justice, and global activism.

Themes, Philosophy & Influence

Intersectionality & Black Immigrant Advocacy

One of Tometi’s central contributions is emphasizing that Black identity and immigrant identity often overlap—and that anti-Black racism and anti-immigrant policies are interlinked. She argues that justice must be intersectional, not siloed.

Digital Strategy & Movement Infrastructure

Rather than seeing social media as passive, Tometi treated it as a core organizing tool. She built BLM’s digital platforms deliberately—setting tone, visual identity, messaging, and network expansion.

Global Black Diaspora & Solidarity

Through initiatives like Diaspora Rising, she emphasizes that struggles for Black liberation are not confined to the U.S. She centers migration, transnational histories, and shared struggles across the African diaspora.

Movement + Institution Balance

Tometi models how to balance grassroots movement energy with institutional engagement—briefings at Congress, speaking at the UN, board participation—while retaining accountability to communities.

Moral Vision & Dignity

Her work often frames justice as a matter of dignity—affirming that Black lives are worthy not because of metrics or protest but because of inherent humanity. In interviews, she speaks of “celebration and defense of our inherent human dignity.”

Longevity & Movement Building

Tometi has cautioned against the “hashtag moment” trap. She insists that movements must outlast viral bursts, embedding structures, leadership development, and accountability.

Selected Quotes & Reflections

Here are some representative statements and ideas attributed to Tometi:

• “Black Lives Matter is Black Lives Matter, not justice for X. It was very important to have something that was broad enough that captured the state of Black life and the fact that we are experiencing a range of violence…”

• On dignity and value:

  “We are all worthy of the celebration and defense of our inherent human dignity and our rights.”

• On movement building:

  “We actually have a lot of really thought out strategies … we want to grow a movement filled with leaders.”

• On her roots: She often refers to faith and family as her pillars of strength in facing the heartbreak of witnessing injustice.

Because Tometi is primarily active in speech, interviews, and digital essays, many of her most powerful lines occur in longer form rather than short aphorisms.

Lessons from Opal Tometi’s Journey

From her trajectory and activism, one may extract several lessons:

1. Build infrastructure with intention
   Movements rest not just on slogans but on websites, social media identity, organizing networks, leadership pipelines.

2. Center overlapping identities
   Justice work is more sustainable if it recognizes the intersections of race, migration, gender, class, and more.

3. Balance visibility with grounding
   Public recognition is useful, but must be anchored in community accountability, consistent organizing, and humility.

4. Think globally, act locally
   Tometi’s diaspora focus reminds us that local issues are often linked to global systems—and that global solidarity strengthens movements.

5. Invest in long-term leadership
   Movements survive when new leaders are trained, shared power is distributed, and institutional memory is preserved.

6. Resilience through dignity
   In confronting trauma, violence, and systemic harm, Tometi’s emphasis on dignity—as a nonnegotiable—offers psychological and spiritual grounding.

Conclusion

Opal Tometi (Ayọ Tometi) is a vital voice in contemporary activism. She helped lay the foundations for Black Lives Matter, led transformative immigrant justice work through BAJI, and continues to imagine global Black belonging through Diaspora Rising. Her journey illustrates how activism can bridge grassroots energy, institutional engagement, digital innovation, and moral clarity.