"Nkechi Taifa is an attorney, activist, scholar, motivational speaker and author. A native Washingtonian, she has been part of many movements for justice throughout the decades - the Black Power Movement, the New Afrikan Independence Movement, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the Movement to Free Political Prisoners, the Reparations Movement, and the Movement to End Mass Incarceration.
Incensed that books for Black children failed to highlight freedom fighters, she authored a book in her twenties, "Shining Legacy: Storypoems and Tales for the Young, So Black Heroes Forever Will Be Sung," (1983) followed by "The Adventures of Kojo and Ama" (1992). She describes her latest book, "Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice," as "part memoir, part textbook, part study guide, part expose'." Although sometimes raw, sometimes abrasive, sometimes passionate, Taifa offers her truth, unapologetically and unfiltered, with honesty and authenticity."
Adopting an African name at age 16, Taifa was heavily influenced by the Black Power era, and sat at the feet of luminaries not often mentioned as part of history, such as Queen Mother Audley Moore, President Dr. Imari Obadele, Rev. Ishakamusa Barashango, Attorney Chokwe Lumumba, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr. Jean Sindab, to name a few. As a social justice attorney, Nkechi Taifa was pivotal in transforming criminal justice into a movement against mass incarceration, and helped steer the issue of reparations from the fringes into the mainstream.
As a Black Power advocate and a Black Movement attorney, Nkechi Taifa has been on the cutting edge of change and impactful in countless people's lives, but has also experienced the challenges, personal frailities and battle scars that define what it is to be human. She weaves together the rich tapestry of her life (both the good and the bad; the happy and the sad) and connects historical dots with honesty, humor and authenticity."
She was one of my teachers when I was a student at NationHouse. I read some of her books when I was a student.