| Ja'Mal Green | |
| Birth Date: | 9 August 1995 |
| Birth Place: | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Community activist |
| Alma Mater: | Wendell Phillips Academy High School |
| Party: | Independent |
| Children: | 3[1] |
Ja'Mal Green (born August 9, 1995) is an American community activist from Chicago, Illinois. A Black Lives Matter activist,[2] [3] he was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Chicago in 2019 and 2023.[4] [5] [6]
Born in 1995, Green grew up in the Englewood, Gresham, and Beverly neighborhoods of Chicago.[7] He was educated at Wendell Phillips Academy High School.[1]
In 2016, Green served as the official surrogate for Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.[7] 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.[5]
In 2018, Green along with his team founded Majostee Allstars, an urban center which provides guidance and training to underprivileged youth.[7]
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.[8] Green endorsed Lori Lightfoot in the runoff election.[9]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Green created Mobile Nail Salon.[10]
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.[11] 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.[11] Due to his persistent protests, he was banned from entering Chase Bank branches in July 2020.[12]
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.[13] The amount for the program was raised through donations.[13]
Green became well-known after his activism surrounding the Laquan McDonald case.[14] 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.[15] [16]
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.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19]
Green is also the founder of an organization called My Turn to Own.[20]
| 2019 Chicago mayoral election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | General election[21] | Runoff election[22] | ||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |
| Lori Lightfoot | 97,667 | 17.54 | 386,039 | 73.70 |
| Toni Preckwinkle | 89,343 | 16.04 | 137,765 | 26.30 |
| William Daley | 82,294 | 14.78 | ||
| Willie Wilson | 59,072 | 10.61 | ||
| Susana Mendoza | 50,373 | 9.05 | ||
| Amara Enyia | 44,589 | 8.00 | ||
| Jerry Joyce | 40,099 | 7.20 | ||
| Gery Chico | 34,521 | 6.20 | ||
| Paul Vallas | 30,236 | 5.43 | ||
| Garry McCarthy | 14,784 | 2.66 | ||
| La Shawn K. Ford | 5,606 | 1.01 | ||
| Robert "Bob" Fioretti | 4,302 | 0.77 | ||
| John Kolzar | 2,349 | 0.42 | ||
| Neal Sales-Griffin | 1,523 | 0.27 | ||
| Robert L. Washington (write-in) | 47 | 0.01 | ||
| Tamara McCullough AKA Tamar Manasseh (write-in) | 11 | 0.00 | ||
| Catherine Brown D'Tycoon (write-in) | 7 | 0.00 | ||
| Stephen Hodge (write-in) | 7 | 0.00 | ||
| Ja'Mal Green (write-in) | 6 | 0.00 | ||
| Daniel Fein (write-in) | 3 | 0.00 | ||
| Richard Benedict Mayers (write-in) | 2 | 0.00 | ||
| Robert A. Palmer (write-in) | 1 | 0.00 | ||
| Total | 556,844 | 100 | 523,804 | 100 |
| 2023 Chicago mayoral election | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | General election[23] | Runoff election[24] | |||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| Brandon Johnson | 122,093 | 21.63 | 319,481 | 52.16 | |
| Paul Vallas | 185,743 | 32.90 | 293,033 | 47.84 | |
| Lori Lightfoot (incumbent) | 94,890 | 16.81 | |||
| Chuy García | 77,222 | 13.68 | |||
| Willie Wilson | 51,567 | 9.13 | |||
| Ja'Mal Green | 12,257 | 2.17 | |||
| Kam Buckner | 11,092 | 1.96 | |||
| Sophia King | 7,191 | 1.27 | |||
| Roderick Sawyer | 2,440 | 0.43 | |||
| Write-ins | 29 | 0.01 | |||
| Total | 564,524 | 100.00 | 612,514 | 100.00 | |