Nekima Levy Armstrong facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nekima Levy Armstrong
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Levy Armstrong in 2015
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| Born |
Nekima Levy-Pounds
June 27, 1976 Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California (BA) University of Illinois (JD) |
| Occupation | Attorney |
| Children | 5 |
Nekima Valdez Levy Armstrong (born around 1976) is an American lawyer and activist. She works for social justice, which means she tries to make society fairer for everyone. From 2015 to 2016, she was the president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP. This is a well-known organization that works for the rights of Black people.
Levy Armstrong has led many groups that focus on racial equality. These groups work to fix unfair differences in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. She was a law professor at the University of St. Thomas from 2003 to 2016. After leaving her teaching job, she ran for mayor of Minneapolis in 2017 but did not win. She has been a key activist in protests about police actions. She has also been involved in legal cases to help communities of color.
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Early Life and Education
Nekima Levy Armstrong was born on June 27, 1976, in Jackson, Mississippi. She is the oldest of five sisters. When she was eight, her family moved to South Central Los Angeles. At 14, she went to the Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts.
She earned a college degree from the University of Southern California. Then, she got her law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law. Levy Armstrong lived in Los Angeles until 2003. That year, she moved to Minnesota.
Her Career and Community Work
Teaching and Helping Communities
Levy Armstrong started teaching law at the University of St. Thomas in 2003. She became a full professor there in 2013. In 2006, she started the Community Justice Project. This project helped law students work with communities that needed legal help. It was a partnership between the university and the Saint Paul NAACP.
Levy Armstrong also helped start Brotherhood Inc. This group helps young African American men avoid gang activity and prison. She leads the Minnesota State Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She also chairs Everybody In, a group working to close job gaps based on race.
Involvement with Black Lives Matter
Levy Armstrong took part in protests against police actions in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. She also joined a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mall of America in December 2014. This protest was about police brutality. She and other protesters were charged by the city. However, a judge later dropped these charges in November 2015.
Leading the Minneapolis NAACP
In 2015, Levy Armstrong became the president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP. She wanted to get more young people involved with the NAACP. She often spoke out about unfair differences based on race in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. She said these differences were some of the worst in the country.
In November 2015, a man named Jamar Clark was shot by Minneapolis police. Levy Armstrong was involved in protests that blocked Interstate 94. She was among the first protesters arrested. She also led other protests about Clark's death.
Levy Armstrong left her teaching job in 2016. She wanted to spend all her time working on economic and racial justice. She decided not to run for a second term as NAACP president. She said she planned to be even more active in the community.
Running for Mayor
A year after Jamar Clark's death, Levy Armstrong announced she would run for mayor of Minneapolis. This was for the city's 2017 election. She ran as a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. She held her announcement outside a police station where protests had happened. She lost the election to Jacob Frey, coming in fifth place.
Ongoing Community Activism
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In 2020, Levy Armstrong took part in protests over the murder of George Floyd. He was an unarmed Black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer. She was present when police used tear gas on protesters. This led to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. The lawsuit was about the right to peaceful protest.
Levy Armstrong also criticized Minneapolis police union leader Bob Kroll. She joined protests asking for him to resign. A protest group she led gathered outside Kroll's home. They also criticized a TV reporter, Liz Collin, for a possible conflict of interest.
In 2023, Levy Armstrong was part of a legal team that sued Minneapolis. They challenged the city's 2040 Plan. This plan aimed to change single-family zoning to help with housing shortages. Levy Armstrong argued that this change would harm the environment and communities of color. She said it would make it harder for people of color to own homes. A judge ruled in favor of the lawsuit. Levy Armstrong called this a "major victory."
Personal Life
Levy Armstrong lived in Brooklyn Park until 2015. Then she moved to north Minneapolis. She is married and has five children. Two of her children are adopted. In the mid-2010s, she sometimes preached at Minneapolis's First Covenant Church.
