Lamont Lilly was born on 1979 and is an American writer, political activist, and community organizer based in Durham, North Carolina.
22 Facts About Lamont Lilly
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Lamont Lilly is a former vice-presidential candidate with the Workers World Party in the 2016 presidential election.
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Lamont Lilly was born in 1979 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States.
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Lamont Lilly served in the United States Army Reserve, being honorably discharged in 2001.
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In 1998 Lilly moved to Durham, North Carolina, and enrolled at North Carolina Central University, studying criminal justice.
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Lamont Lilly later confessed and was convicted of felony embezzlement.
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Lamont Lilly subsequently struggled to maintain employment and for a time became homeless.
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Lamont Lilly later credited these experiences with shaping his views of homelessness and the criminal justice system.
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Lamont Lilly's focus on Black youth and families continued as he became an activist and community organizer.
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In 2005 Lamont Lilly was hired by NCCU to serve the director of its African American Male Leadership Academy.
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In 2011 Lamont Lilly participated in the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City.
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Lamont Lilly served as the party's US vice presidential candidate in the 2016 presidential election.
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Lamont Lilly left the party in 2018, though he still identified as a socialist.
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From 2013 to 2018 Lamont Lilly was a Durham political activist, a leading member of the Durham branch of the WWP, a member of WWP's National Committee, and an early member of Black Alliance for Peace.
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In 2010, Lamont Lilly traveled to Colombia in South America as a human rights delegate with Witness for Peace, advocating for displaced Indigenous and Afro-Colombian people.
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Lamont Lilly participated in the protests in Ferguson after the 2014 police murder of Michael Brown Jr.
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Lamont Lilly has helped to lead demonstrations in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York City, Oakland, Philadelphia, and San Diego.
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Lamont Lilly has written as a guest columnist in The Durham News, The Herald-Sun, and Triangle Tribune.
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Lamont Lilly has been a guest speaker and facilitated workshops at several colleges and universities including the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Marshall University, and Malcolm X College.
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Lamont Lilly was awarded the 2015 Local Hero Citizen's Award by Indy Week for "pushing for workers' rights and police reform" and the 2017 Spectacular Magazine Man of the Year for "human rights and social justice".
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Lamont Lilly has credited the writings of Thomas Sankara, Lucille Clifton, Amiri Baraka, Henry Dumas, Sonia Sanchez, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Kwame Nkrumah with influencing his political beliefs.
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Lamont Lilly is a member of the Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.