Cara McClure

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Cara McClure, also known as Cara Black (born August 20, 1969) is a social activist, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Birmingham Chapter, executive director of Faith & Works, and an Alabama state coordinator for Black Voters Matter.

McClure was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, graduating from West End High School in 1987 and studying business management and marketing at Jacksonville State University and Alabama State University. She spent a short time as a branch manager for Select My Space before opening ASAP Apartment Locators in January 2013.

Following the 2013 George Zimmerman verdict in the Trayvon Martin murder trial, Cara co-founded the Birmingham Chapter of Black Lives Matter. As the chapter grew, she participated in a national Department of Justice-sponsored pilot to build trust between police and marginalized community members, spearheaded a local action on Mother’s Day to Bail Black Mothers from jail and reunite families, and helped organize political action following the police shooting of E. J. Bradford Jr.

Cara has assisted and collaborated with many movements in Alabama such as Fight for $15, Alabama’s fight to end predatory lending, Greater Birmingham Ministries, Stand as One, Faith in Action, Shut Down Etowah/Alabama’s Immigrant Rights movement, NAACP Alabama, Alabama Arise, and SONG Alabama. She also worked on the Bernie Sanders 2016 Democratic primary campaign, assisting locally with voter engagement and political education. In the 2018 general election, she challenged Republican incumbent Jeremy Oden for a seat on the Alabama Public Service Commission, but lost by a 60-40 margin.

McClure is credited with proposing to Mayor Randall Woodfin’s office that the city should create a Black Lives Matter street painting, modeled after the one in Washington, D.C., during the 2020 George Floyd protests. In July 2020, Cara accepted the Mayor’s invitation to join a new Public Safety Task Force, created to review police policy and practices.

External links

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