The Board
- Roberto Tijerina , Durham, NC
- Paris Hatcher, Atlanta, GA
SPARK! Reproductive Justice Now - Deepali Gokhale, Atlanta, GA
- Jurina, Durham, NC
UBUNTU: Women of Color and Survivor-led Coalition to End Sexual Violence - Stephanie Guilloud, Atlanta, GA
Project South - Aesha Rasheed, New Orleans, LA
The New Orleans Network - Kendra Johnson, Little Rock, AK
Highlander Research & Education Center
Roberto Tijerina is a queer Latino first-generation child of immigrants, keeper of the heart-space, and closet diva. Since becoming politicized in his early adolescence around language as a tool of power and his emerging queerness, Roberto has worked as an activist – first in Chicago and now in the South – with his three mainstays being LGBT, immigrant, and disability rights. His experience includes working as an Outreach Associate for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, supporting diverse LGBT communities around civil rights issues. He has also worked as a freelance sign-language interpreter, with a focus on the Deaf Latino community in Illinois. Currently, he is the lead person at the Highlander Center’s Multilingual Capacity Building Program. In addition to English, he is fluent in Spanish and American Sign Language. Throughout his activist career, he has maintained close ties to the immigrant community in which he was raised, working on issues of literacy, second-language learning, immigrant discrimination, and preparation for citizenship exams. His current passion is the intersection of Immigrant and LGBTQ issues: where are the voices of queer immigrants? He holds a special place in his heart for queer folks who have been cast out of their families in the name of a Christian god.
Paris Hatcher is a passionate, radical feminist activist dedicated to working for justice and liberation. As a life long Southern Snob, Paris has been organizing for over 10 years, on the community, campus, and international level. Her activism is rooted in an intersectional approach which validates the lived experience of individuals and communities and works to challenge all systemic oppression. Paris’ activist interest focuses on gender liberation, in particular movements, such as reproductive justice, gender and racial justice and equity, ending sexual violence, queer communities of color, the South, and research that explores historical legacy as a motivator for current social movements. She has her Master’s in Africana Women’s Studies and is currently the Co-Executive Director of SPARK Reproductive Justice Now. When not grinding hard for justice, she loves to dance, read, laugh, give, cook, honor warrior women, queers and playing with gender, the outdoors, home renovation, doggies, daydreaming about liberation, and to spend time with her family and community.
Deepali Gokhale (pronounced “go-clay”) emigrated to the U.S. from India in 1973. Her childhood experiences growing up in a brown immigrant family in semi-rural Virginia shape much of her outlook on social justice. She has been an active volunteer and community organizer in queer and South Asian communities in Atlanta since 1995, as co-organizer of Raksha’s Masala Chai Houses, Steering Committee Coordinator of Trikone Atlanta, Steering Committee Co-Chair of the campaign against Georgia’s anti-gay marriage amendment, Founder of Queer Progressive Agenda, and Campaign Organizer for the Racial Justice Campaign Against “Operation Meth Merchant.” She is the recipient of the 2004 Human Rights Guardian Award from the National Center for Human Rights Education, the 2005 Ramesh and Vijaya Bakshi Community Change Award from Raksha, and the 2007 Award for Leadership in LGBTQ Community Organizing from KhushDC.
Jurina, a national of the lovely Island of Bermuda, ventured to the American South, to Raleigh, NC in pursuit of happiness and higher education. After graduating at the top of her class, she has been applying her passion for people to creative and healing arts, as well as community organizing. Jurina joined the board of directors of Southerners on New Ground in 2006, and she has been the point person for the Artistic Response committee of UBUNTU, a women of color/survivor led coalition, dedicated to ending gendered violence through sustaining transformative love. Currently, Jurina is a personal trainer. This work allows her to impulsively perform random acts of kindness in her community, such as putting together a book shelf or organizing an inpromptu/emergency breast-casting for a cancer patient. Henceforth, we revere her as ‘coach,’ for she actively motivates us/people to tackle and conquer the seemingly impossible.
Originally from Houston, Texas with roots in Alabama, Stephanie Guilloud began her political work through campus & community organizing efforts in Olympia, Washington. Stephanie initiated political education and writing classes with incarcerated women and young people, resulting in the anthology Through the Eyes of the Judged. Stephanie was a lead local organizer in the Seattle World Trade Organization shut down in 1999. A critical experience, Stephanie moved back to the South to work with communities committed to long-term racial and economic justice. She has worked with Project South in Atlanta for the past five years and worked on local, regional, and national planning committees to organize the 2007 United States Social Forum.
Aesha Rasheed is a healer, masseuse and public education advocate who lives in New Orleans. Since Hurricane Katrina she has worked for the self-determination of residents in New Orleans’ recovery. She produced the New Orleans Parents’ Guide to Public Schools and is currently developing the New Orleans Parents’ Organizing Network. She was project manager for the New Orleans Network, an information sharing and collaboration hub for grassroots organizations in post-Katrina New Orleans, and covered education for The New Orleans Times Picayune for five years.
Kendra R. Johnson gives new meaning to South-South relations. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas , she she travelled to Sao Paulo, Brazil as an exchange student during her junior year at Spelman College. The trip broadened her politics, made her a citizen of the world and gave her a second home. After living and working in Brazil for 14 years as a writer, editor and translator, Kendra returned to Little Rock to pursue a master’s in public administration and a graduate certificate in nonprofit management. A lifelong volunteer, she been a peace activist, organized the first lesbian/bi-sexual support group at Spelman College and volunteered communications services for Brazil’s first historically black college, among other things. She is currently working as the community outreach coordinator for Brothas & Sistas Living With Affected By, a HIV/AIDS prevention and community building organization working with LGBT people of color and allies in Arkansas. Kendra enjoys her family, traveling, cinema, good wine and hearty laughter.