Jasmyne Cannick
| Jasmyne A. Cannick | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
October 22, 1977 Culver City, California, US |
| Residence | Los Angeles, California |
| Known for | Media & Social Commentator |
| Home town | Hermosa Beach, California, US and Compton, California, US |
| Website |
jasmyneacannick |
Jasmyne Cannick (born 22 October 1977) is an African-American media and social commentator who works in politics. With a focus on hip-hop, politics, race, and sexuality, in 2005, Essence magazine named her one of 25 Women Shaping the World and in 2013 she was named one of the Most Influential African-Americans under 40 in Los Angeles by the Wave newspaper.
Politics
Jasmyne Cannick has worked at all levels of government including the California Legislature, House of Representatives, and as Chief of Staff to a mayor in a suburb of Los Angeles. She is currently a political communications and government affairs consultant with a specialty in crisis communications. She has worked on over 20 local, state, and Federal campaigns for office in the state of California for Democratic candidates.
Activism
Along with Compton rapper Eric “Eazy-E” Wright’s son Lil E, Jasmyne Cannick is the co-founder of My Hood Votes, a grassroots voter registration initiative focused on Los Angeles County’s roughest neighborhoods. She is also the co-founder and retired board member of the National Black Justice Coalition, the United States' largest and oldest black LGBT civil rights organization. In Los Angeles, Jasmyne has been at the forefront and a part of many civil rights and racial justice issues involving African-Americans.
Media Commentator
She has won numerous awards for her work on the intersection of race, class, and politics and is a frequent guest on CNN, CNN Headline News, FOX News, BET, National Public Radio, and TV One’s Access Hollywood. She has also appeared on CBS This Morning and the Today Show.
As a social commentator and opinion writer, Jasmyne has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun Times, Los Angeles Daily News, and Ebony Magazine to name a few and her syndicated column appears in African-American newspapers from coast to coast. No stranger to radio, she is the past co-anchor of the evening news on Los Angeles Pacifica radio station 90.7FM KPFK and has served as a segment producer on KJLH-FM’s Front Page show, Southern California’s premiere news and current affairs show focused on the African-American community.
[1] She was quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times for her stance on the R. Kelly scandal.[2] She frequently provides commentary on National Public Radio[3] and is a regular contributor to the LA Progressive, an online social justice magazine. She is most outspoken about the divide between gays and blacks, and how gay culture is dominated by whites, which is hard to deal with for blacks because they do not feel part of the gay society and are overlooked.[4] She provoked much controversy when she spoke out about why black people care less about gay marriage.[5]
Film & Television
She produced Noah's Arc, a cable television dramedy about four black gay male friends living in Los Angeles which lasted two seasons. In 2007 she wrote, directed, and produced her first documentary film The Incredibly True Adventures of Sistas of the Canyon. She is a co-producer of the award-winning documentary “41st & Central: The Untold Story of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party.”
Africa
She traces her African descent mainly to Cameroon [6][7] and the Bubi people of Bioko Island, Guinea Ecuatorial.[7] In 2008, Jasmyne traveled with her good friend actor Isaiah Washington to Sierra Leone on a humanitarian mission. She has been a longtime supporter of the Pan African Film & Arts Festival of Los Angeles, serving as its publicist for ten years.
Personal
A Southern California native by way of Compton and Hermosa Beach, Jasmyne Cannick is a proud Angeleno. A former foster child, she was emancipated in 1995.
References
- ↑ NPR, Gay Activist Talks About Same-Sex Marriage Debate, 11/14/2006
- ↑ Chicago Sun-Times, May 17, 2008.
- ↑ NPR Jasmyne Cannick commentaries.
- ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, November 11, 2008.
- ↑ The Advocate, June 17, 2008.
- ↑ "African-American who traced ancestry to Cameroon to be honored by L.A.'s Cameroonian community". Eur-web. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
- 1 2 "African Ancestry DNA Revealed". YouTube.com. Retrieved 2014-06-29.