**AJ Williams will not appear on your ballot in the Primary Election. The Ward 3 race does not have a primary. Look for AJ Williams on your ballot in the General Election.**
From People's Alliance PAC member Mab Segrest
I met AJ on the ground and in the streets doing abolition work in Durham; targeting the money bail system, bailing out Black Mamas on Mother’s Day, whittling down the jail population, encouraging the Durham City Council in a 4/3 vote to divest $800,000 in police funds in order to stop evictions and raise the minimum wages of part time city workers to $15 per hour. Immediately, I really liked and respected AJ. But over the years I have come to realize how many facets there are to him to love and respect, how many skills and talents and complexities.
We worked most intensively together on Durham Beyond Policing’s collaborative proposal to City Council to divert the $800k and to appoint a Community-led Safety & Wellness Task Force, which the Council did. AJ showed up focused, funny and super smart and we got interested in each other’s peculiar set of skills. It took a while before I realized that AJ was also a highly skilled Director of Financial Operations at Southern Vision Alliance, having gotten certifications in a range of financial and leadership skills—which he put to amazing use in helping to shape a major proposal that would take our work to scale and expand our capacity. I realized that we were in great hands financially in terms of setting up and managing budgets, payrolls, benefits, program costs, and financial skills that emboldened the rest of us to be more expansive in our programmatic visions.The City will be in great hands too.
AJ is a leader capable of influencing and transforming our city. He will bring to the Council deliberations acute intelligence, a sense of humor, a focus beyond himself, and a street knowledge of the city from growing up in working class Durham. AJ Williams is not running for office -- he is running for change.
Do you like this post?