BAJI’s Staff
Gerald Lenoir, BAJI Executive Director
Gerald Lenoir has been a leader in progressive social movements for over 30 years. He is currently the Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and a board member of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. He is also a co-founder of the Priority Africa Network, which advocates for progressive U.S. policies toward Africa and organizes dialogues between African Americans and black immigrants
Lenoir is the former executive director of the Black Coalition on AIDS in San Francisco and co-founder/board chair of the HIV Education and Prevention Project of Alameda County in Oakland, Calif. He was a member of the editorial board of War Times, an anti-Iraq War newspaper and a long time leader in the racial justice and anti-apartheid movements in the United States. He has also served as a strategic planning consultant for racial justice, immigrant rights, HIV/AIDS and health-related organizations, and public health departments.
Opal Tometi, BAJI National Organizer
Opal Tometi is the New York based National Organizer for Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), where she helps to educate and advocate for immigrant rights and racial justice with African-Americans, Afro-Latinos, African and Caribbean immigrant communities. She is also the Coordinator for Black Immigration Network (BIN), a network of organizations and individuals uniting for racial justice and migrant rights.
As an activist born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, she has been involved in the migrant rights movement for 10 years. Most recently, Opal has been movement building by assisting with strategic communications and grassroots organizing with the Puente Movement, the Alto Arizona campaign and with other migrant justice groups in Arizona. Opal is a board member of the Arizona Center for African American Resources (AzCAAR) and an advocate to end violence against women. She holds a Masters of Arts degree in Communication Studies with an emphasis in Rhetoric and Advocacy.
Tia Oso, Arizona Organizer
Tia Oso is a native to Arizona and a long time social justice advocate. Ms. Oso studied Human Communication at ASU and interned with the National Conference for Community and Justice where she organized the “Not in Our State” campaign and Black and African Diaspora dialogue series. Tia has served on boards and volunteered her time with several Valley organizations including NAACP and United Way. Recently, Ms. Oso has served on the MLK celebration committee for Community Celebrating Diversity and worked to support local independent artists. Ms. Oso is a firm believer in the ability of people to become change-makers in their community.
Terence Courtney, BAJI Southeast Regional Organizer
Terence Courtney is the Atlanta-based Southeast Regional Organizer for the Black Alliance for Just Immigration where he engages in strategic organizing and alliance building in the South. Terence who was born in Atlanta, Georgia began organizing with Service Employees International union where he led SEIU campaigns in the public and private sectors; and organizing using a methodology that to brought Latino and African American workers together.
In Fall 2003 Terence became Atlanta Jobs with Justice’s (JwJ) first staff person. Terence helped to found Atlanta JwJ organize and marshal the Atlanta leg of the Immigrant Worker Freedom Rides. Additionally, he’s been a spokesperson who’s eloquently linked the Civil Rights and Immigrant Rights movements together. Terence also assisted in organizing for the right of undocumented community members to gain licenses and legalization in the state of Georgia and organized with JwJ and others in the civil rights communities and labor to beat back the anti-immigrant attack led by US law-makers like Sensenbrenner. Terence continues to organize dialogues that lead to action among African American and immigrant communities.
