Rashad Robinson

Career

After graduating from Marymount University, Robinson held leadership roles at GLAAD, the Right to Vote Campaign, and FairVote.

While at GLAAD, Robinson served as Senior Director of Media Programs, leading the organization's advocacy and major media campaigns. He led dozens of campaigns pursuing criminal justice, voting rights, racial equity, gay rights and economic reform.

Color of Change (2011 - 2024)

In 2011, Rashad Robinson became the president of Color of Change, an advocacy organization founded after Hurricane Katrina with the purpose of assisting black communities in America.

During Robinson's tenure as president, Color Of Change grew by one million members and expanded to four offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Oakland, California.

Robinson organized many of the organization's initiatives, including a campaign to pull funding from the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Black Tech Agenda, which works to create racial justice tech policies and prevent algorithm discrimination. Color Of Change helped protect the principle of net neutrality by pushing the FCC to reclassify broadband as a common carrier service. The organization's Winning Justice campaign pushed prosecutors to reduce incarceration, end the use of money bail, and change sentencing schemes under which hundreds of thousands of Black people are imprisoned in the US. The group has also persuaded businesses, including Mastercard and PayPal, to stop accepting payments from white nationalist groups, to refrain from sitting on President Trump's Business Council. Color Of Change is credited with working with Silicon Valley companies, including Airbnb, Google and Facebook, to improve diversity inside their companies and address policies that harm Black users.

In 2020, Robinson launched the advertiser boycott of Meta Platforms and worked on police reform campaigns that resulted in assisting 8 million people. That June, Lady Gaga gave him access to her Instagram account in order to discuss racial justice, in honor of Juneteenth.

In September 2024, Robinson resigned as president after the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Color Of Change violated federal labor law.

2024 to present

Robinson currently sits on the board of the Marguerite Casey Foundation.

Media appearances and recognition

From 2010 to 2014, Robinson was selected as one of "The Root 100," a list of emerging and influential African Americans under the age of 45.

Robinson regularly appears in the media, including NPR, MSNBC, CNN, PBS, and BET. He has a monthly column in the US edition of The Guardian. His editorials have been published by The New York Times, Huffington Post, The Washington Post, and USA Today.

In March 2015, Ebony magazine called Robinson one of several "breakthrough leaders who have stepped up and are moving forward in the perpetual fight for justice." In May 2015, Huffington Post included Robinson in a series highlighting "some of the people and issues that will shape the world in the next decade." The same month, Robinson received an honorary doctoral degree from St. Mary's College of Maryland.

On September 25, 2020, Robinson was named as one of the 25 members of the "Real Facebook Oversight Board", an independent monitoring group over Facebook.

Personal life

Robinson grew up in Riverhead, Long Island, and graduated from Riverhead High School in 1997. He began practicing activism as a high school student when he led a protest against a local convenience store that barred students from entering the store during their lunch break. He also became involved with the NAACP while in high school.

Robinson attended Marymount University where he obtained a bachelor's degree in political science.

Robinson lives in New York City.

References

References

1. "Rashad Robinson: Board Member". RaceForward.
2. "Board of Trustees".
3. "Leadership".
4. "BOARD OF TRUSTEES {{!}} THE EDWARD W. HAZEN FOUNDATION".
5. Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. (October 25, 2016). "Rashad Robinson Built a Civil Rights Movement for the Digital Age".
6. Goode, Morgan. "GLAAD'S Senior Director of Media Programs Appearing Tonight on the Derek and Romaine Show". GLAAD.
7. [http://www.righttovote.org/ Right to Vote Campaign]
8. Robinson, Rashad. "Nebraska Ends its Permanent Voting Ban for People with Felony Convictions; Legislature Overrides Governor's Veto to Change the States' Felony Disfranchisement Law". Common Dreams.
9. "Rashad Robinson". Fair Vote.
10. Mickey O’Connell. (June 25, 2020). "Inside Color of Change’s Renewed Fight Against Police Procedurals: “These Shows Have an Agenda”".
11. Center, Foundation. "Rashad Robinson, President, Color Of Change". Philanthropy News Digest (PND).
12. Kiara Byrd. (November 20, 2024). "Rashad Robinson Believes The Solution To Systemic Change Is Building Infrastructure Through The Community First And Companies Second".
13. Lee, Trymaine. (May 25, 2012). "Amazon Drops ALEC Under Pressure From Advocacy Group".
14. Voqal. (2018-06-19). "Color of Change Continues to Fight for Net Neutrality • Voqal".
15. "Winning Justice".
16. Paynter, Ben. (2017-08-21). "Color of Change Is Attacking Hate Groups At The Source: Their Funding".
17. Lapowsky, Issie. "Seven years of toil: Inside Color of Change's fight to fix Big Tech - Protocol".
18. Nancy Scola. (October 12, 2020). "Inside the Ad Boycott That Has Facebook on the Defensive".
19. Christopher Gray. (October 12, 2020). "Rashad Robinson, The President Of Color Of Change, Is Holding Corporations Accountable And Building Black Political Power".
20. (September 24, 2024). "Color Of Change ordered to reinstate illegally laid off workers and pay back wages after NLRB Ruling".
21. Robert Stilson. (June 14, 2024). "The Marguerite Casey Foundation: "Social Justice Philanthropy"".
22. Piazza, Sean. (14 September 2011). "GLAAD's Senior Director of Media Programs, Rashad Robinson, has been named one of the top 100 emerging and established African American leaders by The Root". GLAAD.
23. "2013 The Root 100: Rashad Robinson". The Root.
24. "2014 The Root 100: Rashad Robinson". The Root.
25. Alvarez, Sarah. (June 2, 2015). "Companies Fight Back Against Protesters With Financial Pressure". NPR.
26. Harris-Perry, Melissa. (July 19, 2015). "More questions than answers in Sandra Bland case". MSNBC.
27. "Robinson becomes monthly featured columnist at The Guardian". The Guardian.
28. "Equal Internet Access for All". The New York Times.
29. "Rashad Robinson".
30. (22 July 2016). "Leaders of the New School". Ebony.
31. Bendery, Jennifer. (6 May 2015). "Rashad Robinson Is Leading The Social Justice Movement Into The 21st Century".
32. (18 May 2015). "St. Mary's College Graduates 430 Seniors during 45th Commencement Ceremony". St. Mary's College of Maryland.
33. Solon, Olivia. (September 25, 2020). "While Facebook works to create an oversight board, industry experts formed their own".
34. Smith, Nicole. (27 February 2018). "Riverhead grad speaks at Long Island NAACP luncheon {{!}} Riverhead News Review".
35. (26 June 2018). "Rashad Robinson - Meet Crain's New York Business Class of 2018 40 Under 40".
36. Civiletti, Denise. (February 26, 2018). "Riverhead native and civil rights leader Rashad Robinson to NAACP luncheon: 'Build power to change the rules' {{!}} RiverheadLOCAL". RiverheadLOCAL.
37. Peters, Adele. (2017-10-25). "'Power Is The Ability To Change The Rules': How Rashad Robinson Holds Companies Accountable". Fast Company.