Philip McHarris


Philip V. McHarris is an American academic at Yale University, writer, and activist. An early supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, he organized student protests in Boston following the death of Trayvon Martin. McHarris was a co-founder of the NYC chapter of BYP100, a US African American youth organization.
McHarris has been a frequent contributor for The New York Times, The Washington Post,, The Guardian, Al Jazeera,, and Essence regarding issues related to inequality, ending police brutality, anti-racism, and mass incarceration. He has appeared on HBO, CNN, PBS, ABC News, and MSNBC. His commentary has also been featured in Time, Los Angeles Times, and MTV.
McHarris has keynoted and spoken at universities across the country, including Harvard University, Iona College, Boston College, Yale University Art Gallery, and Princeton University.
McHarris was also the recipient of the Boston College 31st Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award. McHarris's academic research interests include race, policing, housing, inequality, and mass incarceration.

Early life and education

McHarris was born in Bronx, New York and grew up in Newark, New Jersey. McHarris attended high school at Saint Benedict's Preparatory School and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Boston College. McHarris received a Master of Arts in Sociology and African American Studies from Yale University and a Master of Philosophy in Sociology and African American Studies from Yale University. He also attended Princeton University as a PhD Exchange Scholar. Philip McHarris is currently a PhD candidate at Yale University in Sociology and African American Studies

Activism and politics

While an undergraduate student at Boston College, McHarris organized student rally in April, 2012 following the shooting of Trayvon Martin two months earlier, which were the first protests on campus after years of political inactivity. During the rally, the protesters demanded justice for Trayvon Martin and raised awareness about police brutality and flaws in the US judicial system related to the black people and other minorities. The rally was held by the United Front, a coalition of African-American communities in Boston where McHarris co-presided.
The protests sparked racial activism in the years to come.
He was a co-founder of the NYC chapter of BYP100, an African American youth organization in the United States with the main focus on community organizing, voter mobilization, and other social justice campaigns. McHarris was also a co-founder of the Black Liberation Collective, which served as the coordinating body for the wave of student protests against racial injustice in 2015.
McHarris has been involved with the Movement for Black Lives and efforts to end police violence; he has advocated for divesting from policing and reinvesting funds into community resources and alternative safety and emergency response systems.

Academic research

Selective publications

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