Rashad Robinson is an American civil rights leader and nonprofit executive. He serves as president of Color of Change, having joined the organization in May 2011. He has served as a board member of RaceForward, Demos, State Voices, and the Hazen Foundation.
Career
Rashad Robinson became the president of Color of Change in 2011. The organization was founded after Hurricane Katrina and has a stated mission of strengthening political and cultural power for Black communities in America and making government and corporate leaders more responsive to their concerns. Under Robinson's leadership, Color Of Change has grown by one million members and expanded to four offices in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Oakland, California, and exponentially their digital campaigns pursuing racial justice. Robinson organized many of the organization's initiatives, including a campaign to pull funding from the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is responsible for the "Stand Your Ground" laws implicated in the death of Trayvon Martin. Under Robinson's leadership, Color Of Change played an important role in successful efforts to protect the principle of net neutrality by pushing the FCC to reclassify broadband as a common carrier service. The organization's campaign is targeted at prosecutors, and pressuring them to take stances to cut 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, and business leaders 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. Their media and Hollywood teams also work to get content they deem racist and inaccurate taken off air; they have gotten several reality TV shows and conservative hosts canceled. Prior to joining Color Of Change, Robinson held leadership roles at GLAAD, as Senior Director of Media Programs leading the organization's advocacy and major media campaigns, the Right to Vote Campaign, and FairVote. In 2016, the Stanford Social Innovation Review profiled Color Of Change for its integrated online/offline strategies, “pursuing the fight for racial justice at Internet speed.” In 2015, Fast Company named Color Of Change the 6th Most Innovative Company in the World, and named Color Of Change the 2nd Most Innovative Company in the nonprofit sector in 2018. From 2010–2014, Robinson was selected as one of "The Root 100," a list of emerging and influential African Americans under 45. Robinson has made numerous media appearances in a variety of outlets, including NPR, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, PBS, and BET. He has a monthly column in US edition of The Guardian. His editorials have been featured in New York Times, Huffington Post, The Washington Post, and USA Today among other publications. In March 2015, Ebony Magazine identified Robinson as one of several "breakthrough leaders who have stepped up and are moving forward in the perpetual fight for justice." In May 2015, Huffington Post featured Rashad Robinson in a series highlighting "some of the people and issues that will shape the world in the next decade." The same month, Robinson was conferred an honorary doctoral degree from St. Mary's College of Maryland.
Personal life
Rashad Robinson grew up in Riverhead, Long Island and graduated from Riverhead High School in 1997. Robinson 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 resides in New York City.
