Damon A. Williams

Co-director, #LetUsBreathe Collective

Damon A. Williams is a movement builder, organizer, hip-hop performing artist, educator and media maker from the South Side of Chicago.

As co-director of the #LetUsBreathe Collective and cohost of AirGo radio, Damon has led direct action and program development that started with the mobilizing of resources to support the Ferguson uprising following the murder of Michael Brown Jr. in 2014. AirGo is a weekly podcast and cultural media hub in Chicago, showcasing the artists, rappers, poets, musicians, organizers, and changemakers. The #LetUsBreathe Collective is an alliance of artists and activists organizing through a creative lens to imagine a world without prisons and police. With #LetUsBreathe, Damon produces cultural events and direct actions that disrupt oppressive systems, amplify marginalized voices, and serve people and communities most directly harmed by mass incarceration, police violence, and systemic injustice. As the Movement 4 Black Lives emerged, #LetUsBreathe became the primary bridge between Ferguson and Chicago. Alongside other Chicago Black activists, Damon stepped into a leadership position by organizing a mass effort to redistribute police funding toward health facing services in the city. The campaign engaged thousands of people through direct action, mutual aid and political education.

The life changing experience of Ferguson transformed Damon into an organizer, pushing him to lead and participate in dozens of direct actions in response to anti-Black violence. In the subsequent years, he has taken on greater responsibility, established himself as a leader who shapes the messaging for movement and cultural events and as a force in coalition work. Yet his work building coalitions aims to decenter the notion of “leader” as a construct, in the name of collective power and personal autonomy.