Nekima Levy Armstrong

Nekima Valdez Levy Armstrong ( Levy-Pounds, c. 1976) is an American lawyer and social justice activist. She was president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP from 2015 to 2016. She has led a variety of organizations that focus on issues of racial equality and disparity in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. Levy Armstrong was an associate professor of law at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis from 2003 to 2016. After concluding her term as an NAACP chapter president and leaving her academic post, she had an unsuccessful campaign for mayor of Minneapolis in the 2017 election. She has been a prominent local activist in several protests over the killing of black Americans by police officers. She has been involved in lawsuits to prevent Minneapolis from eliminating single-family zoning, arguing that doing so would harm the environment and communities of color. Early life and education Levy Armstrong was born on June 27, 1976, in Jackson, Mississippi, the eldest sister of five. She moved to South Central Los Angeles after spending the first eight years of her life in Mississippi, and at fourteen years old was accepted to attend the Brooks School of North Andover, Massachusetts, as a boarding student. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law. Levy Armstrong lived in Los Angeles until 2003 when she moved to the U.S. state of Minnesota. Career