Taji Chesimet

Taji is a writer, performer, and community organizer. A 2024 graduate of the University of Chicago with a Bachelors in Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity, he concentrated on carceral studies, social movements, and film. Originally from Portland, OR he has been engaged in politics and community building since high school. He was one of the former Chairs of the Portland Committee on Community Engaged-Policing, appointed by the Mayor of Portland. He was one of the Directors/Founders of the youth-run organization Raising Justice. Taji previously served on the Board of the Restorative Justice Coalition of Oregon, the Local Public Safety Coordinating Committee. He has supported the work of Parole Illinois, Prison Neighborhood Arts+Education Project, the ACLU of Oregon, Race Talks PDX, Pennsylvania Innocence Project, Impact-Justice, Senator Akasha Lawrence-Spence (OR D-18), and he advised on the mayoral campaign of Sarah Iannarone, the 2020 Public Safety Task Force. With a particular interest in community building, Taji aims to work at the intersections of Performance, Abolition, and Political Mobilization to fight for transformative justice and end the systems of oppression impacting our communities.