RadLove Team

I Am KRJ

December 27, 2023

Posted by Kristin Richardson Jordan

It was truly my honor to serve as a City Councilwoman for District 9 in Harlem NYC for the past two years. Despite all the odds and many forces working against us, I am so proud of the work that I, my team, and my community did. To my former constituents, past donors, and volunteers: you will find me and a continuation of our work here.

This website is in alignment with the movement we started but taking things to a higher level. A partnership between me (east coast) and Chris Brush (midwest/west coast), this site is a continuation of radical love and my H.A.R.L.E.M. policy platform but also an evolution off of that platform to something broader and greater.

Here are some key highlights:

Our mission is left politics through the lenses of love, justice, hope, and possibility. We will explore the tensions within the Democratic Party and make room for the possibility of new leadership and politics whether inside or outside the party, but, mostly, we will go beyond electoral politics. Mostly we will care about addressing issues that matter, raising consciousness, and inspiring meaningful change.

Many believe that politicians are “leaders”, but the vast majority of politicians (despite what they may say about themselves) are not leaders – they’re followers. In the end, it is up to people to come together in the community and to pull resources, advocate, and organize. Most politicians will go along and ride the wave once the people do the work. I have been inside the political-belly-of-the-beast and I promise you that corruption and careerism stop most politicians from doing the right thing and stall the few of us who are change agents. Frankly, change is not coming from the top.

Strong movements, mass political engagement, and grassroots organizing will lead to meaningful change in our nation and internationally. At the very least we need an inside-outside strategy and at most we need grassroots movements that force politicians to do the right thing. The tough part of knowing this truth is knowing that YOU (general “you” I mean all of us) will have to do the work, and not wait for nor be a hero. We have the power.

Frankly, change is not coming from the top.

Radical Love Project (RadLove Project) is a place to raise conversation and consciousness for grassroots organizing and advocacy efforts in the spirit of love, justice, hope, and possibility.
I hope you will feel the hope and possibility in Radlove Project as we move beyond the small confines of D9 and electoral politics and know that the H.A.R.L.E.M. acronym lives on in a larger agape love that calls us all to service and responsibility. The fight to (H) hold police accountable, (A) have actually affordable housing, (R) redistribute resources equitably, (L) have our seniors live longer and in dignity, and (E) achieve environmental and educational equality has all been grounded in (M) meaningful change towards a just society. Please check out our mission statement for the Radical Love Project and know that this work continues! Please sign up to stay involved.

More About Me…

I am Kristin Richardson Jordan (KRJ), a third-generation Harlemite who gained some local attention when I ran a grassroots campaign for city council against a long-time incumbent and won. I am also the first out Black queer woman to run and win a race for New York City Council (and the youngest Black woman in D9 history). Before that… I was Kristin. Born in Baltimore, MD as the eldest daughter to two Black physicians who both came from humble beginnings and trained hard while facing racism and class discrimination (they met at Harlem Hospital), I have had plenty of my own struggles as a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault along with facing racism as well. I come from a tribe of survivors. Surviving this latest adventure of gaslighting, media smears, and death threats is no exception.

Servant leadership and a sense of social responsibility were instilled in me from a young age. My father, Dr. Desmond A. Jordan, passed in November of 2020, just 7 months before I was sworn in as New York City Councilwoman for Central Harlem District 9. His spirit is always with me. He is deeply missed.

As a young girl, I grew up in Harlem attending the Little Red Schoolhouse and then the Calhoun School. I was (mostly) a well-behaved child and teenager except when it came to challenging authority, which got me into some trouble a couple of times. One time my mother and I were called into the head of the school’s office after I protested the appointment of our new upper school director. This was after we students had been told that we would have democratic input on the hire – and then didn’t get it. I also caused some tension when I wrote a personal opinion piece in the school paper trashing a comedy troupe that had been brought to our school that used some offensive language and tropes. They were not funny at all.

I played sports and did a variety of activities but what I loved the most was writing (still do). I would journal every day, read, and dream about becoming a writer. I attended Brown University where I graduated class of 2009 as a double major in Black Studies (“Africana”) and Literary Arts and was a commencement speaker for the Africana Studies department. The rebel in me was still there, however, as I believe there is a picture of me carrying a ladder and charging toward the administration building in protest during an annual board of trustees meeting still floating around somewhere in a Brown Daily Herald archive (my apologies for not being able to find that particular picture for this post).

After graduating I became a teacher, a book printing poet, a teaching artist, an author, and an activist before running for local office and now returning to the meaningful and purposeful work of organizing, activism, and writing in this new venture with Chris. I hope you will join us.

Radical Love Project (RadLove Project) is a place to raise conversation and consciousness for grassroots organizing and advocacy efforts in the spirit of love, justice, hope, and possibility.

I feel connected to:

My black identity, politics, culture, liberation, history, womanhood, queer identity, poetry, neo soul music, activism, and my hair.

I dislike:

white supremacy, patriarchy, paternalism, and blueberries.

I love:

reading, writing (especially poetry), being outside (especially when it’s hot), friends-who-are-like-family, her cat named Squeaky, mass movements, MEANINGFUL organizing meetings, affirmations, African Art, swimming (especially in the ocean), all kinds of chocolate, and any kind of rum cake.