Ja'Mal Green

Ja'Mal Green (born August 9, 1995) is an American community activist from Chicago, Illinois. A Black Lives Matter activist, he was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Chicago in 2019 and 2023.

Early life and education Born in 1995, Green grew up in the Englewood, Gresham, and Beverly neighborhoods of Chicago. He was educated at Wendell Phillips Academy High School. Green got six write-in votes. He endorsed Lori Lightfoot in the runoff election.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Green created Mobile Nail Salon under the business entity Majostee Spa. Majostee Spa underwent involuntary dissolution that same year, according to Illinois Secretary of State records. Records show that at least five other businesses Green has started (Urban Eyes Development, O and G Family Enterprises, Chicago Sweet Dreams, Majostee Realty, and Sunbend LLC) have similarly undergone involuntary dissolution.

In June 2020, Green started protesting along with other activists against Chase Bank's loan policy and demanded to retain and implement Community Reinvestment Act. On June 3, 2020, WBEZ published a report in which it was written that, in over a six year period, Chase Bank only handed out 1.9 percent of total loans to black-majority neighborhoods.

In July 2020, Green and David Doig started The Small Business Repair Program to help black-owned businesses which were affected due to looting.

Green founded My Turn to Own, a home-ownership nonprofit, in 2021. My Turn to Own dissolved in April 2024.

Green garnered some local attention following his activism surrounding the Laquan McDonald case. In February 2022, he was again arrested for taking part in a protest which was demanding the arrest of then-Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke for the murder of Laquan McDonald.

In June 2022 Green announced that he intended to run for mayor of Chicago again on a platform focused on public safety, modernizing city government, economic development, and climate change. Green filed petitions to be on the ballot for the 2023 Chicago mayoral election in December 2022 and won a lottery to be the first candidate listed on the ballot. In the initial round of the election, Green was defeated, placing sixth of nine candidates with 12,239 votes (2.17% of the election's overall vote).

Green endorsed Paul Vallas in the runoff election. The TRiiBE reported in May 2023 that Green endorsed Vallas one day after Vallas's campaign paid Green $28,460.

In 2023, the Sun-Times reported that Green's company Majostee Marketing (which was dissolved in June, 2023) "steered small businesses seeking COVID-19 relief loans to three lenders that were faulted in a congressional report last year for having turned a blind eye to fraud."

Books Class Clown: Three Strikes But Not Out (2014)

Filmography Of Boys and Men (2008) It Takes a Village (2009) Reggie Yates: Life and Death in Chicago Film (2016)

Electoral history +2019 Chicago mayoral electionCandidateGeneral election Runoff election Votes%Votes% Lori Lightfoot 97,667 17.54 386,039 73.70 Toni Preckwinkle 89,343 16.04 137,765 26.30 William Daley 82,294 14.78 Willie Wilson 59,072 10.61 Susana Mendoza 50,373 9.05 Amara Enyia 44,589 8.00 Jerry Joyce 40,099 7.20 Gery Chico 34,521 6.20 Paul Vallas 30,236 5.43 Garry McCarthy 14,784 2.66 La Shawn K. Ford 5,606 1.01 Robert "Bob" Fioretti 4,302 0.77 John Kolzar 2,349 0.42 Neal Sales-Griffin 1,523 0.27 Robert L. Washington (write-in) 47 0.01 Tamara McCullough AKA Tamar Manasseh (write-in) 11 0.00 Catherine Brown D'Tycoon (write-in) 7 0.00 Stephen Hodge (write-in) 7 0.00 Ja'Mal Green (write-in) 6 0.00 Daniel Fein (write-in) 3 0.00 Richard Benedict Mayers (write-in) 2 0.00 Robert A. Palmer (write-in) 1 0.00 Total 556,844 100 523,804 100

+2023 Chicago mayoral election Candidate General election Runoff election Votes % Votes % Brandon Johnson 122,093 21.63 319,481 52.16 Paul Vallas 185,743 32.90 293,033 47.84 Lori Lightfoot (incumbent) 94,890 16.81 Chuy García 77,222 13.68 Willie Wilson 51,567 9.13 Ja'Mal Green 12,257 2.17 Kam Buckner 11,092 1.96 Sophia King 7,191 1.27 Roderick Sawyer 2,440 0.43 Write-ins 29 0.01 Total 564,524 100.00 612,514 100.00