James Tracy (activist)


James Richard Tracy is an American author, poet and activist living in Oakland, California. He is the co-author of Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times.

Early life

Tracy was born in Oakland, California in 1970. His family moved shortly thereafter to Vallejo, California. His father was a kindergarten teacher in the Richmond Unified School District. His mother worked a variety of jobs in the social work field. Tracy has two younger brothers.
Tracy credits several formative events in shaping his early political outlook. His first job was as a paper delivery person for the Vallejo Independent Press, a worker-owned newspaper founded by striking newspaper workers. This introduced the idea of worker self-management to him. In early 1989, the presence of Neo-Nazi organizers in Vallejo helped him form an anti-racist commitment. Tracy attended anti-nuclear and environmental demonstrations as early as 1987.

Housing organizing

In 1992, Tracy co-founded the Eviction Defense Network an organization which utilized direct action to prevent evictions. The EDN was invited to work alongside public housing residents organizing for the right-of-return in the federal HOPE VI program. Subsequently, he was a member of the Coalition On Homelessness, Mission Agenda, and the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition.

Published work