Nekima Valdez Levy Armstrong is an American lawyer, professor, activist, and minister. She served as president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP from 2015–2016. She also serves on and has founded 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 leaving her position at UST and concluding her term as Minneapolis NAACP president, she announced her intention to run for mayor of Minneapolis in the 2017 election, ultimately coming in fifth place. Levy Armstrong has written pieces for several local publications including the Star Tribune and MinnPost and has been recognized for her legal work, including being named 2015 Attorney of the Year by Minnesota Lawyer.
Levy Armstrong began teaching law as an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis in 2003. In her research, she has focused on the War on Drugs, incarceration, mandatory sentencing, and sentencing guidelines, primarily as they affect women and children of color, but also young black men. In 2006, Levy Armstrong founded the Community Justice Project, a partnership between UST's School of Law and the Saint Paul chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The CJP allows law students interested in working with underserved communities to gain experience through academic writing, fora, and interaction with local governments and communities. In 2011 Levy Armstrong, along with the activist and writer Lissa Jones began fundraising for a new African American history museum to be built in South Minneapolis. Despite winning Minnesota Legacy Amendment funding and garnering large donations and loans from prominent community organizations like the Carl Pohlad Foundation, the project was ultimately shuttered with no plans to begin again. Levy Armstrong cofounded Brotherhood Inc., an organization dedicated to helping young African American men stay away from gang activity and prison. Using what Levy Armstrong described as "a proven holistic approach to community building that employs culturally sensitive social services, educational opportunities, and on-site employment", Brotherhood began by selling a blend of coffee, Brotherhood Brew, and currently has plans to open a coffee shop in Saint Paul. She chairs the Minnesota State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights and Everybody In, a nonprofit with the goal of closing race-based employment gaps in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. As a writer, Levy Armstrong has had opinions and articles published in the Twin Cities Daily Planet, MinnPost, and the Star Tribune. She formerly preached at Minneapolis's First Covenant Church every other month. Levy Armstrong has garnered several accolades including being named one of "50 Under 50" by Lawyers of Color, Minnesota Lawyers Attorney of the Year in 2015, and receiving the Hennepin County Bar Association's Diversity Award.
In mid-2014, Levy Armstrong participated in the anti-police brutality protests in Ferguson, Missouri. In December 2014, she took part in a Black Lives Matter protest of police brutality at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. She and ten other protesters were charged by the City of Bloomington with disorderly conduct and trespass which carries a maximum penalty of a fine up to $8,000 and a prison sentence of up to two years. Restitution charges for $40,000 against the protesters were later withdrawn by the city. In November 2015, a Hennepin County judge dismissed the charges against Levy Armstrong and the ten others charged by Bloomington.
Minneapolis NAACP presidency (2015–2016)
Jerry McAfee served as president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP until 2015, at which point Levy Armstrong decided to run. She won the election unopposed on the ballot but faced criticism from McAfee who contended that she was too focused on issues of police brutality to the neglect of concerns such as crime perpetrated against African Americans by African Americans. Levy Armstrong stated that she hoped to increase youth engagement with the NAACP during her term with the organization. She has been critical of racial disparities in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul region, citing them as some of the nation's worst. In November 2015, following the shooting death of Jamar Clark at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, Levy Armstrong was involved in a human blockade of Interstate 94. Of the approximately 40 protesters, Levy Armstrong was among the first arrested for the action. MinnPost wrote that she served as a leader in the subsequent protests against Clark's killing. Levy Armstrong left her professorship with UST at the end of July 2016 to devote herself full-time to addressing issues of economic and racial justice. She announced in October of that year that she did not intend to seek a second term as president of the Minneapolis NAACP, but that she " to have an even more visible presence in the community". As her successor, Levy Armstrong nominated Jason Sole, an activist and professor of criminal justice. He won the election and credited Levy Armstrong with leading the Minneapolis chapter of the organization in its support of BLM, describing Minneapolis's as "the only branch in the country to stand so closely with Black Lives Matter".
Mayoral bid (2016–2017)
On November 15, 2016, a year after the death of Jamar Clark, Levy Armstrong announced her intention to run for mayor of Minneapolis in the city's 2017 election as a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. The announcement was held outside Minneapolis's 4th Precinct police station, where protesters had demonstrated against Clark's killing for 18 days the year before. Levy Armstrong faced incumbent mayor Betsy Hodges, also a member of the DFL, and several other candidates. Although running as a DFL member, Armstrong opted in April 2017 to forego the party nomination process, citing what she described as the "confusing and unwelcoming" nature of the Minneapolis DFL's caucuses and convention. She lost to Jacob Frey, coming in fifth overall.
Personal life
Levy Armstrong lived in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, until September 2015 when she moved to north Minneapolis. She is married and has five children, two of whom are adopted. She was ordained as a minister in 2016.
