Professional speaker.

Mother of the movement.

Community organizer.

Wanda is a motivational speaker and activist, with a long history of community organizing and speaking to equity. When her son Oscar Grant III was murdered by an Oakland BART transit officer on January 1, 2009, she embarked on a journey to turn that pain into purpose. Since then, Wanda has become an amplified voice for mothers and organizers, speaking in front of audiences ranging from 10 people to 10,000 people. Wanda is also CEO of the Oscar Grant Foundation and licensed and ordained as a minister.

About Wanda Johnson

Rev. Wanda Johnson is an amplified voice of empathy for individuals seeking justice, grieving, and healing from innocent lost lives by hands of law enforcement. Her beloved only son Oscar Grant III was murdered by an Oakland BART transit officer on January 1, 2009, which not only called attention to police brutality, but called inspired the formation of Black Lives Matter. Her experience around fighting for justice, the media, and trial strategy inform her community work. She has become key in the national racial justice reckoning, as she travels the world seeking justice for communities world-wide.

Wanda is CEO of The Oscar Grant Foundation, a 501(c)3, that helps at-risk youth, grieving families, students support and enrichment, education, and hunger. She works side by side with the mothers of Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and countless other families that have become know as the Mothers of the Movement. Oakland’s demand for justice ignited a national movement demanding justice in all similar cases. Publicity around Wanda’s work caught the attention of Forest Whittaker. In 2013, he produced hit film, ‘Fruitvale Station’, a story that humanizes Oscar Grant’s last day of life.

Wanda hopes to also improve social inequities caused by negative stereotyping in law enforcement. She is an international motivational speaker, established gospel minister, and makes monthly appearances around the world impacting hearts in similar struggles. A dynamic, well-spoken activist, she has made guest appearances on nationally syndicated television programs, at respected universities, and in public forums. 

Programs & Topics:

Turning Pain into Purpose: My Story + Oscar’s Story

Apple, CBS, Stanford University, Rutgers University, Stockton University, Congressional Black Caucus, St. Mary’s College

Social Justice Seminar

St. Mary’s College, University of Texas El Paso, Laney College, Cal State Hayward, Rutgers University, Bowling Green State University

Black Lives Matter

Congressional Black Caucus, Apple, March on Washington 2020

Restorative Justice Seminar

Stanford University, Cal State Hayward, Bowling Green State University

Mental Health & Healing

Obama’s 21st Century Taskforce, Palma Ceia Baptist Church, Oscar Grant Foundation

Recent Speaking Engagements:

 

Apple

CBS

March on Washington 2020

Stanford University

UC Berkeley

Rutgers University

Bowling Green State University

University of Texas El Paso

Congressional Black Caucus

Mills College

Standford University in Washington

Cal State East Bay

University of Southern California

IIP John Jay College New York

San Francisco State University

Laney College of Oakland

Chabot College of Hayward

Utumpka High Theatre Guild Alabama

President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper

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Mothers of the Movement

 

Every year, Wanda hosts the Oscar Grant Memorial Weekend, where she invites mothers from around the country to join, and together they build community and discuss strategies to heal. Broadly, Wanda speaks to how mothers can turn pain into purpose with her fellow Mothers of the Movement.

“Let’s fight for justice together.

Book a speaking engagement today.”

Fruitvale Station

Oakland’s demand for justice ignited a national movement. Wanda’s organizing work caught the attention of Forest Whittaker, who produced the hit film directed by Ryan Coogler, ‘Fruitvale Station’, illustrating Oscar Grant’s last day of life, starring Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer.

Press

2020 Commitment March Washington

New York Times: Thousands gathered for a protest aiming to recall the March on Washington and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. For the thousands who came to the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, the country’s problem was not too little police presence but far too much.

“We know, first of all, they’re going to be criminalized,” Johnson said of victims of police brutality. “They’re going to be dehumanized, and what we’ve got to do is we got to re-create their life in the media space so that the media doesn’t walk away thinking that they were just somebody that should have been killed, but that they were somebody’s child, somebody’s son, daughter, brother, father or sister.”

The Washington Post

Until Something Is Done

PBS Short Doc: In the early hours of 2009, 22-year-old Oscar Grant was fatally shot by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer at the Fruitvale station in Oakland, California. The shooting was captured on cellphone video and made headlines nationwide, leading to a national conversation about police brutality. As more police killings made the news, Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, decided to build community.

Johnson continues to reach out to the families of those who were killed by police. But in the 11 years since Grant’s death, she’s lost count. She tells them she is willing to do whatever she can to help. She hugs them. She prays for them. And she gives them a piece of advice: to focus on processing the death of their loved one before advocating for justice to be doled out.

Buzzfeed News

10 Years Later

The Mercury News: Oscar Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, and his uncle Cephus “Bobby” X Johnson reflect on how the 22-year-old’s death changed society and the perception of police officers in the nation.

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