Nikuyah Walker
Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia
In office
January 4, 2018 – January 5, 2022
Preceded byMichael Signer
Succeeded byLloyd Snook
Personal details
Political partyIndependent
Alma materVirginia Commonwealth University (B.A.)
ProfessionCivil servant, activist

Nikuyah Walker was the mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia from 2018 to 2021. She became the city's first black female mayor in January 2018, after being elected to the Charlottesville City Council.[1]

Personal life

Walker was born and raised in Charlottesville.[1] She graduated from Charlottesville High School in 1998 and received her bachelor's degree in Political Science from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2004.[1] She has three children.

Career

2017 City Council Campaign

Walker began her campaign in March 2017.[2] Her campaign gained traction after the Unite the Right rally in August 2017.[2] Walker publicly pressured the City Council and then-mayor Michael Signer to answer questions about why a permit had been issued for the rally, and why the City Council was not addressing issues raised by the event.[3] Walker and Heather Hill were elected to the city council, winning 29% and 28% of the vote respectively.[4]

Mayor of Charlottesville

Walker was the first Independent candidate to be elected to the City Council since the 1940s.[3] One of Walker's major goals was to increase affordable housing in the city.[5]

Walker participated in The National Memorial for Peace and Justice to honor the memory of John Henry James, who was lynched just outside Charlottesville in 1898.[5]

In March of 2021, Walker began taking criticism of a Tweet published to both her Mayoral and personal Twitter and her Facebook pages stating "Charlottesville: The beautiful-ugly it is. It rapes you …"[6][7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Nikuyah Walker, Mayor | City of Charlottesville". www.charlottesville.org. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
  2. 1 2 Beckett, Lois (2018-08-07). "Charlottesville's first black female mayor: 'We're not a post-racial nation'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
  3. 1 2 Lim, Clarissa-Jan (3 January 2018). "Charlottesville Has Elected A Black Woman As Mayor For The First Time Ever". Bustle. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
  4. ↑ Freedman, Emmy. "Hill, Walker Win 2 Charlottesville City Council Seats". www.nbc29.com. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
  5. 1 2 Stockman, Farah (2018-07-21). "Year After White Nationalist Rally, Charlottesville Is in Tug of War Over Its Soul". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
  6. ↑ "Mayor Nikuyah Walker on Twitter: "… "". archive.ph. 2021-03-24. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  7. ↑ "Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker Compares City to Being Raped". Newsweek. 24 March 2021.
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