ORGANIZER ASPIRES FOR CHANGE IN COMMUNITY AND IN CONGRESSIONAL CHAMBERS

Kina Collins is the executive director of the Gun Violence Prevention Education Center and Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. Collins also co-authored statewide legislation that established the Illinois Council on Women and Girls Act in 2018. Photo Courtesy of Kina Collins
Kina Collins is the executive director of the Gun Violence Prevention Education Center and Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. Collins also co-authored statewide legislation that established the Illinois Council on Women and Girls Act in 2018. Photo Courtesy of Kina Collins

Organizer aspires for change in community and in Congressional Chambers
 
BY TIA CAROL JONES
     In the last few years, Kina Collins has been organizing around the movement for Black Lives. A native of the Austin neighborhood on the city’s West Side, Collins was integral in helping to organize around the death of LaQuan McDonald.

     Most recently, she ran for the 7th District Congressional seat where Congressman Danny Davis has been the congressional representative for most of Collins’ life.
     Now, Collins is the executive director of the Gun Violence Prevention Education Center and Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.
 
     “I’ve been having my hands full with public policy, coalition building and educating the public,” Collins said. “Being a Black woman is a political statement in itself.”

     Collins pointed to the lack of an indictment in the death of Breonna Taylor. She said she didn’t choose organizing, organizing chose her. With parents who were in unions, organizing is in her blood.

     “I think everything we do as Black folks is political. Dr. King once said we
can’t afford in Black America to lose the moral authority and our moral authoritycan’t just be in the streets. It has to be in [the] ballot box and it has to be in public policy,” she said.

     Collins said right before she decided to run, she was part of a non-profit
called Physicians for a National Health Program. The organization proposed a single-payer national healthcare system, with Medicare for all and a universal healthcare system.

     “In our district, we have Englewood and Streeterville, a part of the Illinois 7 and broad swaths of the West side of Chicago.
 
     We have the largest life expectancy gap in the country. We know that’s because of the health disparities,” she said.

     Collins said since she was writing policy, organizing around those issues and seeing the problem in the community, it was her obligation to fix it.

     “We ran a really good, grassroots, people-powered campaign, and came
in second to Congressman Davis. So, that was my first run for office. We garnered a lot of attention, a lot of support and really got people activated in the district,” she said.
     
     From the campaign, Collins said she learned that “power concedes nothing without a demand.” She said everyday people wanted to be represented by everyday people. She said she also learned that Black women are powerful and can’t concede that power either. During the
campaign, Collins wrote an op-ed in “Teen Vogue,” entitled, “Democrats Love Black Women Until It’s Time to Elect Us.”
 
     “Black women are the backbone and moral fiber of the United States of
America when it comes to voting and if we have that much power and leadership and moral fiber when we vote, imagine what happens when you let us lead,” she said. “For decades, we have been seen as the people who help other people get to across the finish line and I said, I want to break that. I think we are the competition.

     We know our communities. We are the experts of our communities and we vote every election. Black women are not the demographic you have to remind to get out and vote.”
 
     Collins said that she was really proud of her Austin community and other
communities across the district that agreed with her messaging and who
voted for her.

     “When you’ve lived in a community nearly 30 years, you don’t have to be an elected official to say, ‘we want to keep our public schools open, that everybody should have access to quality healthcare, that we deserve to live a dignified life with union and high-paying jobs in Black and Brown communities and marginalized communities,’” she said.
 
     Collins co-authored the Illinois Council on Women and Girls Act in 2018. She said she would run for office again and will continue to be engaged.

     “It doesn’t have to be Congress. We need local school council members. We need Trustees. We need Commissioners.

     We need Alderwomen. We need people on every single level, so I believe any place [where] decision[s] are [being] made, women need to be there,” she said.

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