The Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island (URI) congratulates Atty. Ainka Jackson for winning the Nonviolence Trainer’s Award for October 2022. Atty. Jackson is the founding Executive Director of the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth, and Reconciliation, which is committed to Selma 2.0: Bridging Divides and Building the Beloved Community.
Born and raised in Montgomery and Selma, Alabama, Atty. Jackson is passionate about promoting nonviolence through education and activism to address the root causes of racial and economic injustices, what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called “the inseparable twins.” She has spoken on these issues at the United Nations in Switzerland, the White House, the Department of Justice, and the National Association of Secretaries of States, as well as being featured in Essence Magazine for her voting rights efforts. Over the past seven years, Atty. Jackson and her colleagues at the Selma Center have been working hard toward transforming and healing the main causes of physical, economic, and racial violence at personal, family, community, and policy levels. They have successfully started a Violence Intervention Program rooted in nonviolence, to which the model was introduced to her at URI.
Atty. Jackson holds the highest Level 3 certification in Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation from the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies. She completed Level 2 Advanced Leadership Training in Kingian Nonviolence in 2017 and Level 1 Training of Trainers in Kingian Nonviolence and Conflict Reconciliation in 2016. She is also the co-creator of the Beyond Divide and Conquer: Unite and Build Racial Equity Training and Training of Trainers curriculum. Atty. Jackson received her Doctor of Law (J.D.) degree from the Vanderbilt Law School and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Psychology from Spelman College. In 2016, Atty. Jackson was honored with the first In Peace & Freedom Award from Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. and Kay Johnson.
The Selma Superheroes Children’s Book Series, which shares the history of Selma’s foot soldiers and encourages youth to be Selma 2.0 Solutionaries, was created and edited by Atty. Jackson. She has three beautiful, brilliant, benevolent children, and she speaks these descriptions to the children she encounters.
A Special Advisor for the ABA Commission for Homelessness and Poverty, Special Counsel to the ABA Civil Rights and Social Justice Section, a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network Class Two Fellow, and Telos Group board member, Atty. Jackson spends her time and energy serving the betterment of her community. She gives nonviolence training and helps to organize her community to address pervasive racial and economic inequities.
Atty. Jackson is wise and humble, calm and courageous, and compassionate and passionate about peace, justice, and reconciliation. She is an inspiration and a role model for many, including young girls. Again, we sincerely congratulate Atty. Ainka Jackson for winning this Nonviolence Trainer’s Award. Please visit her Center’s website to learn more and support her projects: https://www.selmacenterfornonviolence.org