Who is Kelli?

Kelli was my mother, and one of millions of women who have suffered the very real consequencesof being a poor single mother in a capitalist, sexist, racist society. With the cost of living for her andher son so high, with no jobs or job security, without access to affordable childcare, suffering fromdepression and poor physical health and unable to afford healthcare, without a way to pull herself outof poverty, and facing jail for debt to the state she didn’t even know she was accumulating, Kelli killedherself in March of 2010. Her death opened my eyes to the workings of this system in a way wholly new to me. I realized quickly that her death was not an accident but a result of systematic violence.I found myself needing to find ways to fight back. When I attended the 2010 US Social Forum inDetroit, I met many incredible activists and came in contact with organizations doing amazing workacross the country. One of the workshops I attended was about childcare collectives. I had never heardof the concept before the Forum. I brought the ideas back with me and they were met with enthusiasmby activists in Atlanta. KCCA was founded in Kelli’s honor, as a means of resistance against a system that murders poor mothers.
Amariah Love