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​From here. For here.
Kobi's Hometown Story.

City of South Fulton Mayor Kobi was sworn into office January 4, 2022.

America's first Movement for Black Lives organizer elected to public office, Mayor Kobi is leading a generation of young activists from protests to politics. In 2017, Kobi became on America’s first #BlackLivesMatter organizer elected to public office and a founding member of South Fulton, Georgia's City Council.  A co-founder of M4BL’s Atlanta chapter, Kobi led protests against police brutality in 2015 and 2020, resulting in changes to Georgia’s citizens’ arrest law after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. In 2021, he was elected Mayor, beating a 20-year incumbent with nearly 60 percent of the vote. 

With a population that is 92 percent African-American, the City of South Fulton (next door to Atlanta) is the Blackest City in America. Mayor Kobi ran on a pro-Black, economic development platform that called for halt increases in police spending in favor of funding mental health first responders, public works projects, entrepreneurial programs for youth, and purchasing real estate as a method of increasing community control of land development. 

The Elected Artist ​has been featured by CBS, The Nation, Jacobin, Governing Magazine and other national media. Born, raised and educated South Fulton, Georgia, Mayor Kobi— is "From here. For here."

Kobi was born on Skyview Drive, a few doors down from icons Rev. Albert Love and Congressman John Lewis. His family moved to Old National when he was eight. Raised on Old National Highway, Kobi attended the original Old National Christian Academy (on the grounds of what is now World Changer's Ministries), Love T. Nolan Elementary and Ronald E. McNair Middle schools.  His father, Steve, is a retired City of Atlanta accountant, working under every Atlanta mayor from Kasim Reed to the legendary Maynard Jackson. His mother Elsie, who managed of Grady's Bankhead clinic for nearly 30 years, instilled in Kobi Christ's teaching that, "Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me."

One of the first events Kobi organized as a co-convener of Atlanta's #BlackLivesMatter chapter was an intergenerational dialogue with 1960 Civil Rights Leaders, including Congressman John Lewis

It was at McNair, at the age of 13, that Kobi organized his first demonstration – where his petition to include African nations in the predominately black middle school's Olympics-themed Field Day became a full-fledged student protest covered by local news.
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His organizing continued through high school (Mays, Banneker & Tri-Cities). ​​At Tri-Cities, his peers nicknamed him "Captain Planet," after the popular 90s cartoon. 

An "Elected Activist," Kobi began organizing as a student at Ronald E. McNair Middle on Old National Hwy. 

​At Ithaca College in New York, Kobi became well-known as a passionate defender of people of color, the working poor, women, LGBTQ+  people and the environment. A college semester abroad studying South Africa's post-Apartheid democracy sealed his lifelong commitment to social justice.​ After college, Kobi spent his early adulthood working as a Financial Analyst and Operations Manager for non-profit agencies in New York, Los Angeles & Atlanta, including Harlem United, Girls Prep Charter Schools, Morehouse College and the Black AIDS Institute before attending John Marshall Law School in Atlanta.

​Kobi first became involved in City government through Maynard Jackson's Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) system. In 2005, under the tutelage of the inimitable Peggy Harper, he organized renters in Atlanta's rapidly gentrifying Mechanicsville neighborhood. ​

Atlanta Activists Shut Down KKK Rally at Stone Mountain Park

​When the economy took a downturn, Kobi took a series of blue-collar jobs, working as bus driver for MARTA, and an AT&T Wire Tech, installing & repairing service in every weather condition. These jobs gave him first-hand experience with organized labor and unions fighting to hold on to living wages and employee benefits that are vanishing due to corporate greed. khalid's personal experience with America's — and Atlanta's — shrinking middle class, increased his compassion for working class families.
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"When there’s a call to action on issues of social justice, some people stand silent while others lead. One such person who is ready to act is [Kobi]."
-RollingOut.com

What is in a Name?

Origin of Mayor Kobi's name

By middle school, Kobi — a voracious reader since birth — began studying African History from the books in my father’s library. At 16, Kobi asked his parents' permission to take African name as a way of reclaiming their family's African heritage & culture. 

His quick-witted mother responded: “When you turn 18 you can do anything you want.” When he turned 18 during his first year at college, Kobi went to Fulton County's Courthouse and changed his name. 

He selected khalid, the name of a prince who united the Arabian peninsula and defeated European invaders during the Crusades. khalid means “Eternal.” kamau, his last name, is common Yoruba first name meaning, “Quiet Warrior.”  It is all lower-cased in accordance with a Yoruba spiritual tradition that prioritizes the Community over the individual.  

Ever-evolving, khalid changed his name again, in 2024, after an African Ancestry test revealed his true, genetic ancestry as belonging to the Akan people of West Africa. "My first African name was a shot in the dark," Kobi explains. "But science has allowed me the chance to rebuild a connection with my genetic ancestors."

Kobi has refused a last or "family" name. "My missing last name stands testament to the Maafa that robbed my and millions of African families of their roots," says the revolutionary Mayor.  

The Akan live in what is now known as Ghana, Côte D’Ivoire, Togo and West Africa. Akan means “first, foremost,” indicating the enlightened and civilized. Today, the Akan nation is 6 million strong, descendant from 34 kingdoms — including the Asante (or Ashanti), Fante and Wassa — united by a common language known as Twi.

From the 15th century to the 19th century, the Akan people dominated gold mining & trading in West Africa and were among the most powerful on the continent. Akan people, especially the Ashanti, fought European colonizers and defeated them on multiple occasions to maintain their independence.

Echos of Twi language can still be heard across the African Disaspora; in the shared words of Ndyuka, a language spoken in Suriname & French Guiana, South America; to the patois of the Maroons of Jamaica — who overthrew their Spanish enslavers in 1493 and lived Free in the jungles of the island for centuries before Jamaican Independence. 

Famous Akan include Nat Turner, Harriett Tubman, Kwame Nkrumah (father of Pan Africanism) who led Ghana and other African nations to freedom from colonial rule, and Nobel Prize-winner Kofi Annan (the first Black person to head the United Nations).

Through 372 years of slavery, which robbed his family of its name, language and much (but not all) their culture — the Ntoro of Mayor Kobi's forefathers survives in him. Freedom fighintg and leadership are literally in his DNA.

Then a City Councilman, South Fulton Mayor Kobi made national news in 2019 when he revealed his $13,000 per year salary as a City Councilperson made him eligible for SNAP benefits (food stamps).

Click Picture to Read New York Times Article

Mayor Kobi with Senator Bernie Sanders & President Jimmy Carter at Carter Center's Human Rights Forum

In fact, it was his experience fighting the outsourcing of MARTA's Mobility Service workers that lead Kobi into politics full time; first as labor activist with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), then as a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign, the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America.

​An activist with prophetic vision to pursue progressive policies ' in the streets & the suites,' Kobi enrolled and graduated from Fulton County Citizens University, while being an active member of Atlanta Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) V (Mechanichsville), where he organized a neighborhood watch program; and NPUs P (Camp Creek) & L (Vine City), where he participated in Economic Development negotiations around the new Mercedes-Benz arena. 

Kobi helped organize the Atlanta chapter of #BlackLivesMatter (now the Movement for Black Lives) and served as a Field Organizer for the Georgia House Democratic Caucus. In 2016, he was elected as an At-Large Delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Mayor Kobi gave his first Inaugural Address, We The People, on the steps of South Fulton's City Hall

After living and working in New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta, Kobi returned to his childhood home in 2015 to help his mother take care of an aunt dying from congestive heart failure. In 2016, his mother Elsie was diagnosed with State 4 breast cancer. Kobi took care of her at home, driving her to and from appointments while campaigning for City Council. Unfortunately, Elsie lost her battle with cancer in 2017, just one month after Councilman khalid was sworn into office. 

Keeping a promise he made on the campaign trail for City Council, Mayor Kobi has never held another full-time job while in office — even though City Council paid only $13,000 per year his first three years. The demands of building a new city and staying connected to the over 15,000 City Council, then 100,000 citywide constituents forced him to quit his part-time work as a political consultant and sell his mother's home. 

As he turned 40 — entering his peak earning years and carrying over $60,000 of law school debt — Kobi went on food stamps to continue serving his community. (Many families in his original, Old National district are on food stamps as well). 

​His transparency about his financial struggles on social media gained national attention and garnered support from other local electeds, including Georgia Democratic Party Chair-turned Congressional candidate Nikema Williams.  "I no longer use the term public servant," khalid explains. "Servant is a term of slavery. I am a public accountant. Any organization with $100+ million in revenues who is paying their accountants $13, 20 or 30,000 per year won't keep a good accountant for long." 

Mayor khalid Remembers Congressman John Lewis in CBS Tribute 

Days before his death, Congressman John Lewis penned a letter, published in the New York Times, in support of the Movement for Black Lives. This week then-Councilman khalid joined Oprah, Tyler Perry, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Trevor Noah and more to remember the legacy of John Lewis and discuss his marching orders for the next generation.

The one-hour special is currently re-airing on BET and OWN. Check your local listings or click the link below to watch on CBS All Access On Demand.

Watch on CBS All Access

Studies published in 2000 and 2004 found states whose legislators are paid full-time salaries and are given more resources in terms of staff and budget meet more frequently, are more efficient, pass more legislation, have more contact with constituents and are more attentive to their concerns. They are also more likely to write their own legislation, as opposed to presenting legislation written by outside lobbyists. Low-paying legislatures tend to be less diverse, with fewer working-class representatives.

​After co-sponsoring legislation to raise the minimum wage for all City employees to $15 per hour, Kobi fought to raise the Mayor and City Council salaries. (Several current members of Mayor & Council voted against the move, but none have refused to accept the higher pay). He later fought again to raise the minimum wage of South Fulton city employees to $20 per hour — the highest in the State of Georgia.​​

Mayor Kobi & Dr. Cornel West at 2016 Democratic Convention Platform Meeting

In his first four years in office, then-Councilman khalid authored legislation to make Election Day a full, paid Holiday — making South Fulton the first city in the South, and one of the first in the nation to do so. He created an annual, companion event called the Electoral College to teach citizens how local & state government works. He then led South Fulton to create a second, Paid City Holiday for Juneteenth. 

A self-declared "Sewer Socialist," Kobi created a $1 million Pedestrian Safety Fund to install speed bumps in neighborhoods, a Blighted Property Fund to demolish blighted & abandoned properties left standing for decades by county government, and sponsored legislation to secure $500,000 in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) for affordable housing. He also co-sponsored and supported 8 Can't Wait legislation to end no-knock warrants and high-speed police chases in South Fulton, decriminalize marijuana for less than an ounce, "ban the box" asking applicants for city jobs about their previous criminal history and eliminate Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous People's Day. 

A supporter of the arts and locally-grown businesses, in 2022 Mayor Kobi convinced South Fulton's VividRich studios to make a $6 million expansion of their studios, which now cover 80,000 square feet of space along Fulton Industrial Boulevard. 

A college-educated, community activist with a career in nonprofit management and experience in blue-collar jobs; a Southern, Black, Christian Socialist — Mayor Kobi brings a unique blend of passion and professionalism to Mayor's office as he works to "build a table big enough for everyone to have a seat."