Ravi is Sanskrit for Sun

My name is Ravi.

I’m Ravi (Sanskrit for ‘sun’). I was raised in a home of educators in Toledo, Ohio. Like my parents, I’m a life-long educator and I proudly live in Ward 7. When I had the opportunity to move to Washington, DC, I wanted to live east of the river.

I believe in the dignity of every person.

Why Run Now? Why This Race?

Bio

Democracy is only as good as what we make it together. Fueled by Trumpism, public education today is under attack. We are a nation in crisis and it hits right here at home in the shadow of a White House occupied by an ideology that is against education.

My History of Activism

Bio

My interest in politics blossomed in high school as I became active in student government and was elected student body president.

Life is a Journey

1982

Toledo, OhioBorn

2001

Graduated from High SchoolAt the Age of 19

2002

Congressional Intern, Office of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)

2002-2003

Led the Campaign to Re-Activate the University of Michigan NAACP Chapter

2003

Lobbied the NAACP National Board and Co-Organized NAACP/BAMN Delegation from the University of Michigan to Washington, DC for rallies at the Supreme Court in support of the affirmative action cases before the Supreme Court

9/4/2003

Diagnosed with HIV

2004

Graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s of Arts

2004-2005

Campaign Headquarters Manager for my Hometown’s First Black Mayor

2006

Earned a Master of Arts in Political Science from Brown University

2008

Selected as a Pre Doctoral Fellow in the Center for African American Politics at the University of Rochester

May 2009

Graduated from Brown University with a Ph.D. in political science

August 2009

Began Working as an Assistant Professor at Clark University in Worcester, MA

2011

Led the Effort to Re-Activate the Worcester MA branch of the NAACP and was elected President, the first openly gay president of color in NAACP history

2012

Began Working as an Assistant Professor and Stennis Scholar for Municipal Governance at Mississippi State University in Starkville, MS

2013

Lobbied the National Black Justice Coalition to investigate the murder of Marco McMillian, an openly gay Black candidate for mayor of Clarksdale, MS

2015

Co-organized the response effort to protest a rescinded Starkville Council Equality Resolution that originally extended health insurance to any household member of a city employee.