AJ Williams is Durham Beyond Policing’s Co-Director of People & Organizing. His political work has included bailing out Black women, femmes, and gender non-conforming caretakers, striving to end the cash bail system and pre-trial detention with Southerners on New Ground; and organizing with BYP100 to address gender-based violence and interpersonal harm. In 2021, he ran for Durham City Council, Ward 3, as the first trans candidate in the history of the city, on an abolitionist platform. He served two terms as an appointed member of The City of Durham’s Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee and is on the movement board of The Cypress Fund.