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| Mali Woods-Drake wears a red mask and black T-shirt as she addresses the BLM crowd. |
As far as Google knows, Mali Woods-Drake first came to prominence in Encinitas as an organizer of Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd in late May 2020.
In late April 2021, the City Council chose Woods-Drake as one of eight members of the Encinitas Equity Committee, created by the council the previous February. The city’s statement:
“The purpose of the Encinitas Equity Committee is to help the City of Encinitas and Encinitas community create safe, healthy, accessible, and inclusive opportunities for everyone who lives, works and visits Encinitas. The committee will provide the forum for a diverse mix of voices to provide suggestions to the City of Encinitas to help plan, prioritize, manage and build projects and programs; frame how we work with our communities and public safety personnel; define how we recruit and develop our employees; guide our efforts to compile and interpret data and set up expectations for stakeholders and sub-contractors that work with us.”
How the committee, which includes Mayor Catherine Blakespear and Councilwoman Kellie Hinze, will accomplish the purpose is not clear.
Note that the Encinitas Equity Committee and Encinitas4Equality (E4E) are separate entities. E4E is a private organization of which Woods-Drake is a director. It maintains a studio and retail location at 414 N. Coast Highway 101 in Leucadia.
At an indeterminate point in the timeline, Woods-Drake was appointed board vice president of the Pacific View Academy of Arts, also known as EACEA, although nobody can remember what that abbreviation stands for.
Woods-Drake is a senior coordinator at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). It’s been alleged that SEIU owns Mayor Blakespear.
Woods-Drake is a graduate of Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, New Jersey. The college’s statement:
“Bloomfield College is committed to enabling students, particularly those who have been historically excluded from higher education, to realize their intellectual and personal goals. The College’s mission is to prepare students to attain academic, personal, and professional excellence in a multicultural and global society. Bloomfield College is the only 4-year predominately Black and Hispanic serving institution in NJ.”
Although Woods-Drake does not herself appear to be an African-American, she has embraced Black movements and causes. One interpretation is that, like Rev. Al Sharpton, she is a sort of all-purpose Black protester.
Woods-Drake appeared at a Carlsbad press conference to protest a police tasing. She wore a black T-shirt that read “The future is black and female.” According to the Coast News, she “spoke about the historical context of police, noting police forces were originally slave patrols. She said the entire police system in the U.S. was founded and built on oppression.”
Woods-Drake said she has “10+ years experience in labor and community organizing, with a passion for social and racial justice.”
According to the Encinitas Advocate, Woods-Drake said her parents were labor organizers.
“I always joke that I was raised on a picket line, so it’s kind of been in my blood since before I was born,” she said.
“I believe the vast majority of Encinitas residents believe in equality and equity,” Woods-Drake said. “Because this isn’t something that we deal with on a day-to-day basis — we don’t experience a lot of racism when there’s not a lot of race diversity here — [E4E] created an avenue for people to get involved who have been looking for a way to do something in their own backyard.”
It appears the Equity Committee and E4E are a solution to a problem that barely exists in Encinitas.
