Classic Man
DeiJaumar Clarke; Turning activism into collective learning
“Political education is how communities learn their power.”
DeiJaumar Clarke is a youth leader reshaping what social justice work looks like in Toronto. He stands at the intersection of political activism and political education, grounded in community, history, and lived experience. His work reflects a clear belief: communities do not move forward through protest alone. They move forward through knowledge, strategy, and collective responsibility.
DeiJaumar grew up in the Jane and Weston Road neighbourhood and later moved to Parkdale during his high school years. He graduated from Oakwood Collegiate Institute and completed his undergraduate studies at Glendon College at York University. Raised in a conservative Christian household, he absorbed strong religious and moral values early in life. Those values continue to inform his commitment to service, justice, and accountability.
His family history also shaped him deeply. His grandfather, Bishop Howard McNeil, served as General Overseer of the Church of God Pillar and Ground of the Truth (POGTT). Bishop McNeil passed away on November 30th, 2025, leaving behind a legacy of leadership and faith that continues to influence DeiJaumar’s worldview. That grounding mattered, especially during periods of instability. For several months, DeiJaumar lived in a family shelter in Scarborough, an experience that sharpened his understanding of housing insecurity and state systems. He remains active in organizations such as the Caribbean Solidarity Network and Jane & Finch Action Against Poverty (JFAAP).
DeiJaumar’s political engagement began early. In 2018, he ran as a Ward 4 candidate for student trustee with the Toronto District School Board. Although he did not win, the campaign proved formative. It exposed him to grassroots organizing, collective mobilization, and the realities of political campaigning. It also placed him in proximity to long-standing community leaders, including Dr. Winston LaRose, widely known as “Mr. Jane and Finch.”
At the time, DeiJaumar articulated a vision rooted in civic responsibility. In a September 2018 Facebook post, he wrote that the Jane and Finch community held untapped power and possibility. He emphasized the importance of understanding the ballot, electing representatives who reflect community interests, and holding leaders accountable. That message continues to guide his work.
Across Toronto, DeiJaumar remains a visible presence at demonstrations, rallies, and marches. He distributes flyers for his political study group and book club while engaging people in conversation. His activism spans multiple issues, including Palestinian self-determination, housing insecurity, and advocacy for the South Sudanese community. Pan-African ideology strongly influences his thinking, particularly the work of: Marcus Garvey, George Jackson, Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, and Kwame Nkrumah.
In a July 21st, 2020, post, he described Pan-Africanism as a strategic necessity for people of African descent to unite economically, socially, and politically. He identifies as a Pan-Africanist socialist, abolitionist, and grassroots community organizer grounded in Black Radical Tradition and Marxist analysis. His political education work focuses on liberation theory, Black internationalism, and class struggle, all presented in accessible, community-centered ways.
DeiJaumar has also criticized the Toronto Police Service for systemic anti-Black racism and the over-policing of Black and Brown communities. His critique is personal. He experienced state violence firsthand after a Toronto police officer falsely accused him of spitting at an officer. DeiJaumar described the charge as fabricated and rooted in abuse of power. In reflecting on that experience, he noted that even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. faced arrest because of his political organizing. For DeiJaumar, repression confirms the necessity of resistance.
Many community members came to know him through his work at A Different Booklist, a historic Black-owned bookstore and cultural hub. Customers from across the city and around the world encountered his warm presence, thoughtful conversation, and deep political insight. The bookstore became a site of exchange, learning, and empowerment.
In September 2025, writer Miru Yogarajah profiled DeiJaumar in an article titled “A Different Political Education.” The piece highlighted the Dutty Boukman Book Club, which DeiJaumar launched in January 2024. Named after the Vodou priest who helped spark the Haitian Revolution, the book club offers political education through literature, oral history, and shared archives. It operates as a living classroom rooted in Black resistance and memory.
DeiJaumar credits elders as central to the book club’s success. He has often said that elders carry history and wisdom that young people need. Listening, he believes, sustains the African oral tradition while strengthening intergenerational bonds. The book club has met at several locations, including: A Different Booklist, the Wildseed Centre, and Studio M in Little Jamaica. Plans are underway to expand into York–South Weston and Lawrence Heights.
A defining relationship in DeiJaumar’s life was his friendship with Elder Louis March, who passed away in 2024. They met at a gun violence town hall in 2016, when DeiJaumar was new to community work. March’s reputation and integrity left a lasting impression. In a reflective July 22nd post, DeiJaumar expressed gratitude for March’s mentorship, guidance, and unwavering commitment to community.
From March, DeiJaumar learned what absolute dedication looks like. He learned about Dudley Laws and the work of the Black Action Defence Committee, which played a pivotal role in challenging police brutality and helped lead to the creation of Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit. DeiJaumar often highlights March’s compassion for mothers who lost children to gun violence, his refusal to accept government funding for grassroots work, and his refusal to profit from Black death. These principles continue to shape DeiJaumar’s ethics.
DeiJaumar also helped establish the Toronto chapter of the Noname Book Club, an initiative that donates books to incarcerated people and supports their families. Prison abolition anchors the club’s mission, aligning with DeiJaumar’s growing focus on prison justice organizing and transformative approaches to harm.
Today, DeiJaumar works with the Black Action Defence Committee, where he leads youth-focused initiatives across Lawrence Heights, Oakwood–Vaughan, and York–South Weston. He addresses issues that disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and racialized youth, including homelessness, food insecurity, economic inequality, and systemic anti-Black racism. He carries this work forward with humility, conscious of the legacy left by Dudley Laws and other movement builders.
At his core, DeiJaumar operates with critical consciousness. He commits himself to collective action aimed at dismantling colonialism, imperialism, and neoliberal exploitation. His vision centers on equitable access to resources, justice, and shared prosperity. He understands that liberation requires both memory and imagination.
By bridging elders and youth, DeiJaumar honours the past while preparing the next generation. He recognizes that wisdom does not expire, and that progress depends on listening as much as leading. In honouring figures such as Norman Otis Richmond for decades of documenting Black music and culture, DeiJaumar affirms that political education includes art, storytelling, and preservation.
Through study groups, organizing, and everyday presence, DeiJaumar Clarke continues to prove that activism becomes sustainable when education fuels it, and when community remains at the center.