Abdullah is the daughter of
Melina Abdullah, one of the co-founders of
Black Lives Matter LA. She grew up in the
Crenshaw District of Los Angeles and has Jewish heritage on her mother's side. She majored in
African-American studies at
Howard University. and marching in protest of the
murder of Oscar Grant when she was 6. In 2013 and 2014, at age 10, Abdullah took part in the several protest marches, including the protests following the
killing of Trayvon Martin and the
Ferguson protests that arose in response to the
killing of Michael Brown in 2014, she took notice of the lack of teenagers and other youth. This led her to co-found Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard in 2015. In 2018, Abdullah addressed a crowd of 500,000 at the
Women's March in Los Angeles. Abdullah created Black Lives Matter in Schools when she was 15, an effort that promotes
racial justice that was eventually adopted by the Los Angeles School Board. She also is involved with the
March for Our Lives, a student-led organization which demonstrates in support of
gun control legislation. Abdullah has been critical of corporations "co-opting" the Black Lives Matter movement. == Awards and honors ==