tamika l. butler (she/her or they/them) is a doctoral student in Urban Planning at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her research employs a critical race, historical, legal, and policy-based approach to examine how transportation policy and infrastructure have been used to segregate, isolate, and prevent the mobility of Black and other historically oppressed groups of people.

Prior to pursuing her PhD, tamika consulted, wrote, and spoke as a national expert on issues related to public policy, the built environment, equity, anti-racism, diversity and inclusion, organizational behavior, and change management. She transitioned to policy work after litigating for three years as an employment lawyer at Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center. tamika has a diverse background in law, community organizing and nonprofit leadership.

tamika received her J.D. from Stanford Law School, and received her B.A. in Psychology and B.S. in Sociology in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. She lives in Los Angeles with her wife and kids.

tamika has also authored and co-authored several publications, including:

• Butler, T. (2020, June 9). Why We Must Talk About Race When We Talk About Bikes. Bicycling. https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a32783551/cycling-talk-fight-racism/
• Butler, T. (2020, November 13). I Love to Ride My Bike. But I Won’t Call Myself a ‘Cyclist.’ Bicycling. https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a34463062/cyclist-exclusionary/
• Tamika Butler. (2017). Can Vision Zero Work in a Racist Society? Vision Zero Cities Journal, 2. https://medium.com/vision-zero-cities-journal/can-vision-zero-work-in-a-racist-society-43daad4a8561
• Tamika Butler. (2020, May 27). Stop Killing Us: A Real Life Nightmare. Noteworthy – The Journal Blog. https://blog.usejournal.com/stop-killing-us-a-real-life-nightmare-dd47c576ec1b
• Tamika L. Butler. (2020, September 14). To tackle pandemic racism, we need to take action, not just take to social media. The Kinder Institute for Urban Research Urban Edge Blog. https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2020/09/14/transportation-transit-tackle-pandemic-racism-we-need-take-action-not-just-take-social-media
• Tamika L. Butler, Veronica O. Davis, Anita Cozart, & L. Dara Baldwin. (2021). My Back is Still the Bridge: The White Problem in Planning. Carolina Planning Journal, 46. https://carolinaplanning.unc.edu/editors-note