About Us
Justice4Gemmel + All of Ed Buck's Victims was created to advocate on behalf of the victims of Ed Buck.
In addition to the tragic deaths of Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean, numerous young men have stepped forward with photos, emails, and text messages recounting similar stories involving Buck and accusing him of being a sexual predator, kidnapping, forced drug use, injecting unconscious black gay men with crystal meth, filing false police reports to cover his crimes, coercion, pimping, and pandering.
We are working to see that Ed Buck is prosecuted for the deaths of Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean.
Our Leadership
Jasmyne A. Cannick
Founder
Jasmyne Cannick is an award-winning journalist, political strategist, and popular television and radio commentator on race, politics, and social issues.
Cannick’s investigations have exposed major scandals in the LAPD, exposed housing scams taking advantage of low-income and unhoused people, and helped to put a Democratic donor behind bars after two Black gay men died in his home of meth overdoses and countless others came forward.
She started covering Ed Buck in August of 2017 and hasn't stopped.
Cannick founded Justice for Gemmel and All of Ed Buck’s Victims to extend her advocacy for the survivors and victims of Ed Buck beyond her journalism, leveraging both her political acumen and savviness with her community relationships.
In addition to being a journalist, Cannick is a political strategist who has worked at all levels of government including in the California State Assembly, House of Representatives, and for five mayors. She continues to work on numerous local, state, and federal candidate and ballot measure campaigns in California and has also expanded her practice to include representing some of California’s top criminal defense and civil rights attorneys.
Ms. Cannick is known for her efforts to shape public opinion and encourage civic engagement for positive social change while advocating for underrepresented and marginalized communities.
She is also an elected member of both the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and the California Democratic Party.
Nana Gyamfi
Attorney
Nana Gyamfi, JD, is a human rights and criminal defense attorney, a professor in the Pan African Studies Department at the California State University Los Angeles, and radio personality who hosts 2 popular shows in Los Angeles, CA.
As a seasoned organizer and activist, Nana has been involved and led with various local, national, and international social justice for over thirty years. She is a Co-Founder and Managing Member of two Black-led and Black-focused organizations – Justice Warriors 4 Black Lives and Human Rights Advocacy. She is a co-founder and Core Team Member of Black August Los Angeles. She has also served as Executive Director of Black Women’s Forum, an organization founded by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who serves as its President.
As a Movement attorney, Nana addresses the social justice challenges of Black and other marginalized communities of color through legal advocacy, organizing, and involvement in community causes. She represented all of the Black Lives Matter Los Angeles members prosecuted for protest actions from 2014 – 2016, and continues to advise activists involved in the Movement for Black Lives. Her almost twenty-five years of experience representing Black activists and organizers led her to co-found Justice Warriors 4 Black Lives, a Black collaborative project of community members fighting on the legal frontlines of Black liberation. She also heads the Community Legal Clinic & Restorative Justice Center (CLCRJC) where she provides legal advice and consultation, advocacy, alternate dispute resolution, and “legal-ease” workshops regarding constitutional and human rights.
Nana received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University, and her Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law and serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI).
Hussain Turk
Attorney
Hussain Turk, Esq., received his Bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College, where he studied Political Science and Women’s Studies. Hussain received his Juris Doctor degree from UCLA School of Law, where he completed a specialized certification in Critical Race Studies. During law school, Hussain served as Editor in Chief of the UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law, a leading authority on topics ranging from Islamic jurisprudence to the laws and governance in and of Near Eastern and Muslim majority nations.
Hussain served as Staff Attorney and most recently as Director of the Los Angeles HIV Law and Policy Project (“LA HLPP”), the only legal aid project serving the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS in Los Angeles County. While at LA HLPP, Hussain prosecuted civil rights violations and assisted in the prosecution of a privacy breach that ultimately settled for $17 million. As part of his work at LA HLPP, Hussain twice provided expert testimony before the California State Legislature in the successful campaign to modernize HIV-criminalization statutes. Hussain is a skilled orator and he has a passion for grassroots organizing and social justice advocacy. He has been invited to speak across the world on topics ranging from public health and criminal justice reform including the 22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, on sexual assault in the gay male community at the #MeToo demonstration in Hollywood and the state of LGBT rights at the 2017 Equality Federation conference in Washington, DC.
In his free time, Hussain enjoys listening to country music, cooking, and running.
Jerome Kitchen
Activist
Jerome J. Kitchen is a 33-year-old California native. He spent his childhood in both Southern and Central California. Jerome is the fourth son of seven siblings born to Pastor Joseph L. Kitchen Sr. and Stephanie G. Murphy. At the early age of six, Jerome starred as the late Rev. Martin Luther King jr. in a school play where his love and passion to change his community was born. As a child Jerome battled with many health conditions and was told by doctors he would be completely crippled before his twenty-first birthday. Despite his health complications, Jerome continued to put the needs of his community first, forging ahead in the beginning of an activist’s journey.
Growing up on the westside of Fresno, CA, Jerome was able to see his fair share of violence and drug abuse within his community. It was then at the tender age of nine Jerome and his three brothers chartered a community activist group in their neighborhood titled Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE). SAVE forwarded Jerome and his brothers the opportunity to advocate on behalf of their community at a time when their community was riddled with gang and street violence. Shortly after the family founded their local SAVE chapter, tragedy struck the family and Jerome’s stepfather O’Donald Laster was gunned down on the streets of Los Angeles. Instead of allowing this tragedy to intimidate or discourage the family, Mr. Kitchen and his family used it to organize a support group for Students of Slaying Parents (SSP) on local school campuses in their city.
In the eighth grade Jerome joined the NAACP Fresno Branch Youth Council where he worked and organized within his community around the issues that affected where he lived. The local chapter recognized Jerome in 2002 for his hard work. Jerome was elected President of Fresno’s Youth Council in 2003 and served until 2006. As President over his local NAACP Youth Council, Jerome led a statewide call to action for the late Tookie Williams, worked alongside local elected and appointed officials to improve the conditions of his community and strove to improve the access to resources given to those from his community.
While attending Washington Union High School Jerome noticed his school was one of many high schools in his town without a Black Student Union, and the work began to form one. This was a journey Jerome had the honor of embarking on with his younger sister, Sharrell. Jerome served as President over his school’s BSU from tenth grade until graduating in 2006. In 2008 Jerome was elected to serve as the First Vice President for the State of California NAACP Youth and College Council where he served until 2010. During his time as First Vice President, Jerome put his heart into many projects he viewed as important to his community and himself. Jerome was honored by the City of Fresno in 2009 for his humanitarian work within the city.
It was in 2010 that Jerome relocated full time to Los Angeles, CA and he began work as the Lead HIV Tester and Counselor for REACH LA. His work at REACH LA included assisting young LGBTQ community members with accessing community resources, connecting with medical care, finding transitional and affordable housing and mental services. During his time at REACH LA Jerome led two, major twenty days of testing campaigns reaching individuals at high risk of HIV and STI infection. After his time with REACH LA, Jerome became employed with Helping Hands Senior Foundation as the Senior Care Coordinator and Director of Patient Intake. In this role, Jerome assisted over eight hundred seniors with housing, medical coverage, affordable caretakers, and prescription medications access.
In 2015 tragedy struck Jerome and his family once again with the sudden passing of his grandmother from a short battle with cancer. While dealing with this loss, Jerome found himself battling with substance abuse (cocaine) to numb the pain. While secretly battling addiction, he was diagnosed with
Lupus, and he knew it was time for a personal change. Without any outside help, Jerome fully overcame his battle with addiction. It was during this time that he grappled with substance abuse that Gemmel Moore, one of Jerome’s close friends, died of an overdose in West Hollywood California. Adversity swept through Jerome’s life once more. Gemmel’s death caused Jerome immense pain and grief. The shock and mourning rekindled Jerome’s activism. It was this time Jerome worked alongside other community members to form the Justice 4 Gemmel and all Ed Bucks victims’ team to ensure his friend’s death did not go without a reckoning and to ensure that all the other victims get the justice they deserve.
Jerome, a #Me Too male survivor of sexual assault, joined the Los Angeles #MeToo movement in 2018, otherwise known as The #MeToo Survivor March. With a background in mental health services access, social Justice and public health, he currently works with both the LGBTQ+ and Black Community to help create a safe space for LGBTQ+ people of color to tell their stories without fear of backlash from our community. In March of 2019, Jerome co-created the Me-Too March International LGBTQ committee where he serves as the current chair to the committee. Mr. Kitchen also worked as the Senior Health Educator and Outreach Director at Minority AIDS Project (MAP) where he gracefully served his community on many different causes.
Jerome’s work is dedicated to ensuring that the most marginalized in society are not erased. He puts his heart and soul into the betterment of his community and his peers. A world without violence, inequality or injustice is the goal for Jerome, and with his current record of successes and resilience, he is well on the way to seeing it become reality.
“The longer Ed Buck remains a free man, the more likely there will be a third man to die in that apartment.”
-Jasmyne Cannick
