From a very young age, Nathaniel Khaliq knew racism was immoral. He saw the debilitating effect it had on its victims, including himself. “It led to a life of self-destruction,” says Khaliq. “I had a mentality and attitude of, ‘Oh I’m never going to be anything, so why try?’”

As he grew older, Khaliq says he realized he could no longer remain silent about racism. “I was compelled by my faith and personal experience to get involved and to challenge it.”

Khaliq has dedicated himself to the fight for racial justice for over 30 years. He recently retired as president of the Saint Paul NAACP, a position he held for 17 years. Khaliq’s passionate leadership has brought major victories to Minnesota’s communities of color and has made him one of the state’s most respected civil rights activists. His many achievements include a federally mediated anti-racial profiling agreement with the city of Saint Paul in 2001. Other recent successes include making changes to state and county gang databases found to be racially biased and an investigation in Saint Paul into excessive use of the Obstructing Legal Process (OLP) charge against African Americans. The review of cases resulted in retraining police and prosecutors and led to a substantial drop in the number of OLP charges.

Though retired and looking forward to spending more time with his family and 16 grandchildren, Khaliq does not appear to be slowing down much. He remains on the board of the Saint Paul NAACP. He says he also plans to work with the organization’s Youth Branch because he worries about the obstacles facing younger generations.

Racist policies still abound, Khaliq says, and the fight to remove damaging racial disparities in health, education and employment requires constant attention. “We have an opportunity to turn this around,” says Khaliq. “We must be vigilant and faithful that the good Lord will see us through this. We can’t give up.”