James Kilgore is an activist and writer based in Urbana, Illinois. He lived in South Africa from 1991-2002 where he was a lecturer and Director at Khanya College, an institution founded by Neville Alexander. He currently serves as Director of Advocacy and Outreach for FirstFollowers Reentry Program in Champaign, Illinois and as a Building Community Power Fellow for Community Justice Exchange. He is the author of six books, including Freedom Never Rests, a novel about post-apartheid South Africa and Understanding Mass Incarceration: : A People’s Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time which drew on his experience of six years of incarceration in the United States.
Racial Capitalism Dissected
Against the Current No. 236, May/June 2025
Punishing the Criminalized Sector of the Working Class
Against the Current, No. 218, May/June 2022
Oupa Lehulere, Renowned South African Marxist
Against the Current, No. 216, January-February 2022
Mass Incarceration for Profit
Against the Current, No. 177, July/August 2015
The Politics of Mass Incarceration
Against the Current, No. 174, January/February 2015
Drugs, Race & the Gulag Industry
Against the Current, No. 153, July/August 2011
Year One of the Transition
Against the Current, No. 58, September/October 1995
Perestroika as Africans See It
Against the Current, No. 28, September/October 1990
Zimbabwe's Decade of Independence
Against the Current, No. 21, July/August 1989