Dr Butch Ware with glasses, sitting on a chair, wearing a white embroidered shirt, black pants, white boots, and holding a beaded necklace, with a soda can on the floor in front of him.

My Story

My Story

BUTCH WARE

I was born to a teen mom & a dad who worked as a locksmith.

Growing up, we moved so often that I didn’t live at the same address for a full year until I was 8.

Those early experiences shaped how I see the world & why I’ve spent my life turning ideas into actionable strategies.

My work includes organizing teach-ins, developing educational initiatives & leading movements challenging imperialism, militarism & ethnic cleansing.

I partner with communities across the country & around the world to build fairer, more peaceful futures—rooted in African, Indigenous, Abrahamic & other wisdom traditions.

  • University of Minnesota, 1997

    PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 2004

    Associate Professor, University of California Santa Barbara

    US Vice Presidential Candidate, Green Party, 2024

    California Gubernatorial Candidate, Green Party, 2025

  • Ware, Rudolph T.; Wright, Zachary Valentine; Syed, Amir (2018). Jihad of the Pen: The Sufi Literature of West Africa. American University in Cairo Press.

    Ware, Rudolph T. (2014). The Walking Qurʼan: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa. University of North Carolina Press. 

Sports trading card featuring a baseball player in a white pinstriped uniform and black cap, holding a bat and preparing to swing, with a green field in the background. The card has the name Butch Ware, and includes the team Minneapolis Loons logo and some text about outdoor baseball.

Did you know I played Baseball in Minneapolis?