‘Heart of the movement’ – Family and friends mourn Atlanta activist Janel Green

From a young age, Janel Jeras Green showed signs of the strong-willed woman with a love for people and the community she would eventually become, her mother Carol Jeras said.

Green, a loving mother, community leader and fierce activist, passed away on Nov. 2 after fighting a long battle with breast cancer, according to an obituary written by her sister, Jacqui. Janel was 55 and her passing is felt by her 16-year-old son, multiple family members, neighbors and fellow community organizers who worked alongside and learned from Green’s work in fighting for social justice in Georgia.

“She was the heart of the movement,” said Gerald Griggs, state president of the Georgia NAACP and Green’s partner in starting the Georgia Alliance for Social Justice. “She was the heartbeat of social justice here in Georgia. And so to fill that hole I don’t know if that’s possible, from the Women’s March to March For Our Lives, to the resistance that was built from 2017 to now, she was always right there.”