[Music]
I’d like to tell you about my first year
serving in elected office in Kentucky I
am the first of my family to serve in
office I obviously did not come from
political family lineage and I did not
grow up with the well-known last name
and I’m hardly the candidate that is
embraced by the political status quo and
I rarely run in political circles and
just to give you an idea of the
political context in my state most of
the politicians in office in Louisville
my hometown and Kentucky are white men
and despite that I won my election in
2016 against a 34 year incumbent who was
a white guy and I won in a 3-way race
with 52% of the vote
and now as the first black woman and the
first woman of color period to serve in
our state legislature in nearly 20 years
I know that people are depending on me
to stand up for freedom justice and
equity and the people that I’m talking
about are my loving community of family
and friends who traveled from across
Kentucky to see me get sworn in in
January 2017 and I’m talking about
nearly 100 elementary school kids other
young people black folks white folks
people who are latina acts LGBTQ people
folks from across Kentucky who showed up
in solidarity with me wearing red
because red is one of my favorite colors
and I will also add that there were
people across the country colleagues and
friends who couldn’t make it to Kentucky
and they wore red as well and posted on
their social media that day
congratulations
to me for serving in office and it was
beautiful to see our house gallery
overflowing with people and then the
overflow room and the Kentucky Supreme
Court chamber full of people and then to
see these beautiful kids sitting
cross-legged on the floor of their State
Capitol and it was wonderful to share
that day with my kids and with my
daughter who in her 16 years had never
seen someone who looks like her serving
in our state legislature and I know that
it mattered to people across my district
which is 50% black 50% white 79 percent
of voters are age 50 and older and 62
percent of voters are women it mattered
to them to have someone who would speak
out and stand up against political
bullies and people who were using the
Bible as a political weapon and women
wanted another representative who would
for our reproductive rights and on that
day of my swearing-in I felt resilient
and that feeling soon diminished when I
walked into our house chambers and sit
it seated in front of me was the person
from Bullitt County who at campaign
using images of first lady and President
Obama as Apes and the offense is clear
when you know that there are 100 members
of our house which means that either one
of us could have been seated somewhere
else on that House floor but majority
leadership decided to sit the only black
woman in the house behind someone who is
blatantly racist and so it was clear to
me going into a legislature that is 94%
white that the odds were stacked against
me but I knew that I belong there
because people from across my district
told me when I knocked on doors that
they did not feel represented and people
in predominantly black West Louisville
told me that they were tired of being
ignored and people in predominantly
white East Louisville told me that they
were tired of the attacks on people who
are lgbtqia+ and across the district
people talked about their concerns with
environmental and infrastructure issues
so I knew that I had to be there
sometimes I’m the only person in one of
my committees who was there to speak up
when harmful and hateful and hurtful
legislation is introduced in 2017 House
bill 151 was introduced the neighborhood
schools bill which was designed to
resegregate our public schools by ending
busing and creating neighborhood schools
that would mean that the 65,000 kids in
the Jefferson County public school
system where I live would be segregated
by neighborhood and that they would no
longer be afforded the opportunity to
attend school with people who are from
different countries and in schools where
a hundred and twenty different languages
are spoken by our students in y’all I
was one of those students who was bused
and this is a picture of my high school
graduation I am a graduate of our public
school system my son graduated from the
same high school is me and my daughter
will graduate from her public high
school in 2019 so it was interesting to
me to be in the committee meeting where
this bill was discussed House bill 151
and to have a speaker who talked about
inner city and urban kids being violent
drug addicts he actually said that if
these kids were not in school they would
walk down the street shooting people and
not one person in committee challenged
him in that moment I guess to keep from
humiliating him
and I have to say that I am proud of the
people in my district and so I spoke up
in their defense people like the folks
in this image who rebuilt a community
garden on a lot that had sat vacant for
nearly 40 years
and so after the committee meeting
several of the members of the committee
came up to me and said that they were
bothered by his comments as well
yet they did not say anything wouldn’t
matter the most and I will tell you that
when you were silenced you are complicit
they left the lone black woman there to
speak out and that night I received an
email from a guy who asked me why are
you always so angry when you speak why
really I challenge a white guy in
committee and that translates to the
angry black woman so I actually went to
some of my colleagues and asked I’m not
angry when I speak and one of the women
said you’re not angry enough
and the offenses continued so House bill
520 which was the stock charter school
bill was introduced and speaker after
speaker who supported the bill talked
about how beneficial it would be for
black kids in Kentucky so I asked the
bill sponsor had he talked to any of his
black colleagues in the house I mean
there are only six of us to talk to and
his answer was no he didn’t bother to
talk to any of us to find out whether or
not we had spoken to educators or
parents to find out from them their
concerns with charter schools concerns
that included schools taking away
funding from our public schools that
have only experienced cuts since 2008 or
that kids of color will continue to
experience an academic achievement gap
or that kids with disabilities are often
excluded from admission into charter
schools it would have been easy for me
to have given up this legislative
session because it was quite
disappointing but when I would hear from
people in the district like some of the
folks pictured here who would say to me
we appreciate the fact that you speak up
and you show up and you stand up for
human rights and social justice despite
the odds against you and those odds
began to change when I would have
colleagues who would say to me the fact
that I speak up in committee and on the
House floor for social justice inspired
them to speak up I had one of my
colleagues a woman who asked me how was
I going to vote on a gang violence
reduction bill and I told her how I was
going to vote and why and she said I’m
gonna vote in solidarity with you
because it’s the right thing to do so
only three of us ended up voting against
that bill but it didn’t end up going
anywhere anyway
and then when the blue lives matter bill
came up for debate on the House floor
and to hear my white colleagues say our
life experiences are different than that
of people of color and their
perspectives matter I know that I belong
in this political space because now my
kids and young people across Kentucky
get to see a black woman who is focused
on civic engagement who is working on
public policy and who is guided by a
moral compass that believes in lifting
up people who are left behind and no
longer are black women invisible in our
state legislature and I know that it
matters for me to be here in this
political space for people who feel like
they’ve been left out discriminated
against told that they were too young to
run or it was not their time to run or
that they were not political team
players because they refuse refuse to
succumb to the political status quo I
know that we all belong in politics
and so as a activist and organizer I
know that sometimes the challenges that
we face can seem insurmountable and I
also know that means that I have to keep
pushing onward with everlasting
resistance that in other words I have to
keep using my power in my voice for
people who have felt ignored because if
I don’t speak up who will and in the
words of the former governor of the
state of Washington christine Gregoire
if you don’t run who will and so now I
have women of color from across Kentucky
who are saying to me that they want to
run for office and I look forward to
supporting them and getting out the way
so that they can serve in my stead or
serving side-by-side with them while I’m
still in
office because I should no longer be the
only black woman or the only woman of
color serving in Kentucky’s legislature
and in our country not one State House
should be without the life experiences
the stories or the voices of women of
color and I know that I am serving
people who now have someone who not only
looks like them in office but I’ve been
told by many of the white folks that I
serve that I’m speaking up for their
issues as well and that’s what happens
when you bring diversity and inclusion
and are intentional about your
representatives whether local or state
office and that’s why I am here to tell
you that if you have ever doubted that
you belong in politics look around you
belong there
and you are needed I believe in a
reflective democracy for all of us who
are claiming our space and owning our
power thank you
[Applause]
I’d like to tell you about my first year
serving in elected office in Kentucky I
am the first of my family to serve in
office I obviously did not come from
political family lineage and I did not
grow up with the well-known last name
and I’m hardly the candidate that is
embraced by the political status quo and
I rarely run in political circles and
just to give you an idea of the
political context in my state most of
the politicians in office in Louisville
my hometown and Kentucky are white men
and despite that I won my election in
2016 against a 34 year incumbent who was
a white guy and I won in a 3-way race
with 52% of the vote
and now as the first black woman and the
first woman of color period to serve in
our state legislature in nearly 20 years
I know that people are depending on me
to stand up for freedom justice and
equity and the people that I’m talking
about are my loving community of family
and friends who traveled from across
Kentucky to see me get sworn in in
January 2017 and I’m talking about
nearly 100 elementary school kids other
young people black folks white folks
people who are latina acts LGBTQ people
folks from across Kentucky who showed up
in solidarity with me wearing red
because red is one of my favorite colors
and I will also add that there were
people across the country colleagues and
friends who couldn’t make it to Kentucky
and they wore red as well and posted on
their social media that day
congratulations
to me for serving in office and it was
beautiful to see our house gallery
overflowing with people and then the
overflow room and the Kentucky Supreme
Court chamber full of people and then to
see these beautiful kids sitting
cross-legged on the floor of their State
Capitol and it was wonderful to share
that day with my kids and with my
daughter who in her 16 years had never
seen someone who looks like her serving
in our state legislature and I know that
it mattered to people across my district
which is 50% black 50% white 79 percent
of voters are age 50 and older and 62
percent of voters are women it mattered
to them to have someone who would speak
out and stand up against political
bullies and people who were using the
Bible as a political weapon and women
wanted another representative who would
for our reproductive rights and on that
day of my swearing-in I felt resilient
and that feeling soon diminished when I
walked into our house chambers and sit
it seated in front of me was the person
from Bullitt County who at campaign
using images of first lady and President
Obama as Apes and the offense is clear
when you know that there are 100 members
of our house which means that either one
of us could have been seated somewhere
else on that House floor but majority
leadership decided to sit the only black
woman in the house behind someone who is
blatantly racist and so it was clear to
me going into a legislature that is 94%
white that the odds were stacked against
me but I knew that I belong there
because people from across my district
told me when I knocked on doors that
they did not feel represented and people
in predominantly black West Louisville
told me that they were tired of being
ignored and people in predominantly
white East Louisville told me that they
were tired of the attacks on people who
are lgbtqia+ and across the district
people talked about their concerns with
environmental and infrastructure issues
so I knew that I had to be there
sometimes I’m the only person in one of
my committees who was there to speak up
when harmful and hateful and hurtful
legislation is introduced in 2017 House
bill 151 was introduced the neighborhood
schools bill which was designed to
resegregate our public schools by ending
busing and creating neighborhood schools
that would mean that the 65,000 kids in
the Jefferson County public school
system where I live would be segregated
by neighborhood and that they would no
longer be afforded the opportunity to
attend school with people who are from
different countries and in schools where
a hundred and twenty different languages
are spoken by our students in y’all I
was one of those students who was bused
and this is a picture of my high school
graduation I am a graduate of our public
school system my son graduated from the
same high school is me and my daughter
will graduate from her public high
school in 2019 so it was interesting to
me to be in the committee meeting where
this bill was discussed House bill 151
and to have a speaker who talked about
inner city and urban kids being violent
drug addicts he actually said that if
these kids were not in school they would
walk down the street shooting people and
not one person in committee challenged
him in that moment I guess to keep from
humiliating him
and I have to say that I am proud of the
people in my district and so I spoke up
in their defense people like the folks
in this image who rebuilt a community
garden on a lot that had sat vacant for
nearly 40 years
and so after the committee meeting
several of the members of the committee
came up to me and said that they were
bothered by his comments as well
yet they did not say anything wouldn’t
matter the most and I will tell you that
when you were silenced you are complicit
they left the lone black woman there to
speak out and that night I received an
email from a guy who asked me why are
you always so angry when you speak why
really I challenge a white guy in
committee and that translates to the
angry black woman so I actually went to
some of my colleagues and asked I’m not
angry when I speak and one of the women
said you’re not angry enough
and the offenses continued so House bill
520 which was the stock charter school
bill was introduced and speaker after
speaker who supported the bill talked
about how beneficial it would be for
black kids in Kentucky so I asked the
bill sponsor had he talked to any of his
black colleagues in the house I mean
there are only six of us to talk to and
his answer was no he didn’t bother to
talk to any of us to find out whether or
not we had spoken to educators or
parents to find out from them their
concerns with charter schools concerns
that included schools taking away
funding from our public schools that
have only experienced cuts since 2008 or
that kids of color will continue to
experience an academic achievement gap
or that kids with disabilities are often
excluded from admission into charter
schools it would have been easy for me
to have given up this legislative
session because it was quite
disappointing but when I would hear from
people in the district like some of the
folks pictured here who would say to me
we appreciate the fact that you speak up
and you show up and you stand up for
human rights and social justice despite
the odds against you and those odds
began to change when I would have
colleagues who would say to me the fact
that I speak up in committee and on the
House floor for social justice inspired
them to speak up I had one of my
colleagues a woman who asked me how was
I going to vote on a gang violence
reduction bill and I told her how I was
going to vote and why and she said I’m
gonna vote in solidarity with you
because it’s the right thing to do so
only three of us ended up voting against
that bill but it didn’t end up going
anywhere anyway
and then when the blue lives matter bill
came up for debate on the House floor
and to hear my white colleagues say our
life experiences are different than that
of people of color and their
perspectives matter I know that I belong
in this political space because now my
kids and young people across Kentucky
get to see a black woman who is focused
on civic engagement who is working on
public policy and who is guided by a
moral compass that believes in lifting
up people who are left behind and no
longer are black women invisible in our
state legislature and I know that it
matters for me to be here in this
political space for people who feel like
they’ve been left out discriminated
against told that they were too young to
run or it was not their time to run or
that they were not political team
players because they refuse refuse to
succumb to the political status quo I
know that we all belong in politics
and so as a activist and organizer I
know that sometimes the challenges that
we face can seem insurmountable and I
also know that means that I have to keep
pushing onward with everlasting
resistance that in other words I have to
keep using my power in my voice for
people who have felt ignored because if
I don’t speak up who will and in the
words of the former governor of the
state of Washington christine Gregoire
if you don’t run who will and so now I
have women of color from across Kentucky
who are saying to me that they want to
run for office and I look forward to
supporting them and getting out the way
so that they can serve in my stead or
serving side-by-side with them while I’m
still in
office because I should no longer be the
only black woman or the only woman of
color serving in Kentucky’s legislature
and in our country not one State House
should be without the life experiences
the stories or the voices of women of
color and I know that I am serving
people who now have someone who not only
looks like them in office but I’ve been
told by many of the white folks that I
serve that I’m speaking up for their
issues as well and that’s what happens
when you bring diversity and inclusion
and are intentional about your
representatives whether local or state
office and that’s why I am here to tell
you that if you have ever doubted that
you belong in politics look around you
belong there
and you are needed I believe in a
reflective democracy for all of us who
are claiming our space and owning our
power thank you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: