This week has been a rough one for the Black community. We have yet to make it to Friday and have woken up each day to our brothers as hashtags. In desperate need of positive news and stories that advance and promote our community, this week’s #stopaskingpermission delivers that.
Low representation of black women in local, state, and federal government positions have historically been an issue. Despite advances on a local level with more black women becoming mayors of major cities such as Atlanta and Baltimore, there is still an issue in Congress.
Boston City Councilwoman Alyssa Pressley implemented a call to action to change that.
Pressley put out a call to 100 Black women leaders to “Take Your Seat”. Pressley said in a statment, “One hundred of us will come together to take over a powerful space we’ve historically been underrepresented in, the United States Senate.”
On July 12th, 100 Black women leaders will take their seat in the Edward M. Kennedy Institute’s replica of the U.S. Senate chamber. Higher Heights for America, an organization that works to build a national infrastructure to harness black women’s political power and leadership potential, has launched the #BlackWomenLead100 initiative.
The goal? To take a picture showing what it would look like if Black women were better represented in Congress.
As it stands there are 104 women in Congress, making up 19.4% of the 535 seats. To date, only 54 women of color have served in Congress. Thirty-five of those women were Black women. With a small number of black women in Congress, the #BlackWomenLead100 initiative is seeking to change that.
The women will take their seats and be photographed in a replica of the Senate to serve as what Pressley calls a “visual shot heard around the world.”
With 70 percent of eligible Black women voters participating in the last presidential election, we have the power to change the congressional structure. As Pressley puts it, those numbers alone are “proof, and a reminder that black women run more than our households and companies, we elect presidents.”
Thank you to Pressley for not asking permission to change the narrative about the role black women play in Congress. The feeling of seeing a picture of our achievements as black women is indescribable. Because of this, the future generation of black women lawmakers and leaders will know that they can take their seat in Congress.
