Collins, a 31-year-old organizer and activist from Chicago, believes “it’s time for a generational change in the Illinois 7^th congressional district.” Collins noted that Rep. Davis has been in office since she was five years old. “With all due respect to the congressman, anything that you could have done, you should have done in 25 years.”

Pointing toward pressing issues, such as the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade, workers’ rights, healthcare reform and climate change, Collins said that “we deserve a fighter” representing her district. She described the 7^th district and why she represents its people. “When you look at [the demographics of the 7^th district] — the median age is millennial, supermajority woman district, plurality African American district and overwhelmingly working class — that’s me.”

When asked about the legacy of the 7^th district, which historically included the area represented by Abraham Lincoln in Congress and has seen significant activism throughout its history, Collins took a humbled and community-centric approach to her campaign to represent the area. “I want to minimize myself,” she said about her place in the legacy of the district. “From Black Lives Matter to March for Our Lives to the Women’s March to the Sunrise Movement, we are in a resurgence of the Civil Rights Movement.”

Collins believes that elected officials should serve “the heartbeat of these movements, which are everyday people who don’t run for office.” Her role in office, she explained, would be that of a “convener in the district and as a co-conspirator in this work with movement leaders.”

Discussing the lessons she has learned from her years of activism, Collin said that “it taught me the importance of accountability and being accountable to the community. “The whole system failed Laquan McDonald,” she points out as an example of lack of accountability, discussing his murder and the subsequent cover-up surrounding the 2014 killing of the Black teenager by a Chicago police officer. She also cited the 2012 killing of Rekia Boyd as another systemic failure.

All too often, as Collins noted with cases like these, it takes concerted outcries from the Black community for any attention to be aided to these issues. “Why does it require a viral consumption of outrage from Black folks in order to shame and embarrass our criminal justice system into action?”

Kina-Collins

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