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Amid the election cycle, know this: black women are ready to lead

by Carlissa Shaw
Special to The New Tri-State Defender

Let’s stop asking the question of, “Where are our black girl leaders?” Instead, let’s shift to this: “How can we assist our black girl leaders to shine ever the more brightly.”

This is a question that I posed in a column I wrote for The New Tri- State Defender in late August of 2017. Little did I know that I would also be the person to answer the question with a call to action.

In the article I discussed the need for black women to be in leadership positions within the political landscape of our communities. Black women are running households and businesses. We are both student and teacher but for lots of reasons black women are disproportionately missing from politics.

In the time of #blackgirlmagic, we are just coming to see the value in black girl leadership on politics. Last year, we saw impressive wins across the county. From Keisha Bottoms becoming the mayor of Atlanta to LaToya Cantrell becoming the first female mayor of New Orleans, a new age is upon us as a nation. We have to work to ensure that Shelby County is no different.

We are in full election season swing in Shelby County and now is the time to start developing a plan of action to assist our black girl leaders in shining. During the last election cycle, there were several amazing black girls that ran for office that I supported. At the time, I had no idea what it really meant to support someone running for political office.

I donated to each campaign. I reposted their campaign flyers on my social media, and attended their events when invited. In my mind, I was supporting them. Each of the candidates that I supported ran very hard and devoted a lot of time and energy into campaigning. Unfortunately, none of them was victorious. Each was qualified, intelligent and passionate, yet all of them lost.

I was a little bewildered because each of these beautiful, amazing and talented black women are exactly what Memphis needs to thrive. Their energy is new and fresh, and their ideas are based in both experience and education. Their passion for Memphis and the humans living in each and every community is motivating; we need them.

In a moment of reflection about the need for my city to take a different direction, I decided that I had to be more intentional when I supported political candidates. The success of our city depends on electing candidates that will work hard to improve the conditions of the most vulnerable people living in our communities.

This election cycle will be different. I will be different. This election cycle I am putting my money where my mouth is and fully putting my effort behind supporting quality women running for office. We all live very busy lives and campaign work is not financially rewarding and requires a lot of free time. But I decided that it is my responsibility as a citizen to not only vote but to make sure that democracy is truly reflective of the people.

Although I am busy working mom, I decided manage the campaign for London Lamar’s bid for state representative. As a community, we can no longer just talk about the importance of young black women being in office. We have to do something about it. We have to take aggressive steps to ensure that our communities are protected and that we have to right people in office to do it.

I decided that London would be my key candidate in this cycle because like the other young women from the last election cycle she is exactly what Memphis needs. She is intelligent, articulate, capable and passionate about the lives of the folks in Memphis.

When we identify women in our community like London and so many others we have to support them fully. We have to host fundraisers to support their campaigns financially, introduce them to our networks, volunteer our weekends to canvas the community with them and invite them to our churches. We have to call our friends and tell them to vote. We have to wear their t-shirts and put their signs in our yard. And, finally, we as a community have to trust female leadership.

Black women are ready, we are capable and we are willing. Black women all over this country need your support in showing Memphis and America that black girl leadership is needed to build strong communities one street at a time.

The future is female and it is high time for us to trust black women.

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