When I was first elected in 2015, I was the only Black lawmaker at the Arizona Legislature. I was quickly inundated with calls and letters from Black people all over the state who saw my presence at the Capitol as representation for all Black Arizonans, not just my constituents in District 27.
Just as quickly, I came to see the importance of that representation.
I can’t help but think about the more than 700,000 mostly Black and brown Washington, D.C., residents who don’t have anywhere to turn when things get tough. They have no representative to vote on legislation for them in Congress.
For more than 200 years, the residents of Washington, D.C., have been locked out of our democracy without a vote in Congress despite being the U.S. capital. Now, they’re closer to statehood than they’ve ever been, but progress is precarious.