This Women’s History Month make plans to engage in the political process

Kennedy Phillips Rosa Parks. Susan B. Anthony. Barbara Jordan. Sandra Day O’Connor. Madam C.J. Walker. Those are among the women most people think about during Women’s History Month. I think about my mom, my grandmother and my granna. They’re the ones who laid the foundation for me to make history as a first-generation college graduate and one of the few Black young women to lobby on behalf of the rights of women at the Indiana Statehouse. They’re the ones who schooled me from a young age in the importance of paying attention to the political process, representation and empowerment. And they’re the ones who told me, “Black people and women didn’t fight for the right to vote for no reason.” In my family, awareness of what’s going on in politics is expected. Participation in the process is a part of life. And voting? That’s an obligation. With this foundation, I became interested in powerful political leaders at an early age. In middle school, I became aware of then-Sen. Kamala Harris. Seeing a Black women in power inspired me to want to run for political office (something that still intrigues me, albeit probably at a local level because that’s where real...