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Alabama Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, will host a reception in Washington D.C. alongside Vice President Kamala Harris to honor the contributions of Black women elected officials.
“I’m totally honored to have the opportunity to ever be in the presence of the Vice President of the United States of America,” Givan said. “ And then not only that she is a woman of color, the first to ever hold this position. And just having this opportunity is one of those moments in my life that I’ll never forget. And not only to have this opportunity, but I will literally be speaking in front of the Vice President, to bring words on behalf of black elected women throughout this country is pretty big.”
Givan serves as president for the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative (NOBEL) Women. Nobel Women is an organization of over 380 women of color throughout the country who work as elected officials. Givan has also served in the role as president for over two years now after being elected.
Currently, there has been a major push from conservatives to attack Critical Race Theory (CRT), “wokeness” and discussions of race in school. This culture war hysteria has come to also target educating students about Black history and ostensibly the contributions of different Black important figures.
Givan said that these attempts to “erase Black history” make the event Thursday especially meaningful.
“And nobody wants to deal with the subject matter in a way to say or even see the great things that Black people have done here in this country,” Givan said. “We helped to build this country and to make this country what it is today. And so moments like this matter because it lends a voice and just for that particular purpose if nothing else to say that these Black women leaders exist in this country. Not only that they exist in this country, but they exist with purpose, they exist with promise and they exist with power.”
The event will be in collaboration with the Higher Heights Leadership Fund which is dedicated to increase the leadership capacity of Black women.
Givan said that as a Black woman from small unknown parts of Alabama, she hopes she can inspire little Black girls.
“I’m hoping that some young black girl. All from Alabama somewhere, will see that. And I want them to be able to see it And I want them to be able to say, wow there are black women in Alabama that can be invited to stand before the Vice President of the United States of America and that I can do the same thing one day. That’s always my hope and that’s always my dream.”
