Breaking the cycle of invisibility!
“This work is deeply personal for me. As a mom to Blaise and Cass, everyday I feel the urgency of families fighting the system to hear us, and to build communities that are healthy, safe, and resilient. Now’s the time for us to lead.”
A two hundred year history has been rewritten many thanks to Boston voters who elected City Councilor Michelle Wu as mayor. She becomes the city’s first woman and person of color elected to the post.
Wu, a Democrat, a daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, defeated fellow Democrat Annissa Essaibi-George to rewrite history. This isn’t the first time Wu is making history, in 2016 as the first Asian American to serve as president of the City Council.
“One of my sons asked me the other night if boys can be elected mayor of Boston. They have been, and they will again someday, but not tonight,” Wu told supporters Tuesday night. “On this day, Boston elected your mom because from every corner of our city, Boston has spoken.”
“We are ready to meet this moment. We are ready to become a Boston for everyone,” she added. “We are ready to become a Boston that doesn’t push people out, but welcomes all who call our city home. We’re ready to be a Boston where all can afford to stay and to thrive. And, yes, Boston is ready to become a Green New Deal city.”
Wu’s campaign focused on equity which fared better among all populace.
For years, racial segregation has seen the hugely rising diverse population being led by white leaders. Whereas Black, Latino, and Asian residents now make up more than half of the population.
The thirty-six-year-old moved to the city from Chicago and attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School and in 2013, she was elected to the city council.
Recalling her journey, Wu wrote:
“Growing up, I never thought I would run for office one day. As the daughter of immigrants, I understood from my youngest days how my family and so many others feel unseen and unheard in our society. When my mom began struggling with mental illness as I was finishing college, I became her caregiver and raised my sisters. In those days as we were trying to figure out how to go on in the depths of family crisis, it felt like we were alone, invisible, and powerless.
Through my family’s struggles, I’ve seen just how much government matters, and how big of a disconnect there often is when you most need help. Whether it was fighting to get my sisters what they needed in schools, fighting to open a neighborhood small business, or navigating BPS with my own children, we met barriers from city agencies that were supposed to provide support. And when I met others in the same situation—caring for a family member, raising kids, trying to open a business—I heard the same frustrations of fighting a system that wasn’t designed to work for everyone.
I went to law school to learn how to navigate and change these systems so other families wouldn’t face the same challenges. And from working in City Hall for Mayor Tom Menino, and on my former law professor Senator Elizabeth Warren’s first campaign, I saw how government and politics can help solve problems, remove barriers, and empower people. That’s why I ran for City Council in 2013, and why I work everyday to build community and push for the future that our kids deserve…”
