“Admittedly if you go through the halls of the statehouse, I don’t look like many of the faces that are up there. But that doesn’t change the fact that I am a legislator,” says Sykes, a 32-year-old black woman.
Sykes knew she couldn’t be the only woman of color subjected to prejudice as an elected official. So she started a hashtag and Twitter account, called We Belong Here, for black female politicians to share their stories of discrimination on the job.
On this episode of "The 23%: Conversations With Women in Government," Sykes discusses the response she's received from that, the complaint she's filed with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, and the legislation she’s been trying to pass when she’s not getting stopped by statehouse security: civil protections for victims of domestic violence, compensation for people who have been wrongfully convicted and safeguards for Medicaid expansion in the state.
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