My partner and I moved to Bellingham in September 2016 because I knew Donald Trump was going to win the presidential election. I was looking for a place that would be accepting and safe during what I have termed, the Second Civil War.

Bellingham Community welcomed me with open arms and I was able to do all of the things I love here. To help foster community and find my tribe I started a singing competition called Bellingham Idol in 2018. Shortly after that, I began hosting a few radio shows on KZAX and KMRE which led to being cast as a co-host on a TV show called Bellingham Tonight. I began 2020 with so much optimism and focus on all of the things I had been working towards since I arrived in Bellingham. My real estate career was blossoming, Bellingham Idol was going to come back HUGE in September of 2020 and Bellingham Tonight was getting picked up for our first official season (to begin filming in May of 2020).

And then….the pandemic hit.

I couldn’t show houses. We couldn’t film a TV show. I couldn’t host a singing competition, and I could not get into the radio studios. Just like everyone else, I was glued to news reports and social media trying to decipher what a worldwide pandemic actually meant. Unfortunately, we were getting no real information for our community about our community from for the first few months of the Pandemic. And then, on May 25th, the world watched in horror the almost real-time murder of George Floyd. And again, our local government was silent. So I started speaking out on social media. I began sharing what it is like to be one of the 1.3% of Black people who make up our community. My speaking out on social media lead to a local non-profit believing that my lived experience had value and was usable data. We were able to build a team of local community members whose lived experience was fundamental to the creation of the Whatcom Racial Equity Commission, of which I am a co-founder.

My work with and for the WREC lead to other people in our community telling me I should run for Bellingham City Council. I am honored and proud to be the first Black woman to ever serve on Bellingham City Council, but this alone is not enough. We need true leadership from the Mayor. We need to light a fire within each and every department to bring community solutions that work for those impacted to the forefront at a much quicker pace. To quote one of my favorite movies of all time, Remember the Titans, “Attitude reflects leadership, Captain”. And it is past time for a leader who not only understands the issues the majority of the community faces but believes them when they say the solutions we are being given are not working.

In my 18 months as a City Councilmember, I have more questions now than when I began. Even as a Councilmember, I find it incredibly difficult to get straight answers or empathy from our department heads about the largest issues our community is facing. Issues like people experiencing homelessness, the inability to maintain low-income rents in designated low-income buildings, a “that’s not our department” stance when it comes to the living conditions within Bellingham Housing Authority properties and a strong lack of desire to get to the root of injustices and inequities. If we want sustainable solutions we have to stop turning our backs on the issues that seem too complicated to solve and start there. If our city administration keeps ignoring what isn’t working because they are too timid or too blind to understand that sweeping these issues under the rug or to less desirable neighborhoods is not a solution, it’s a stalling tactic.

If you are looking for a donation button, you will not find one here. I appreciate your willingness to contribute to the cause but I do not want your money. I believe that if I am truly of the people, for the people, you the people will spread the word. If I am of the people and for the people, my short track record will show that I have been engaged and involved with those who have been desperately seeking help but have been ignored when they reach out to appropriate channels. I am not seeking to be your Mayor for the ego boost, I am seeking to be your Mayor because our community is running out of time to get this right. We cannot keep relying on solutions we know are not working. We have to reimagine local government and finally put the people that we serve at the center.