Last week Burlington Rep. Kesha Ram (D) completed her first session in Vermont’s legislature. At 22 she’s the youngest member of the House and a recent graduate of the University of Vermont where she was student body president. When the state legislature is in recess she teaches preschool. A Los Angeles native with a father from India and a Jewish mother, Ram is the only person of color in the House.
You may have seen MTV’s Kesha Ram Rocks The House when she ran for office last year. Her campaign sought to energize young voters, who in the 18-25 age range make up 50 percent of her district’s voters. Progressive opponents attacked her choice to run as a Democrat, arguing that it would hamper her ability to speak for her constituents.
Update: I just noticed this interview with Kesha Ram over at Wiretap Magazine, Young and Elected: Kesha Ram. In this interview with first-time lawmakers, Ram joins other freshmen members in reflecting on the recent session, including her experience as Clerk of the General, Housing, and Military Affairs Committee. She also describes a personal connection to the Vermont vote on legalizing gay marriage, drawing a comparison with the interracial marriages of her parents and Barack Obama’s parents.
More: Ram on Twitter and interviewed by Teen Vogue.
Twenty-two??? Geez, that’s young. You go, Ms. Ram!
Don’t want to be mean but my first thought was: Twenty-two?? Geez she looks forty-two.
COOOL!
What are you smoking?
As a younger politician of colour running for a seat in a house of reps without Any people of colour, I’d say she’s dressing conservatively in order to be taken more seriously. Or perhaps that’s just her personal style. Not all Indian women dress in a sari every day you know [joke]
I agree with you Justin. When I was in college teaching high school kids, I dressed like a schoolmarm complete with wire-rim glasses. Nobody takes a hot girl seriously, sigh.
what about the kids with sexy librarian fetishes? (granting you your modest assessment of your looks, that is 🙂
Why is a person with an Indian father and a jewish mother called a “person of color”? Why is a person with an African father and a European mother called an “African-American”?
Sepia Mutiny? Hardly!
“Person of color” is used here because the remainder of the House reps are white. Regarding the second question: one-drop rule.
Pavani Haiku
So sad you’re teaching when you could be breaking “rules” Drop of colored thought
Svaha, you are completely correct, When someone is part white, part another ethnicity, Why are they called the other ethnicity? What makes them not white, but black, or brown, or whatever….?