Representative Ayanna Pressley: Intentional Advocate for Our Times
By Caroline Hinrichs
As a Bostonian and native of Massachusetts, I am honored to present a podcast about the life and political career of Ayanna Pressley, the first Black female representative to Congress from Massachusetts. Originally from Chicago and daughter of tenant’s rights activist Sandy Pressley, Rep. Pressley has always believed it’s important for all people to see themselves mirrored in government. Her mother taught her that there’s two types of work: one type is simply a job, and the other is “capital W Work”, the kind of work that uplifts the community and contributes to something bigger than oneself.
Ayanna Pressley began working in politics in 1994 when she left college at Boston University. She did so in order to take on a full-time job to support her mother, who was unemployed at the time. As a college student, Pressley had interned for Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy, and after leaving BU, found work in his office as a district representative. Two years later, she began working for US Senator Joe Kerry, also a Massachusetts democrat. Pressley’s talents in working with people and political strategy led her to work her way up to Senator Kerry’s political director in 2009. She maintains that her skills didn’t come from her university education, but rather from her life experience: the sales skills she learned from working retail, the enthusiasm she picked up as high school cheer captain, and the people skills earned from hours of customer service.
However, her rise in the ranks wasn’t without challenges. People often underestimated Pressley based solely on her identity and appearance as a Black woman. When she was working for Senator Kerry on capital hill, tourists assumed she was an intern or waitress getting food for a senator. “It’s great to be the first, but you never wanna be the last,” Pressley stated in 2009.
Pressley returned to Boston and won her first city council election in 2009, topping the ballot as the only woman in a race for 13 seats. This made her the first Black woman to sit on the 100-year-old city council. During her 10 years as council member at large, she helped pass legislation for comprehensive sexual health education in Boston Public Schools and strengthened programs to support pregnant and parenting teens. After cannabis was legalized in MA in 2016, she fought for equity in marijuana licensing laws. Pressley also supported Black entrepreneurs by pushing through changes in Boston’s liquor license laws with the purpose of stimulating growth in restaurant business in majority-Black or immigrant neighborhoods. Her historic work in Boston changed the city for the better, and more women and people of color continued to run for and join the city council.
In 2018, two years into the Trump administration, Pressley felt called to think – and act – in a bigger way. Pressley announced a congressional campaign in MA’s 7th district. She ran on a distinctly anti-Trump platform, pledging to support immigrant rights and uplift survivors of sexual abuse and assault.
In September 2018, Pressley won the democratic primary against Mike Capuano in a landslide, lifted by an unprecedented turnout from the 7th district’s voters of color. She also won the general election unopposed, making her the first Black woman ever to represent Massachusetts in Congress. In her victory speech, she pledged to her constituents that “I am taking every one of you to Washington with me.”
She kept her word! During her first year in congress, Rep. Pressley was faithful to the promises she made to her constituents in standing up to Donald Trump’s policies, which she calls “draconian”. She visited detention centers on the border, voted for the impeachment of the president in 2019, and helped the #MeToo movement hold the first survivor’s summit. Recently, she questioned Postmaster Louis DeJoy about cuts to the USPS and held the postal service accountable for tracking and reporting COVID cases and deaths among postal workers. Her first two years in Congress will be followed by 2 more, as she won the 2020 MA election uncontested this November.
Additionally, the value of representation as a Black woman in congress cannot be underestimated. The braids she wore in her hair took on a symbolism for Black woman and girls across the US, a countercultural assurance that a Black woman can be a successful politician without having to tailor her appearance to white-centric cultural beauty standards. Pressley wore many hairstyles at the beginning of her work in politics, but waist-length Senegalese twists became her signature look, because they made her feel most herself. Pressley says she expected people to interpret her hair as a statement of militant anger, but did not expect the “blessing” of the loving community that developed from women who feel that she’s inspired them and given them permission to wear their hair as they wish.
As is characteristic of the man in the oval office, Trump did not take kindly to Pressley’s vocal opposition and began to attack her on Twitter during her first year in office. Pressley was not the only female congresswoman of color whom Trump targeted. Alexandria Occasio-Cortez, the youngest woman to serve in congress, and Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim women representatives, were also recipients of the president’s public vitriol. The four nicknamed themselves “the Squad” because they all represented historic “firsts” in Congress. Pressley became a sort of spokesperson for the 4 under Trump’s attacks in 2019.
In the fall of the same year, Pressley’s hair began to change in a way that scared her. Every morning, she woke up to clumps of hair in the sink. Her hair loss was caused by a condition called alopecia, which is characterized by permanent hair loss. By December, she was completely bald, and yet, with the country embroiled in the President’s impeachment, she felt she did not have time to grieve the loss. Her hair had been important to her personally as well as politically, and in losing it, she felt she had let down all the girls and women who saw her as a role model. In January, Rep. Pressley revealed her bald head after sharing her story publicly through Black news outlet The Root. While her hair is gone, she is still a role model. As a Black women in congress and the first woman to rock a visibly bald head in congress, she continues to inspire people with her transparency, realness, and unapologetic beauty.
What advice does Presley have for young people looking to go into politics? For all underrepresented voices, she wants to let you know that “your story matters.” I learned from Pressley’s life that capital W work is not intended as a stand-alone statement, but rather an invitation. Her career and story stands as an open invitation to everyone to acknowledge that the issues that affect women, families, and the Black community are issues we should all care about, and to get angry, and to ACT. “Being an ally is easy… but these times require and demand more than being an ally. They demand intentional advocacy,” Pressley says. Ayanna Pressley is that intentional advocate for our times, and she invites all of us to step up and join her squad.
Sources
“Ayanna Pressley Talks about The Squad | The Breakfast Club.” YouTube, uploaded by REVOLT TV, 14 Aug. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=89-GMqj-bZI.
“Here’s how AOC, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley & Rashida Tlaib became known as ‘The Squad’.” YouTube, uploaded by CBS This Morning, 17 July 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkyRie96Ok4.
“Ayanna Pressley: How Black Women Paved the Way for the Squad.” YouTube, uploaded by Democracy Now!, 12 Feb 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=826tgJK177Y.
“Ayanna Pressley, At Large Candidate for Boston City Council, delivers the keynote address at the recent Commonwealth Seminar Graduation”, Facebook, uploaded by Ayanna Pressley, 19 August 2009, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=242848830018.
“Recommendations for Equity in Marijuana Licensing”, Facebook, uploaded by Ayanna Pressley, 14 December 2016, https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=10153974234681750&ref=watch_permalink.
“My Opening Remarks at the Liquor License Reform Hearing”, Facebook, uploaded by Ayanna Pressley, 22 June 2017, https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=10154463774506750&ref=watch_permalink.
“Why I’m Running”, Facebook, uploaded by Ayanna Pressley, 22 February 2018, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155045224891750.
“Dropping off Signatures at the Secretary of the Commonwealth!”, Facebook, uploaded by Ayanna Pressley, 3 May 2018, https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=10155202729316750&ref=watch_permalink.
“Communities of Color for AP!”, Facebook, uploaded by Ayanna Pressley, 21 May 2018, https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=10155238540181750&ref=watch_permalink.
“Moms Demand Action- MA Rally to end gun violence.”, Facebook, uploaded by Ayanna Pressley, 3 June 2018, https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=10155263521031750&ref=watch_permalink.
“Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley Community Swearing-In”, Facebook, uploaded by Ayanna Pressley, 12 January 2019, https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=364102901039850&ref=watch_permalink.
Stidman, Pete. “Dot’s Pressley Joins Race for at-large council“, Dorchester Reporter, 23 April 2009, https://www.dotnews.com/2009/dots-pressley-joins-race-large-council.
Kai, Maiyisha. “With Help from Ayanna Pressley and Anita Hill, Me Too Launches Its First Survivor’s Agenda Summit”, The Root, 24 September 2020, https://theglowup.theroot.com/with-help-from-ayanna-pressley-and-anita-hill-me-too-l-1845171167.
“Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s Personal Hair Loss Story”, The Root, uploaded by Jessica Moulite, 16 January 2020, https://theglowup.theroot.com/exclusive-rep-ayanna-pressley-reveals-beautiful-bald-1841039847.