Lexington Vice Mayor Dan Wu. Photo furnished
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Representation. These are buzzwords of our times, but what do they really mean? These words and their concepts have been on my mind a lot – now more than ever since the historic local elections of November 2022. For the first time, Lexington has two Black women in the Fayette Attorney and Commonwealth Attorney positions, three Black women and one Latina as district council members, our first Black at-large council member, and our first Asian American council member and vice mayor. (That last one is me.) Nine of our 15 council members are women. A range of sexual orientations and religious beliefs are also represented. We have, perhaps, the youngest council ever.
Many people have asked me since the election how I feel about the wave of diversity sweeping into all these levels of local government. My answer? “It’s about time.” Lexington is a fast-growing and quickly diversifying city. As of 2021, 30% of our 321,793 residents are nonwhite. Nearly 200 languages are spoken by kids in our schools. But, historically, our power structure has not reflected this diversity. Too often, people of color and women have been shut out of electoral politics. I am heartened to see this changing. Lexington has been a leader in some ways – we elected our first African American to council 60 years ago and our first woman to council 50 years ago. In fact, we’ve elected three different women to the mayor’s office, one of them being of Middle Eastern descent. We’ve had an openly gay mayor.
So why is this diversity important? This isn’t about checking off some demographic boxes. Diversity means diversity of backgrounds, histories and lived experiences. These experiences inform the ways we think about governance, the ways we see the communities we come from, the ways we arrange our priorities. It used to be that only the “three Rs” could run for office: “rich, retired, or in real estate.” But in the past several years, that has changed. We now run the gamut of professional backgrounds in our Urban County Council, from professors to nonprofit professionals, small-business owners to community organizers. This diversity of backgrounds means we have a wider set of perspectives informing how we create legislation and how we spend our money.
I am proud to be a “first,” as are my colleagues, but I look to a future where the composition of a city council, legislature or any political office isn’t even worth mentioning, a future where diversity is the norm and inclusivity the standard operating procedure. I look to a future where running for office isn’t out of reach for ordinary residents.
Let us celebrate these victories, and now let us roll up our sleeves and get to work for all of Lexington.