The White House on Monday is hosting a meeting with the historic five Black speakers of state legislatures across the country.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez, director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice will welcome Speaker Chris Welch of Illinois, Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross of Maine, Speaker Adrienne Jones of Maryland, Speaker Joe Tate of Michigan and Speaker Carl Heastie of New York.
“The Biden-Harris Administration looks forward to welcoming the historic five Black Speakers of the House from state legislatures across the country,” Rodriguez said in a statement to theGrio.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris have ushered in some of the most significant federal legislation in decades,” she continued, “and recognize the importance of a federal-state partnership to implement many of these critical laws.”
According to the White House, officials and the state speakers will discuss “common policy priorities” such as economic security, health care and housing, gun violence prevention and criminal justice reform, plus voting rights and reproductive rights.
The meeting also comes in the final days of Black History Month. On Monday, the White House will also host a Black History Month reception, and on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris will host another reception to commemorate a African-American observance.
The Democratic legislators who have been invited to the White House are Black history-makers themselves: Tate, the most recent speaker to take office, became the first African–American speaker of Michigan’s House of Representatives just last month. New York’s Heastie, the longest-serving speaker out of the group, was unanimously elected the first Black speaker of the New York Assembly in 2015.
Jones became the first African-American and woman speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates in 2019. Speaker…
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