A newly elected Athens-Clarke County Commissioner took her oath of office with one hand raised in a militant black power fist and the other resting on a copy of a Malcolm X biography, a report says.
Georgian Mariah Parker, 26, won election to the board by 13 votes, according to the Hill.
The tattooed Parker, who is also a rapper performing under the stage name “Linqua Franqa,” ran as an unapologetic left-wing progressive saying, “It’s time for bold, progressive leadership in Athens.”
“They asked if they would like the Bible and I said no. My mother asked if there was a copy of the Constitution around. No,” Parker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I wanted Malcolm’s book. I think they saw it coming,” she said.
Meet Mariah Parker. The book she's swearing on is the autobiography of Malcolm X. The person holding the book is her mother. SHE WON BY THIRTEEN VOTES! Every. Vote. Matters!!!!! pic.twitter.com/HJUWcbx2pP
— GAFSJ (@AtlantaMarch) June 7, 2018
Parker added that Malcolm X is her role model.
Having seen the transformation of someone who came through a difficult background to become vocal and push conversations on race in a radical way is powerful. Then he shifted course and saw race in a different lens as he got older. And the fact that he was arguably killed for his politics. These are things that I want to embrace.
Malcolm’s willingness to uneditedly speak about black people at large, are qualities that I want to embody. To speak out when I see things going wrong
The UGA doctoral student also said her causes as a board member will be social and economic justice issues.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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