African Women Are Taking a Stand in Colorado, USA Politics 

Han­na Bogala /Anne Keke

Han­na Bogala (left) is run­ning for an at-large posi­tion on the Auro­ra City Coun­cil. Anne Keke (right) is run­ning to fill an open seat on the Auro­ra Pub­lic Schools (APS)Board of Education

Han­na Bogale is one of 7 can­di­dates run­ning to fill two at-large posi­tions on the Auro­ra, Col­orado city coun­cil.  As a sec­ond-gen­er­a­tion Ethiopi­an Amer­i­can, she believes it is crit­i­cal for more Africans to become involved in pol­i­tics to encour­age the younger gen­er­a­tion to get their voic­es heard.

“Every­body in the African com­mu­ni­ty hears Amer­i­can pol­i­tics and they get scared and don’t par­tic­i­pate,” said Bogale. “But we do live here, our voic­es need to be heard and we do need a seat at the table to make those impor­tant decisions.”

One of Bogale’s goals for run­ning for office is to be a mod­el for the future gen­er­a­tion of African immi­grants in Colorado.

“I hope they, African youth in Auro­ra get inspired,” Bogale said. “I’m learn­ing as I go and every­body else can do the same. Their age, their col­or, their gen­der can­not stop them from achiev­ing their goal and serv­ing others.”

While Bogale believes that there are not near­ly as many African rep­re­sen­ta­tions as need­ed in Auro­ra pol­i­tics, she thinks the sup­port she received from the com­mu­ni­ty and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers has inspired her to con­tin­ue chas­ing her goals.

An area to pay close atten­tion to when look­ing to inspire the youth is edu­ca­tion. This need was rec­og­nized by Dr. Anne Keke, who is run­ning for an at-large seat on the Auro­ra Pub­lic Schools  (APS) Board of Education.

A native of the Ivory Coast in West Africa, Keke believes that it is essen­tial for the edu­ca­tion board to have a diverse per­spec­tive. Her cam­paign goal is to get edu­ca­tion­al excel­lence for every stu­dent as she believes edu­ca­tion is the foun­da­tion of society.

An alum­na of both the Uni­ver­si­ty of Col­orado Den­ver and Col­orado Tech­ni­cal Uni­ver­si­ty, Keke believes that edu­ca­tion is one of the main paths to beat­ing pover­ty, which is why African Immi­grants tend to pri­or­i­tize it.

“The more you know, the more pow­er­ful you become,” she said. “As such, we immi­grants come to the U.S. from abroad and the first thing on our mind is to either get edu­cat­ed our­selves or to make sure our kids are well educated.”

By run­ning for this posi­tion, Keke hopes to inspire the African com­mu­ni­ty in Auro­ra to get involved in education.

“The mes­sage is sim­ple, be informed and get involved,” she said. “You are now part of this soci­ety, and you have to evolve and get edu­cat­ed along with our chil­dren and the natives of this soci­ety. The expec­ta­tion is to be involved because your dif­fer­ence is beautiful.”

When speak­ing of peo­ple in the com­mu­ni­ty who have inspired them, both Bogale and Keke men­tioned State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Naque­t­ta Ricks, who became the first  African immi­grant elect­ed to the Col­orado legislature.

Dur­ing the last few years, the num­ber of African women involved in Amer­i­can pol­i­tics increased. Women such as Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ricks from Col­orado, U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ilhan Abdul­lahi Omar of Min­neso­ta, and State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Esther Agba­je from Min­neso­ta, have brought change to their com­mu­ni­ties and inspired oth­ers to fol­low their lead.

Elec­tions in Col­orado are sched­uled for Novem­ber 2.