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Why representation matters and it’s ok to listen and ocassionally admit you were wrong, a thread:
Before this year’s session a student from my district sent me a letter as a school project asking if I could help pass a law to remove racist convenants from his family’s property
Before this year’s session a student from my district sent me a letter as a school project asking if I could help pass a law to remove racist convenants from his family’s property
This one’s easy, I told my Leg Aide, I’m a RE attorney. I wrote him back & told him while it was a laudable effort, that wasn’t how covenants worked. The covenants wouldn’t be enforced, but there was nothing we could do about the fact that they were there. Trust me, I’m a lawyer
Then I got to Richmond this year & learned @delegatebagby had a bill to remove these covenants from the land records. I’m like, you can’t do that. The Lobbyists for the experts came to see me. We all agreed: good idea, but won’t work. I was sent to break the bad news
Del Bagby said, if you don’t like my bill, fix it, but this will happen, & will happen this session. This isn’t a ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ idea. I told him I’d figure it out. So I went home that weekend & fretted. I told Lamont I’d fix it, told the “experts” I’d work it out w Lamont
So it was all I could think about. Finally I figured it out. I knew what the lawyers didn’t like, I knew what the VLBC wanted, & figured out a way to do it that would satisfy both groups. A lot more folks weighed in & more compromises were made, & in the end we had a bill: HB788
It wouldn’t have happened, though, if the @VaBlackCaucus hadn’t made it a priority, & if the patrons hadn’t been undaunted by our doubts, & if those of us that considered ourselves experts hadn’t been willing to consider that we might not have all the answers or the only answers.
There are other issues we’ve all been told are unsolvable, intractable, or which only have ‘good enough’ solutions. What I’ve learned is: if we listen to the folks most affected, are humble & really put our minds to it, we can be part of the solution instead of being the problem
