BY OLIVIA WISBEY, SUMMER 2021 COLLABORATOR AT POWER IN PLACE
As I walked back to my car amidst the mid-June heat wave that hit New Hampshire this summer, I realized that it was weather just like this that N.H. Representative Safiya Wazir was walking in when she first campaigned back in 2018.
At the time, Wazir was pregnant with her third child, and took her young daughter door to door with her in one of the hottest summers New Hampshire had ever seen. Despite the 100 degree heat, Wazir was unphased by the work and went directly to her constituents. She made phone calls, gained support from groups like the Young Democrats, and created a name for herself within her community. Her perseverance on the campaign trail led her to becoming the first former refugee to be elected into public office in New Hampshire, a state that is one of the oldest and whitest in America.
Representative Wazir credits the start of her political journey with becoming a U.S. citizen. Born in Afghanistan and fleeing Taliban-controlled territory when she was only six years old, Wazir and her family had to wait over a decade in Uzbekistan before being resettled in Concord, New Hampshire. At this point, Wazir was sixteen years old and thrown mid-year into her freshman year of high school. Wazir knew little English and was working multiple jobs to help support her family at the time. As a new student in the United States, there were many cultural norms that Wazir had to adapt to—for instance, the size of Concord High School when she got lost on her first day, or having trouble with the lack of formalities she was used to back in Uzbekistan. Wazir took all of these changes in stride, and after her first spring in Concord, began to form relationships with new friends and teachers. She joined yearbook and other clubs, ran track, excelled in her courses and found a passion for learning and education.
After finishing high school, Wazir began to pursue citizenship while going to night school for her business degree. Becoming a citizen led Wazir to want to deepen her involvement with democracy and activism. “It was just magical,” she said to me with clear joy on her face. “I was eight months pregnant and became a US citizen.” In the years that followed, Wazir got involved with her daughter’s education, first with Head Start and other programs in the area until she eventually became an officer in Concord’s Community Action Program. It wasn’t long before friends convinced Wazir to run for her district’s seat.
When it came time for my interview with Rep. Wazir, it was no surprise that she chose to be documented back at Concord High School, the place where she found her inner confidence and perseverance as a woman. It is coincidentally also where Wazir came back to fill out the paperwork to run for office, a beautiful full-circle moment for her.
As we sat together in the school, Wazir spoke to me about her time on the campaign trail, and how she used media comments about her motherhood and refugee story as fuel to her fire. While Representative Wazir was putting in the work in the hot New Hampshire heat, her opponent Dennis Soucy was sharing Islamaphobic memes on Facebook. He told The Guardian that “Wazir has never voted, does not know the community and does not have the best interests of the community in mind.” Despite her opponent’s baseless accusations, Wazir says that the racism and negativity doesn’t affect her; she knows that as a woman of color, the members of her community “need to work hard in order to earn that position [in public office]. And that's what I did.”
She also faced sexism for being a mother while on the campaign trail, as members of her community questioned if she could lead adequately while being a future mother of three. Wazir, however, was and continues to be determined to disprove the stereotype that mothers are incapable leaders. As Wazir explained to me during our time together...
“There's a setback in the minds of people who think that females are born to be housewives and raise kids, but certainly this generation has changed and I wanted to set a tone that regardless of me being pregnant, I'm mom of two, I can represent my constituents, I can multitask. And I proved that.”
As a representative, Wazir serves on the Children and Family Law Committee, and she pushes for legislation that will create economic justice for the communities of New Hampshire. She spoke with me about the bill she helped pass that allows parents to use campaign funds for childcare—an imperative piece of legislation that will get more young people and women specifically in the community thinking about running for office, which is something Wazir aspires for. “The average age at the moment in the state house is 66,” she told me. “We need to change that dynamic. We need to have more young people representing,” by giving them more opportunities to see elected office as a possible avenue for them. Wazir says she sees so much growth in diversity in the area, and is “proud of the organizations that are helping teach our younger generation about diversity and about the multicultural events that happen throughout the state.” Going forward, Wazir hopes to pass more bills that create avenues for quality childcare and paid family leave, affordable housing, and equitable education.
And so, as I crank the air conditioning on the drive home from my interview with Rep. Wazir, I am hopeful for the future. Her passion, perseverance, and ability to lead is inspiring; you can feel it in the room and see it in her eyes that she has a confidence and a drive for change. She shows us that you really can do what you set out to do: acclimate to an environment, work and learn, attain a business degree as a mother, run as a mother, lead as a mother, all while standing strong amidst racially and sexist driven backlash. Safiya Wazir represents the strength of new roots that can grow solid with patience and care. She loves her community and wants to see it thrive.
With more people in public office like Representative Wazir, there is no doubt that communities around the United States would become better. The voices of mothers, of women of color, need to be heard in these important spaces. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from Representative Wazir. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
Olivia Wisbey is a rising senior at Colgate University pursuing a double major in English literature and political science. She is interested in feminism, environmentalism, and the ways in which fiction can be a medium of advocacy for issues of social justice. On campus, Olivia is a writing center consultant and is involved with the Colgate Center for Outreach, Volunteerism and Education.