Deqa Dhalac saw it in their faces when she started campaigning. Some people, she says, seemed scared to open their doors when she knocked. Others saw her hijab and assumed she didn't speak English. But Dhalac kept knocking and telling her story
Some people, she says, seemed scared to open their doors when she knocked. Others saw her hijab and assumed she didn't speak English.And she says a lot has changed since those days back in 2018, when she first ran for City Council in South Portland, Maine — and won. On Monday she became the first Black mayor of the small city on the state's Southern Coast. And she's believed to be the first Somali American mayor in the United States.
Given that Maine is the whitest state in the country, and that South Portland is 90% White, Dhalac knows her election sounds surprising to some.She hopes her election as mayor will inspire others to follow in her footsteps. "Her leadership will certainly make a big difference not only in South Portland, but around the country," said Ghida Dagher, the organization's president."She's going to serve an example for Somali Americans across the country to step up and step into their own leadership journey. ... It's about owning their own power and potential in our democracy."
About 6,000 Somalis live in Maine, Goldstein said, thanks to a wave of migration that began in the early 2000s. "No matter how important my work was, we were missing out at the decision-making tables," Dhalac said Monday in her inaugural address.
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