These American political newcomers with African roots have won posts in their cities

Oballa Oballa’s journey towards election day was long and unlikely. He grew up in the Gambella region of Ethiopia, where he witnessed mass killings that took the lives of his uncle and hundreds of others. He survived a two-week journey across dangerous terrain to reach a refugee camp in Kenya. He spent 10 years in fields where he often did not have enough to eat. He has now been elected to the city council of his adoptive hometown of Austin, Minnesota. He is the first refugee, the first immigrant, and the first person of color to serve on the council. Esther Agbaje became the first Nigerian-American elected in the Minnesota legislature. Oye Owolewa is the first Nigerian-American elected to be Washington, DC’s shadow representative in the United States House of Representatives. Liberian-American Naquetta Ricks of Aurora, Colorado, was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives. And Omar Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants, was elected to the Minnesota state Senate.

SOURCE: FLIES