The Atlantic
We deserve nothing less than the full rights of citizenship, including the right to vote.
March 11, 2021
Sarah Silbiger / The New York Times
Last month, I served as a House impeachment manager in the trial of President Donald Trump. My presence on the floor of the U.S. Senate carried a great deal of meaning for me. It also said a lot about America. A Black girl who split her childhood between housing projects in Brooklyn and St. Croix could grow up to become a member of Congress who holds a former president to account. But I was the only Black woman in the room. And although I was making the case for convicting Trump, I hadn’t been able to cast a vote in the House to impeach him. My constituents in the Virgin Islands—U.S. citizens—remain unable to vote for president, lack any voice in the Senate, and have only a nonvoting delegate in the House.