virginia put the first african-american woman in the state legislature in 1928. so i know the history, i know robert bird, the former senator, the late senator. i know what he did in the latter part of his life. yes, he was a member of the ku klux klan, but in the latter part of his life, he changed, and i know that he would understand better the idea that there is a moment in history when a simple rule, as i wrote in an op-ed piece in the houston chronicle, a simple rule does not, if you will, supersede the constitutional value and stated right of the 15 th amendment of the right to vote. i wrote to him to ask him to live through what i live through. i lived through losing my district in 2021, when it was drawn into another district, two african-american members of the same district had never been done, because we did not have pre-clearance. and i had to fight and i must say that i drew upon outstanding leaders in our state legislature, as well as those who listened to us on the