Meet Indian-American Nabeela Syed, who scripted history in US election
Nabeela Syed, a 23-year-old Indian-American woman, has scripted history by becoming the youngest member of the 118-member Illinois General Assembly in the United States (US). Syed defeated incumbent opponent Chris Bos of the Republican Party in the recently held election. A candidate of the Democratic Party, Syed got 52.3% votes in the election of the 51st district of the Illinois State House of Representatives.
'The youngest member of the Illinois General Assembly'
Syed took to Twitter to share her excitement about the victory in the election, saying, "We just flipped Republican-held district," as Bos, its representative for the last term lost the election against Syed as he got 47.7% votes. "And in January, I'll be the youngest member of the Illinois General Assembly," Syed said. Besides the announcement, she briefly gave her introduction on Twitter.
'We just flipped a Republican-held district'
'We won because we engaged in that conversation'
Syed after winning the election, in an Instagram post detailed the strategy writing, "I genuinely engaged in conversation with people to give them a reason to get involved in democracy." "We talked to people about the rising cost of prescription drugs, the growing burden of property taxes, right to reproductive healthcare, and spoke with parents about their desire to strengthen common-sense gun safety laws."
'Advocate interfaith dialogue and empower Muslim women'
Born and brought up in Illinois' Palatine, Syed has graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in political science and business administration. As per her website, she advocates interfaith dialogue besides empowering young Muslim women. She works for a non-profit in digital strategy "supporting voter mobilization, ending sexual assault on college campuses, and promoting gender equity."
'Don't contest election as you are Indian and wear hijab'
Syed in an interview with NDTV said that she was suggested not to run for election given "her choice of wearing hijab, being Muslim and Indian origin." She said, "In America, we have freedom for religion and freedom from religion." While commenting on the hijab controversy in different parts of the world she said, "You cannot force someone either to wear hijab or not."
