well the death of lieutenant governor Sheila Oliver this week is bringing into sharp Focus the underrepresentation of black women in politics a new National report finds that although there have been gains across all levels of office disparities persist and the fight to get a seat at the table is still an uphill battle Melissa Rose Cooper spoke with organizations working to elevate more women of color to positions of leadership I believe that black women in leadership actually bring um a mindset that focuses on making sure that we can have a fair democracy across the state of New Jersey and I believe a democracy without black women is not a democracy at all that's why Chanel McLeod CEO of social justice advocacy group project ready is working to help black women who want to enter politics succeed by teaming up with Ignite the National Organization focuses on getting more women elected to office oftentimes we have the ears of those leaders but we're not at the table making the decisions as those leaders and I think it's time to rip that Band-Aid off I think it's time to to rip the veil completely according to a recent report from the higher Heights leadership fund and the center for American women in politics less than six percent of black women hold offices in Congress Statewide elective Executive offices and State Legislature despite making up nearly eight percent of the population in politics in particular I would say when we look at the starkest areas of underrepresentation again when we look at Statewide offices like a governor or like somebody who's running for U.S Senate some of those barriers are really particular to um electability biases of those who are The Gatekeepers in the political sphere so those who say well I don't know if a black woman can win Statewide because we're looking in many cases at a majority white electorate but Kelly ditmar says the report is proof that black women can in fact win and bring different coalitions of Voters to the table dipmar noting some of the key findings at this round table with black women leaders across the country last year black women won Big City mayoral elections in California and Nevada and in 2021 Kamala Harris became the first black woman to be sworn in as Vice President of the United States so we've seen more black women running for office including running for a high level office is where there are these persistent um and really Stark gaps so if we look at the U.S Senate there are no black women currently serving in the U.S Senate we did though see a record number of women running last time so we hope that continues and we close that Gap um the same is true for governor right so we had a record number of women running for governor even becoming nominees um in the last cycle they weren't successful um but we're getting closer hopefully to that point in which we finally do elect a black woman governor in the United States who would be the first ever to hold that position assemblywoman Angela McKnight believes it's now closer to reality here in New Jersey thanks to the late lieutenant governor Sheila Oliver who was the first black woman to serve in this position after also being the first black woman to become State Assembly speaker so part of her Legacy is that she is a profound public servant who fights for our community of fights for all and she's she stood up when people would try to knock her down and she broke that glass ceiling and she brought so many people up after her including myself Advocates say as more black women enter Politics the more others will be inspired to do the same they say the key is to continue the conversation without fear in order to make a path for future generations and prove just how much representation truly does matter for NJ Spotlight News I'm Melissa Rose Cooper