Posted on June 8, 2018

Georgia County Official Takes Oath of Office on Malcolm X Autobiography

Matthew Wright, Daily Mail, June 7, 2018

Mariah Parker, a 26-year-old University of Georgia doctoral student, beat opponent Taylor Pass by 13 votes to secure her victory in the past local elections.

‘They asked if they would like the Bible and I said no. My mother asked if there was a copy of the Constitution around. No,’ Parker said to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ‘I wanted Malcolm’s book. I think they saw it coming.’

‘They asked if they would like the Bible and I said no. My mother asked if there was a copy of the Constitution around. No,’ Parker said

Viral photos have since circulated of Parker holding up her fist while her mother — Mattie Parker — holds the book for her daughter.

Parker’s platform include tackling economic justice, reducing poverty and discrimination, affordable housing, fair wage jobs, youth development, criminal justice reform and marijuana reform.

She added: ‘I wanted Malcolm’s book. I think they saw it coming’

The district she now represents, includes parts of east Athens that have struggled economically and is under resourced in comparison to neighboring areas.

‘Malcolm’s willingness to uneditedly speak about black people at large, are qualities that I want to embody,’ Parker added. ‘To speak out when I see things going wrong.’

Alex Haley — the author of Roots wrote ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’ which was published in 1965, weeks after his assassination.

It followed the trials the civil rights leader faced all the way up until his death.

‘Having seen the transformation of someone who came through a difficult background to become vocal and push conversations on race in a radical way is powerful,’ Parker said.

‘Then he shifted course and saw race in a different lens as he got older. And the fact that he was arguably killed for his politics. These are things that I want to embrace.’

Parker has overcome her own struggles with drug abuse and mental health issues to get to where she is today.

‘I was very lucky to break away from some of the generational patterns, by going to college and getting out of the town,’ she asserted.

‘But I struggled and I thought people only looked at me as having nothing to offer.’

Parker also spends her time as a rapper under the name Lingua Franca with politics factoring heavily into her lyrics.

Doctoral student Mariah Parker.