Have you heard of Neguse And Plaskett? No, they’re not some new comedy team or flashy singing duo — but they have recently become megastars.
Politics
If you watched last week’s impeachment trial of Donald Trump in the US Senate, then you surely saw Joe Neguse and Stacey Plaskett. They are the 2 African-American House Impeachment Managers who stole the show with their thorough and gripping presentations and have since flooded your TV screens with repeated requests for their presence.
Rep. Neguse, who is 36, is from Colorado, the son of Eritrean immigrants, and the first African-American to represent his state in Congress. He’s a graduate of the University of Colorado Law School and also the youngest impeachment manager in US history.
Delegate Plaskett (who wore a blue “super-shero” cape during the trial) is 54 and represents the US Virgin Islands. She attended the American University’s Washington College of Law, was a student of lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Justice Department appointee under former President George W. Bush, a former assistant district attorney in the Bronx, and one-time counsel to the House ethics committee. Interestingly, she is the first delegate from an American territory to ever serve as an impeachment manager. In fact, Plaskett and Neguse are only the second pair of Black lawmakers to have held their roles.
While Plasket and Neguse were sitting in the US Senate during the trial, they noticed Sen. Raphael Warnock (the newly-elected 1st Black Senator from Georgia) sitting directly across from them. Ms. Plaskett then realized she was the only Black woman in the room and the scene choked her up a bit. She turned to Rep. Neguse and they both took in the power of the moment.
“It certainly was not lost on me that in moments during the trial, as I stood there, or as Stacey, my friend, stood there in the well of the Senate, there are only 4 or less — depending on whether the senators were in the room — Black elected officials in the room,” Mr. Neguse said earlier this week. “That is certainly unique. I think Stacey and I both worked really hard to do justice in terms of honoring the experiences of so many people of color that day.”
“‘My sitting here is the combination of so many sacrifices,’” Ms. Plaskett said, reading from a note to herself and her family during the last day of the trial. “‘Always remember that to whom much is given, much is required.’ I didn’t want to forget that.
“I’m hoping to use this position and whatever that means to benefit the people who brought me to that table and to that podium for that impeachment trial,” she added. “At the end of the day, that’s the people of the Virgin Islands.”
Even before the trial, Plaskett and Neguse were busy parlaying their experience into prominent roles within the House Democratic caucus. Rep. Neguse is part of the formal leadership circle of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while Del. Plaskett will become the first territory representative to sit on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
Since the trial, Plaskett And Neguse have emerged with national platforms and have become high-profile faces of a new Democratic coalition. Both are conscious of the significance of being only 2 of the few Black lawmakers to partake in such a historical moment. Additionally, both say they hope to turn their newfound prominence into gains for their constituents in Colorado and the US Virgin Islands.
“There’s always a different level of pressure on Black members of Congress to make sure that we’re carrying ourselves in a way that represents the district, the community, and the struggles of those who have come before us,” said Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York. “Joe Neguse and Stacey Plaskett shouldered that burden in an extraordinary way.”
This is a good Black History month story. Thanks for sharing it.