Ahmed defeated a long-time system administrator by an impressive 15 per cent vote difference.
RaheelaAhmed, a 23-year-old Indian American Muslim woman has won the school board election in Prince George’s county, becoming the youngest Indian American to be elected to the coveted education post in Maryland.
Ahmed defeated a long-time system administrator by an impressive 15 per cent vote difference in the key local election, for which she had unsuccessfully run four years ago in 2012.
“It’s interesting that on the same day Donald Trump was elected as president of the US, I as a hijabi Muslim young woman was also elected to serve in a public office. I think that speaks volumes about diversity of American opinion, and that American dream is still well and alive,” Press Trust of India quoted Ahmed.
“I’d like to act as a form of inspiration for other minorities that they can achieve what they will, given prayer, circumstance and hard work. This win would not have been possible without the support and belief that other people had in me,” she said.
“For my young minority women, please know that at the end of the day, you are worthy of your highest inspirations. You have to believe that you are able to achieve them, even if societal structures do not yet allow for that. Because one day, those glass ceilings WILL break. And who knows?” Ahmed added.
Her victory gains significance as the district has 80 per cent of African American population. She was endorsed by the former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steel.
Raheela’s father, a technology entrepreneur, emigrated from Hyderabad at the age 25, while her mother moved to the US when she was five years old from Pakistan.