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Date: 6/1/2021
NORTHAMPTON – Local poet and writer Jamila Gore announced that she would be running for city councilor at-large ahead of her campaign kickoff in June.
Gore said she wanted to run for City Council because she said she thinks now is an important time for democracy across the world.
“I see right now as an important time in the history of the United States and the world for democracy. That made me want to get involved in the electoral process and politics. I have been wanting to be on council for a couple years,” she said.
Gore said she was inspired to get more involved in the community in a more political way after residents spoke against surveillance cameras back in 2017.
“There was a pushback against surveillance cameras back in 2017 and a lot of people in the community did not want that and spoke out against it, and I was a part of that. It was really inspiring to see people physically engaged and since then I have been engaged in Northampton locally,” she said.
If elected, Gore said some of her top priorities include setting up the Community Resilience Hub, the project to redesign Main Street and setting up the Department of Community Care.
“I want to be a part of the new things that are coming up in the city like the redesigned Main Street, building a resilience hub, and building a center for community care. I have lived here for 14 years and I really care about this community,” she said.
One of the ways Gore said she has prepared to become a councilor is by reaching out to current councilors and beginning to foster those relationships.
“I am pretty familiar with how the council operates, and I have had conversations with councilors since 2019. I have had conversations with Karen Foster, who is my councilor, Alex Jarret, and Rachel Maiorie. I feel like with the three of them I have had the opportunity to get a glimpse of what being on the council is and it has been nice to foster relationships with them and see how they dealt with the issues of the past year,” she said.
As a poet, Gore said she has been able to meet different members of the community through her poetry slams.
“I ran poetry slams for a couple years and that is how I met a bunch of people in our community because I am a performance poet,” she said.
Gore added that she would be hosting a campaign kickoff at Pulaski Park on June 16 at 5:30 p.m.