We recently connected with Park Cannon and have shared our conversation below.

Park, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

20 years ago, I recorded a video for the morning announcements at my Lee County elementary school. I had a dream. My dream was to simply live long enough to emerge from a segregated community and to be a voice for change.

As a slightly older version of young Park, I become terrified sometimes when hearing the sincerity in my voice as I fight for change. It is such a sincere privilege to live in MLK’s neighborhood, attend his church, represent where he is laid to rest and carry his legacy forth beside his family and contemporaries– but it is hard, humbling and harrowing work.

I have to thank my family for supporting me, a young person with big dreams! Truth-telling on difficult issues and making a difference in the world based on lived experience becomes intersectional, fast. As the youngest woman and one of the only Spanish-speaking legislators, stories and needs come in every possible way. I actually became a preschool teacher and labor doula because I pray that all birthing persons and children know the feeling of unconditional love— and realize that this is not a reality for far too many. I sponsored a law change that gives up to 1 year of medicaid coverage for recently pregnant people and will continue to fight for abortion access because THAT is what reproductive justice looks like.

Park, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I serve the citizens of Georgia’s House District 58, which encompasses a diverse cross-section of 20 neighborhoods within intown Atlanta. I was awarded the 2021 Legislator of the Year by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators but was born and raised in a small city in Southwest GA, Albany. I was asked to run for office in 2016 and endured 4 elections in one year to gain the seat with a grassroots team.

As the Secretary to the Georgia House Democratic Caucus I am assigned to the Ethics, Insurance, Small Business Development, Creative Arts & Entertainment, Human Relations & Aging, and Code Revision committees. My legislative efforts focus on reproductive justice issues such as access to quality health care, housing, and education. It’s a part-time job but feels more like full-time because our office is protecting Georgia’s most vulnerable: women and children, the elderly and the LGBTQ+ community.

I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for my Bachelors and Harvard Kennedy School of Government for Executive Education on the subject of police accountability and voting rights.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In March of 2021, I was unlawfully arrested after knocking on the Governor’s door while a voter suppression bill was signed into law. I did not know the physical, mental and emotional toll this would take on me, my family and my team. We had to deal with security concerns, constituent requests, and a possible 8 year sentence all at the same time.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

We wanted to provide more resources to a county to provide more pre-exposure prophylaxis to its residents. We learned that there were rural counties whose epidemic was as intense as urban counties so we pivoted to make the pilot program provide funding to rural and urban counties alike. We got over $300k in the state budget for this novel program.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.parkcannon58.com
• Instagram: parkcannon58
• Facebook: parkfor58
• Twitter: cannonfor58

Image Credits
T. Watkins, A. Bouska