First month in Congress sets U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes up for challenges ahead

Within weeks of being sworn in as the Akron area's new voice in Washington last month, U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes was heartbroken to learn about a Black man dying at the hands of police in Tennessee.

"This has to be figured out; I don't want to watch another video of a young man being killed," Sykes told a packed house Friday at the John S. Knight Center in a special Akron Roundtable session marking the congresswoman's first month in office.

The death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, resonates across America, she said — especially in places like Akron, where residents are still coming to terms with last June's police killing of Jayland Walker.

But viewing the police body-camera footage from Memphis is a necessity for a person in her position, she said.

"As much as I did not want to watch the video — I had to watch the video, because as an elected official I have to see exactly what is happening so that we can fix it," Sykes said. "The thought of a young man screaming for his mother a hundred yards away from his home — I mean, this should bring tears to everyone's eyes. And the fact that it doesn't is probably what scares me more than anything."

Democrat Sykes fielded a range of questions about her initial experiences on Capitol Hill and her plans for representing Ohio's 13th Congressional District in a conversation moderated by Doug Oplinger, former Akron Beacon Journal managing editor and reporter.

She said constituents are looking to her to help overhaul policing in America.

"Our interactions with law enforcement should be just like any other government official; it should be viewed as a public service, with law enforcement being there to protect and serve," Sykes stated. "We need to create a level of trust where our law enforcement feel like they are part of the community and the community feels that law enforcement is a joint venture where we are all working together."

When Oplinger pressed her on what those solutions might look like, Sykes said the first step is to acknowledge the systemic inequities and failures that allow for such acts of police violence, especially toward the Black community.

"When you look at certain communities that don't tend to have as many issues with police and community not trusting one other, those communities tend to have a lot of resources. And when you go back to the root cause of the inequities, you don't see these types of experiences (with police violence) in neighborhoods that have after-school programs ... and other basic needs being met, with people having enough food to eat or a roof over their head," Sykes said.

In November, Sykes, daughter of Ohio Sen. Vernon Sykes and former Ohio House Rep. Barbara Sykes, became the first Black candidate elected to serve the Akron area in Congress.

Prior to that, she represented the 34th District in the Ohio House of Representatives, including three years as the House Minority Leader.

She was sworn in to a U.S. House that flipped from Democratic to Republican control in the midterm election, and once again finds herself in the minority-party voting caucus. Divisions within the GOP led to a House leadership vote that took 15 roll calls to pass, causing Capitol watchers to speculate that gridlock will bog down this Congress, Sykes said she's not intimidated, however, and will seek opportunities for bipartisan cooperation.

She said the key to succeeding in office is including people and being responsive to constituents' concerns.

"People just feel like no one cares about them," Sykes said, and she wants to disrupt a system in which elected officials become comfortable in their jobs without being accessible to the voters who put them there. "My primary job is constituent services," she said.

While her long-term goal is to serve on the highly sought-after Ways and Means Committee, Sykes said she is pleased with her assignments to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Sykes already has delivered two short speeches on the House floor, focusing on preserving reproductive rights and protecting public lands. She said she and her staff are still getting used to their new surroundings and trying not get lost. And while the Capitol is big, the House chamber is much smaller and cozier than it appears on C-SPAN, she said.

Sykes said she's been told she doesn't look like a legislator, and she's eager to change public perceptions for young people who aspire to follow in her footsteps.

"I think it's important for people to look at me and understand that I am, in fact, a member of Congress. For a young Black woman to be elected to Congress ... that's huge — there's not many of us. There have not been that many of us.

"I just want people to look at someone who looks like me and say, 'That person's a member of Congress, and can be and should be a member of Congress.'"

Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes discusses first month in Congress, tasks ahead