Safiya Khalid is the first Somali American and may be the youngest person to serve on the Lewiston City Council. She was 23 when she won the seat by an almost 70% margin despite social media attacks and threats that tried to scare her out of running. Lewiston has a population of 36,000 with 5,000 of those people being African immigrants. Safiya’s appointment to the council is important to represent their perspective and needs.

Safiya was the driving force behind the Lewiston resolution to address systemic racism which was passed 6-1. The resolution opposes excessive use of force by police, calls for equal treatment under the law, hand holds the city to a promise to expand efforts to recruit and hire members of minority communities and review its process for investigating citizen complaints against police, and states that the council “affirms and acknowledges that Black Lives Matter.”

Safiya became an American citizen when she was 14. She worked for LL Bean while attending Lewiston High and University of Southern Maine. She is a community organizer with Gateway Community Services of Maine and focuses on youth development and engagement in the community. She is a grassroots organizer with the Maine Democratic Party and was a clerk with the Maine State House. She is passionate about education and immigrant rights.