State Rep. Emilia Sykes was walking to work in the Ohio Statehouse last year with a fellow lawmaker when she was stopped by security. Officers needed to search her bag, she was told.
Sykes is serving her third year as a Democratic state representative from Akron. She is also a 32-year-old black woman. Her colleague, who was not searched, is a 65-year-old white man who has served in the Legislature for many years.
Sykes said she questioned why her bag needed to be searched when that wasn’t protocol. Lawmakers only need a badge to gain access to the Statehouse or the nearby Riffe Center, which houses many lawmakers’ offices.
Her colleague told the trooper Sykes was a member of the Ohio House.
She was told: “You don’t look like a legislator.” The trooper then clarified: “You look too young.”
I was once told when stopped that I “don’t look like a legislator” and thus need additional screening. After that incident I they clarified that it was because I looked “too young.” I’m not the youngest legislator in the OH General Assembly.
— Emilia Sykes (@EmiliaSykesOH) 31 May 2018
On Wednesday, Sykes had trouble getting into the Riffe Center for a meeting. She flashed her badge for security there. Security said they couldn’t see the badge. She flipped it around. They still couldn’t see it. She was stopped, and officers examined the badge, Sykes recalled the next day.
In both scenarios, Sykes eventually was able to get into the buildings and go to work. But not every lawmaker faces the same scrutiny, Sykes said.
