Getting to Know Councilor Nichole Rogers: ABQ’s First Elected Black City Councilor

New Mexico Black Leadership Council (NMBLC) interviewed District 6 Councilor Nichole Rogers, Albuquerque’s first Black woman to hold the position.

Councilor Nichole Rogers interview blog header

Note: a version of this article first appeared in the March 2024 edition of NMBLC’s monthly newspaper, the UpLift Chronicles. For more great articles about the people, places, and happenings of New Mexico’s Black communities, subscribe to the UpLift Chronicles.

January 2, 2024, held a historic moment for our city. It marked the swearing in of Councilor Nichole Rogers, the first Black woman to be elected to the Albuquerque City Council. Nichole Rogers was victorious in a dramatic election that ended in a runoff for District 6, where only 15% of eligible voters cast their ballots.

District 6 encompasses the International District (where NMBLC is headquartered), and is roughly defined by the geographical boundaries of Lomas to the north, Gibson to the south (including Sunport and Mesa del Sol), Eubank to the east, and parts of I25/University to the west. The district is beleaguered by the housing crisis, entire square blocks filled with people in some sort of physical and mental distress, crime hot spots, and the reputation to go with it. It’s also a place Nichole Rogers calls home. Councilor Rogers is ready for the challenge of addressing the needs of District 6.

Congratulations, Councilor Rogers! Below is our Q&A. Answers have been condensed for clarity and length.

What do you love about the International District?

The diversity. Being able to find all walks of life, all cultures, the food. And really the people. The families that have chosen to call the International District home really take care of each other. I know the families and when the kids have events we all come together. When there’s weddings, we all get invited. We’re a part of each other’s lives and you can rely on each other.

What motivated you to run for City Council?

I always preach about being the change you want to see. When I looked at who was running, I didn’t feel represented in the candidates. I had to take my own hard advice that if you wanna be that change, then you kinda gotta step up yourself.

I had gotten into Emerge New Mexico. I applied because Secretary Deb Haaland [U.S. Department of the Interior] suggested that I learn more.

[Emerge New Mexico is a group that trains Democratic women to run for office.]

That was way back in 2020. I hadn’t even come to work for the mayor. I was not even thinking about politics in any way, shape, or form. Emerge New Mexico gave me the confidence and provided a network of women that pushed to say, yes, you. It is you, and it should be you, and why not you.

My grandma was the final person that asked me. I’d always go to her to make big life decisions. I was talking to her about people asking. And she basically was the one that was like, well, you need to do this. You always talk about your purpose. This is you walking in your purpose. And I was like, okay.

So she was really the one, the final person that pushed me to do this. And she, at the time, was on hospice already. And she told me, I’m waiting for you to win ’cause I know you’re gonna win. To the day, she died the day I took oath at the city clerk’s office. To the day.

Yes, you. It should be you. Why not you?
— Councilor Nichole Rogers

What barriers did you overcome to run for city council?

One, it’s not safe for us [Black folks] to do the things that we need to do in order to win an election, like knock on doors. I knew that 80% of people will vote for you if you knock on their door, so my strategy was to outwork every single candidate by knocking on more doors than them. But I also knew it’s not safe for our people in certain parts of our city to knock on doors. That was a hard reality. But I have to do it. I’m the candidate, I gotta do it.

For our canvassing events where we had volunteers, we would always do a buddy system. For myself, there was one neighborhood that was super scary to knock. I had to have some really tough conversations with my team at the time, to say, “Look, I don’t feel safe in this neighborhood. I need you to use your white privilege to walk in that neighborhood for me.” That was a hard conversation, ’cause they’re like, “What do you mean?” And I’m like, “you’re just going to come with me and see for yourself what I’m talking about.”

I also knew it’s not safe for our people in certain parts of our city to knock on doors.
—Nichole Rogers

[Nichole describes an excursion where her white canvassing partner expressed dismay at what she observed when they knocked on doors together. For example, the person who answered the door wouldn’t look at Nichole.]

And then when she would say that I was the candidate they’d look at me and be like, “What? You’re the candidate?”

If I knocked on a door, it wouldn’t open. But if I stayed to the side and [the white volunteer] knocked, then the door would open. And I’d pop out and be like, “Heyyy.”

The microaggressions that we [Black people] would get at the door, that we deal with all the time, were maddening for her [the white volunteer]. She said, “I’ve canvassed all over this city, and I’ve never had somebody say ‘I’m gonna keep the door closed for safety and talk to you through the door.’”

The first time that happened to me, I didn’t snap. I immediately turned around and was like, “Who’s coming?” And they see me realize You mean safety from me. How do you continue to ask, “Can you sign my petition?”

The anti-Blackness that exists still in the state was something we overcame.

What does a typical workday look like for you?

Meetings. Getting a handle on what’s happening in our district project-wise from all of the departments. APD, ACS, housing, roads, lights, parking, parks. We had a really quick turnaround for capital outlay requests, so I did a lot of research and put in requests for capital for the legislative session. I started working right after Christmas. Also trying to figure out my priority legislation, research all of that to start writing some legislation. I’ve been busy in three weeks.

What advice would you give to anyone who’s a “first”?

What’s important to me in being the first is to represent well. Because they expect that we’re not going to do well. They expect that we’re gonna fail. We heard it all during the election. It’s just really heavy on me to make sure I do a good job. It has a ripple effect across our community. It’s not just me. They don’t just look at me, Nichole. They look at it as all Black people as a whole. That is not a privilege that we are afforded, that we can be individuals.

I also am very mindful of wanting to pull up others. I feel the responsibility to work in the Black community, to build our political power, and build infrastructures so that we can move across the whole spectrum. We don’t have that right now. We’ve worked really hard to set up our institutions within government. And we need that. But we also need coalition building outside of the government. We have the New Mexico Office of African American Affairs, and we have the MLK, Jr. Commission and we have [City] Office of Black Community Engagement. But we also need entities like New Mexico Black Leadership Council, working outside of government, pushing government to do better. That’s one nonprofit, that’s one part of it. We also need strategy groups that are for profit that are getting these contracts with these government agencies that are working on the work that needs to be done in the community.

That’s one of the things I’m going to be focused on, teaching our community how to get more.

What are some steps that regular folks can take to work with City Council for the health of their district?

Show up. Be engaged. I know it’s hard to come to City Council, but watching them online–they’re on GovTV, channel 21 on Mondays as well as YouTube–and signing up for public comment on issues. You can sign up for general public comment to put something on our radar that we need to be thinking about.

I’m getting a list of all of the [city] projects. We’ll be putting those on [the city council website] so folks know what’s happening: housing, public safety, roads and lights, and parks.

If there’s an issue that you feel strongly about, I’m sure we have a board and commission that’s tackling that issue. Applying to be on some of our boards and commissions is a big step in getting involved.

But that’s hard, right? Because a lot of the folks in District 6 are working and busy dealing with how they’re going to pay their rent. Having to put food on the table, what’s happening at school, finding jobs, not having sick leave. There are so many other factors to why we can’t be engaged. It’s on us that we have to reach out in a different way. So I want to model that, making ourselves accessible to community. We have to do things a little differently in order to reach different people.

Meet Councilor Rogers in person at the first in a series of monthly pop-ups

When: Thursday, March 7, 4-6pm
Where: Frank’s Famous Chicken and Waffles on 400 Washington St SE, 87108.
Frank’s Famous Chicken and Waffles – https://www.franksfamouschickenandwaffles.com/

Check out the schedule for future meet and greets with Councilor Rogers.

Connect with Councilor Nichole Rogers

CABQ page: https://www.cabq.gov/council/find-your-councilor/district-6
Councilor Nichole Rogers on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/nicholerogers4council/
Councilor Nichole Rogers on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/nicholerogersdistrict6

Connect with Albuquerque City Council:

Website – https://www.cabq.gov/council
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdpRwD5FA0g3ynJWxGk7BVQ
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/city-of-albuquerque/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/oneabq/
X (formerly Twitter) – https://twitter.com/cabq