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Jen Lima.
How can three short syllables draw so many reactions in a suburban town?
Jen Lima.
A name that has made an impact, favorably for some and not so much for others.
Lima’s been on the North Kingstown School Committee for four years, or three members' resignations ago for those who do NK political math. In 2020, her first-ever election, she won by a landslide, receiving 9069 votes. in fact, The top local vote getter, Jen received more votes than any other North Kingstown candidate.
But she didn't have long to celebrate her victory. Not long after Jen’s solid win, a small group of residents initiated a failed recall. The recall failed when the organizers never submitted the required signatures to hold a recall.
Jen’s tumultuous committee time did not end there. There was that pandemic, folks called for banning books, went crazy over wearing masks, a coach scandal gutted the town, a bunch of people left their jobs, members resigned, and North Kingstown felt shaky. But not Jen, she’s as steady as a progressive school member in a divisive time can be. Adored, disliked, appreciated, respected, reviled, folks’ reactions are varied but most agree that she works hard, does her research, asks questions, and shows up.
She gets a lot done. Her nine key accomplishments include creating the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory committee, championing an equity audit, adding more late busses, and advocating for increased mental health resources, to name a few.
So, on the eve of another election for Lima, what don’t we know? That’s what I was looking for when I asked Jen three questions: What has she learned in her first term? How does her family feel about the online divisiveness? And, how much of her advocacy stems from being the mom to three Black kids?
What has Lima learned? She’s leaned that she admires the community, school staff, teachers, administrators — and she gushes over the students. It’s clear that the kids are Jen’s motivation. She emphasizes that even if the work is for one kid, it’s worth doing. Jen’s believes that she and the committee are doing work that matters and she often sees that reflected in kids’ accomplishments.
A mother of four, Jen’s beams when talking about her kids. Her daughter Maya is following Jen’s community-focus footsteps at her job as a coordinator at the NKSD Office of Family Learning and is often spotted supporting Jen at events.
Onto what her family thinks about the nasty online banter that folks, like this writer, engage in? Luckily Jen’s kids are older and it doesn’t seem to be too awful for them. Sure, the kids see what is written but the family’s closeness is as tangible as their shared sense of humor. “What’s on the hate brigade?” is joked about around the kitchen table. “We joke about it because we have to.” Jen says. Jen concedes that the hatred towards her is hard for her husband Gary.
One thing to know is that Jen’s husband Gary is always around. He attends school committee meetings, canvasses with Jen, and gently forces her to slow down when she needs to. Another thing to know is that Gary is Black. He and Jen have three adult kids and Gary adopted Jen’s oldest son. Married since 2001, the Limas made North Kingstown their family home. Gary’s from North Kingstown and the family was busy. All four kids attended North Kingstown schools and Jen was an involved parent, but not necessarily political.
That all changed around the time of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery’s murder. Jen’s belief and trust in humanity was broken. “What was I, a white person, doing in a family of black people, about racism?” she asked herself. Jen got activated and that activism opened her eyes to a new level of injustices and systematic racism.
It’s not that Jen didn’t know that racism existed before 2020. She met Gery when she was 30 and didn’t think much about the race difference. She was soon surprised that it “mattered to some people and not in a good way.” It opened her eyes that racism was alive, even in North Kingstown. Jen likes to allegorize racism with the notion that she doesn’t personally know anyone who has been bitten by a shark, but she knows that they are out there.
Jen knows that her kids have experienced things that she has not and that they relate to their father in a different way than they do her. She loves her family and the family that she’s married into so it all matters a lot; they are her motivation in making sure that ALL children and people are accepted in North Kingstown’s schools.
So, with the slings and arrows of another campaign, Jen’s ready to be done with the election and hopefully in a favorable way. She’s been canvassing like crazy and reflecting on her first term. Our three questions wrapped up nicely with, Jen’s learned that NK has great community and schools. Her family does not like the online vitriol but are also doing just fine, and yes, Jen’s advocacy stems solidly from being a mom to three Black kids.
Full disclosure here: Jen and I know each other. We are both on the North Kingstown Democratic Town Committee. Jen ran the We Are All Readers diverse children’s book festival, for which I secured a RISCA grant. We probably agree on more than we disagree but we’ve definitely disagreed. And each time, we have communicated and moved on. That’s Jen. She’s not marking grievances; she’s speaking her mind and bulldozing on.
Also, Jen's recall campaign is what prompted me to get more involved in town politics so I suppose I can thank or blame her.
I voted for Jen and I think she’s going to win by a lot but what do I know? In 2016, I went to bed convinced Hillary Clinton was going to win. As a true insomniac, I somehow forced myself to fall asleep to escape the reality. So, here’s to Lima’s accomplishments, rigorous campaign, fun campaign chronicles, and to winning!
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