I have a very personal interest. I am a Miami-Dade voter. One of the issues is that my vote and so many other votes of women and African Americans in Florida are being discounted or discarded. I want my vote to count.

I am not an African. I am an American.

I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.

I am an African and I am very proud of that.

Overall, maybe 40 African-Americans become licensed in any given year. The numbers of African-American women (who number 145 nationally) are bound to continue the most dramatic growth because women now represent half of the student body in architecture schools.

Black women have always been these vixens, these animalistic erotic women. Why can't we just be the sexy American girl next door?