We need someone who can be ‘difficult’

We’ve seen this story before. A woman speaks out, refuses to smile through disrespect, and suddenly she’s “difficult.” She challenges the status quo, and she’s “toxic.” It’s a tired narrative. This time, it’s being aimed at Renton City Councilmember Carmen Rivera.

Let’s be honest: some folks prefer their leaders to act like Galinda, polished, agreeable, and unthreatening to those already in power. But in 2025, neutrality is not a virtue. Choosing the middle of the road while people suffer is not diplomacy; it’s desertion. Centrism that seeks to appease everyone often ends up protecting the very structures that harm the most vulnerable. And trying to stay “above the fray” in the face of oppression simply makes you complicit.

Carmen has never been that kind of politician. She is, unapologetically, Elphaba, bold, principled, clear-eyed about injustice, and unwilling to shrink herself to appease systems designed to exclude. When she refuses to placate the powerful, it is indeed disruption. It is her deep integrity. The recent slander of her isn’t about community harm, it’s about discomfort with someone who refuses to play into the performance of politics. Carmen doesn’t smile for show. She shows up for people. For queer youth. For working-class families. For renters. For those the privileged class often overlooks.

Being Elphaba means being called “too much” by people who’ve never had to fight for basic dignity. It means being labeled “divisive” by those whose rights have never been up for debate. It means refusing to back down when the stakes are high, and right now, they are.

We know who Carmen is. She’s the one who stays late, listens deeply, and leads with conviction. And if that makes her “difficult,” we need more of it. Because real change doesn’t come from being nice. It comes from being willing to be difficult when justice demands it.

Carmen’s not melting under pressure. She’s flying. As for the Galindas in the room, we hope they remember their values before it’s too late.

Lexi Dias, Gabriel Jones, E. Bailey Medilo, Odessa Paule, Amy Pinon, Erin Stroppa, Alexis Tran, Guillermo Zazueta, Ellie Robertshaw, Emerald Jones