By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – For a while this past week, there were two speakers in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) has become friends with New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. Each is the first Black speaker in his respective chamber.

To Welch, the most significant fact was that Heastie was the first guest to speak in the chamber in two years.

Heastie made lighthearted remarks about New York’s sports supremacy over Illinois but, in an interview after his speech, said while minorities are making advances politically, other facets of life are a different story.

“When we do meet with corporate America, we can start to put that expectation in,” Heastie said. “Corporate boards need to look like the legislative bodies, which need to look like the communities we all live in and represent. It’s an ongoing reconditioning of making all of America look like America.”

Both speakers said they expect Welch to appear at the statehouse in Albany, N.Y., later this year.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].