and to provide white privilege training for civil servants. Both passed the council. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she opposed plans of the municipal executive to raise local taxes, which would compensate for financial setbacks. Newspaper wrote that Simons was able to influence the council's agenda during her time in office despite having only one seat. According to the article, her party's competition with GroenLinks caused that party to focus more on identity politics in Amsterdam. Simons also played a role in getting the city to apologize for its history of slavery, in making the toilets of the Stopera unisex, and in getting the city to proclaim a climate crisis. She was awarded the Ribbius Peletier medal in 2021 by the province of North Holland for "being an example to the next generation of women" and for "publicly speaking out against a combination of sexism and racism". 2021 general election and House of Representatives In January 2020, BIJ1 signaled its intention to participate in the 2021 general election. Simons gave up her seat in the Amsterdam municipal council in early November to focus on the campaign. She called her party's platform the country's "most leftist, greenest, and most inclusive". It included a rise in the minimum wage to €14 per hour, the introduction of a Ministry of Equality, and "taking control of the economy's most important industries". She rejected capitalism, saying that it is based on the illusion of endless economic growth and that it leads to poverty, exploitation, and exclusion. According to Simons, an alternative economic system has to be designed and created with the participation of everyone. BIJ1 won one seat in the March 2021 general election causing Simons to be elected to the House of Representatives. She was sworn in on 31 March as the first black parliamentary leader in the House's history. Her election occurred amidst the anti-racism movement Black Lives Matter gaining traction following the murder of George Floyd in the United States by a police officer in May 2020. In the House, Simons focused on education, the interior, economic affairs, climate policy, social affairs, and kingdom relations, while cooperating on many issues with Caroline van der Plas (BBB) and Liane den Haan (independent) because of their positions as fellow one-person caucus leaders. She is also a member of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Fraud Policy and Public Service, initiated as a result of the Dutch childcare