It’s still mostly 50-something white guys in the N.J. Legislature, but there is more diversity

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NJ.com

Forty years ago, Shama Haider didn’t expect to have the job she does now. An immigrant of Pakistan, Haider recalls how hers was one of the few non-white families in town as she raised her kids in Tenafly in the early 1980s. She remembers joining the local parent-teachers association to make sure her children “didn’t feel like outsiders.” Becoming a state lawmaker, however, wasn’t a thought at the time. “Not in my wildest dreams,” Haider said. “When you’re young, you’re more focused on them, getting the best for them.” But flash forward four decades, Haider is a former Tenafly councilwoman who …