With a nod to her mentor Shirley Chisholm, Rep. Barbara Lee leaves Congress as a renegade

WASHINGTON– Rep. Barbara Lee has always stood out, a pragmatic renegade with a long list of firsts.

In high school, she was the first black student to join her Southern California cheerleading team.

In the more than two decades the Democrat served in Congress, she was the only Black woman elected to the House from areas of California north of Los Angeles.

But it was Lee’s solitary vote in 2001, as the only lawmaker against authorizing the use of military force against those responsible for the September 11 attacks, that indelibly distinguished her.

“If you truly believe this is the right thing for the country, for your district, for the world, then you have to do it, and to hell with everything else,” Lee told The Associated Press during a recent breakfast at the Capitol. .

“We don’t do this all the time, but there are times when we have to do it.”

As Lee heads out, ending a storied career as an Oakland-area representative, the 78-year-old congresswoman, once considered an outlier with deeply unpopular positions — her anti-war vote earned her death threats – saw his opinions develop. be respected, accepted and even imitated. During her final vote in the House in late December, Lee was greeted with applause, her legacy a touchstone for a new generation.

Yet his experiences — including losing a Senate primary in March for a seat later won by a then-House colleague, Democrat Adam Schiff, the same year voters across the country rejected Vice President Kamala Harris for President-elect Donald Trump — also provide a stark reminder of the challenges black women face in American electoral politics.

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“There are few congressional leaders and public officials who have served with as much courage and tenacity as Congresswoman Lee,” said outgoing Sen. Laphonza Butler, a California Democrat who was temporarily appointed to the seat after the death. from a longtime Democrat. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

With Butler, Lee teamed up to pass one of the final bills of the 118th Congress, awarding the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to her mentor and friend Shirley Chisholm, another trailblazer – the first black woman elected in Congress, in 1969, which continued. to run for president at length – on what would have been the New York Democrat’s 100th birthday. It was approved by the House and Senate without opposition and signed into law by Democratic President Joe Biden in December.

A single mother and trained social worker, Lee was disconnected from politics. She was a volunteer community worker with the Black Panther Party when she met Chisholm. Lee found in “Mrs. C” a new type of leader who “defended the interests of the people.” Lee became involved in Chisholm’s presidential campaign in 1972. Lee eventually worked in Congress and ran for office herself, filling the seat after her boss, Representative Ron Dellums, retired.

But as Lee says, what’s particularly notable about her own career is that she’s number 20 — the 20th black woman elected to the House.

“I’m only the 20th!” she said.

“Can you imagine that? I mean, it’s pretty scary. Black women haven’t seen their voices and their perspectives and their experiences reflected in policy.”

Time and again, she recounts being one of the only black women at the negotiating table – including when she and others pushed Republican President George W. Bush to launch the President’s Emergency Response Plan. Against AIDS (PEPFAR) to fight HIV/AIDS on a global scale. It’s an effort that continues today.

Likewise, she was an early critic of the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funds for abortion services, with some exceptions in cases of rape, incest or if the pregnancy endangers the life of the pregnant person. Lee considers it discriminatory against low-income women who rely on federal health care. His position was once rare and has since gained wider support.

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“I’ve been at tables alone all these years, which meant I had to form allies and alliances to be effective,” she said, “which I did.”

She explains that as a black woman, she brings a perspective that is often lost to others, going through life with “antennas” that detect what is happening “because of our history.”

Lee’s antennas were definitely picking up signals on the eve of January 6, 2021, amid chatter of far-right groups arriving in Washington.

“I wore tennis shoes to work that day,” she said.

When the mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and she and other lawmakers were trying to put on their gas masks and evacuate the House chamber, she remembers how the chaplain of the House stood up and began to pray.

“I said, ‘Oh, Lord. This is serious. We need to start praying too,'” she said. These sneakers “came in handy.”

But it was his vote twenty years earlier, in the days after the September 11, 2001, attacks, that would define Lee’s legacy in Congress.

She was anguished by the choice and said she was as surprised as anyone to be the only one to vote against the resolution authorizing what she had warned against: America’s long war in Afghanistan and beyond.

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The reaction was fierce and threatening, but it also affirmed her conviction. Other Democratic lawmakers sided with her and she has since built a coalition, including with far-right Republicans opposed to military action abroad.

“She’s always dreamed big, she’s always been bold, she’s always had conviction — and she’s very strategic,” said Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who is part of the Republican’s “Squad.” Progressive lawmakers first elected in 2018. “She’s passionate, but not reactive, she’s thoughtful.”

Young lawmakers often call Lee “OG”

Lee notes that there are now several dozen black women elected to the House — an improvement but, she said, still not enough to catch up with the country’s 200 years of history.

She works with the organization Representation Matters to support women of color running for office this past election cycle. She supported Democrats Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, who made history as two Black women joining the Senate.

“I need to make sure other black women don’t have to go through what I went through,” she said.

Lee’s next chapter is yet to be determined. She spent the final days of the congressional session pushing back on priorities and finding the next generation of leaders to continue her unfinished business, including repealing the Hyde Amendment and authorizing the use of military force.

“My mom told me that ‘I can’t’ isn’t in the dictionary,” she said. “Shirley Chisholm encouraged me to make things happen, to not keep getting along.”