Interview: Rep. Barbara Lee On ‘Lifting As We Climb’ And Breaking Through Barriers In This Election And Beyond
Originally published by Marianne Schnall for Forbes
Having served in Congress for over 25 years, Congresswoman Barbara Lee has a lot of meaningful insights to offer about the progress that has been made for women of color over the years. Lee first got into politics when she met Shirley Chisholm—who was the first Black woman in Congress and the first Black woman to seek a presidential nomination from a major party—and worked on Chisholm’s presidential campaign in 1972. Now, with Kamala Harris as our first Black and South Asian woman on the ballot for president, Lee reflects on what Chisholm might think of where we are today and shares her own thoughts on this current political moment.
As the first Black woman elected to the State Senate from Northern California and the highest ranking Black woman appointed to Democratic Leadership, Lee has been a trailblazer who has always been a strong advocate for increasing Black women’s representation in politics. She is also known for being an outspoken proponent of peace and for advancing legislation to address HIV/AIDS and end poverty, among other important issues.
Earlier this year, Lee stepped up to run for the Senate seat vacated after Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s death. Although Lee was defeated in the Senate primary and will leave Congress in January, she says she’s “not retiring” and will keep working from the outside to “get a lot done.”
I recently had the opportunity to ask Lee what it would mean if Harris is elected as our first woman and woman of color president, why having Black women’s perspectives in leadership is so important, what we can do to get more women and diversity into politics and more. As she told me, “My responsibility was to make sure I wasn’t the only and last, but to do everything I could do to prepare other women of color to run for public office.” The following is an excerpt from our conversation.
Marianne Schnall: We are in a historic moment where the U.S. could potentially elect Kamala Harris as our first Black and South Asian woman president. What would it mean to finally elect a woman president who is also a woman of color? And what does it personally mean to you?
Rep. Barbara Lee: In general, it means that no more will girls even have to have a second thought about whether or not they can run for the presidency. I think it’s important. This moment is so important for many reasons. And I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about. When President Obama was running, a woman at my church came up to me with her young Black son. He was about 15 or 16 years old, and she had tears in her eyes, and she introduced me to him and she said, “My son here thanks you.” Because I was one of the first, if not the first, to endorse President Obama. She said, “I want to thank you so much for endorsing Senator Obama for president, because my son here never believed that a Black person could be president.” He just didn’t believe it. So she was so grateful that I endorsed him early, and that opened up his eyes to the fact that it can be done, whereas he did not even believe that was an option in this country.