LA Times: “From working with Black Panthers to calling for cease-fire, Barbara Lee stands by her beliefs”

LOS ANGELES, CA — In a new profile of congresswoman and candidate for U.S. Senate Barbara Lee, the L.A. Times illustrates the roots of Lee’s committed work serving underrepresented communities that predate her prolific career of progressive policymaking. The Times article is the latest publication to highlight Lee’s unparalleled progressive record, with features in The Nation and The New Yorker emphasizing her leadership on doing what’s right, not what’s politically expedient. Barbara Lee was the sole vote against the Authorization for the Use of Military Force after 9/11 and is the only candidate to call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Key Highlights from the LA Times Profile

On Lee’s early-on progressive stances:

“Lee’s quarter-century serving in Congress has been defined by that desire to do right. At times it’s been a lonesome pursuit, but it’s one that she feels has, over the years, proved prescient.

Lee cast the sole vote in 2001 against the Authorization for the Use of Military Force that gave then-President George W. Bush the power to wage war against the nations, people and organizations that aided the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that felled the World Trade Center towers.

Her support in 2003 for Medicare for all, to provide comprehensive healthcare to all Americans, was considered a relatively fringe position at the time but is now a common topic of debate in Democratic primaries.”

On the roots of Lee’s lifelong progressive advocacy:

Lee’s political idealism and moral clarity rose from a life beset by heartache, personal injustice and misfortune. Born in El Paso, Lee recalls often how her mother, Mildred, nearly died during childbirth.

When Lee was a teenager, her family moved to the San Fernando Valley, where she became the first Black cheerleader at her high school after her mother urged her to enlist the support of the local chapter of the NAACP, the civil rights group.

On bringing her outside activism to government:

Lee said the Panthers and her time at Mills College served as a bridge from a young adulthood marked by insecurity and grief, and molded the political worldview that would carry her into elected office.

“Being a part of the Black Panther movement toughened me up,” she wrote. “It made me realize that racism, sexism, economic exploitation, poverty … are a by-product or result of a system of capitalism that relies on cheap labor and keeping people fighting each other rather than uniting and working together for the common good.”

As Lee fell more fully into political work, she obtained a master’s degree in social work from UC Berkeley in 1975, and helped start Community Health Alliance for Neighborhood Growth and Education, or CHANGE Inc., a nonprofit that offered mental services to East Bay residents.

Elaine Brown, a former Black Panther Party chair, said that Lee was driven to help people, whether inside the political system or outside it.

Read the full feature: LA Times, From working with Black Panthers to calling for cease-fire, Barbara Lee stands by her beliefs