By Allan Jamail
Houston, TX ~ Thursday, August 1, 2024 at the Fallbrook Church in North Houston, over a thousand constituents, friends, and congressional colleagues showed up to bid their farewell to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
Sheila Jackson Lee was born January 12, 1950, and passed away on July 19, 2024. She was the U.S. representative for Texas’s 18th congressional district in Houston, from 1995 until her death. The district includes most of central Houston. She was a member of the Democratic Party and served as an at large member of the Houston City Council before being elected to the House. She was also co-dean of Texas’s congressional delegation.
Jackson Lee was born in Queens, New York. Her father, Ezra Clyde Jackson, who was born in Brooklyn, was a comic book artist and the son of Jamaican immigrants. Her mother, Ivalita Bennett Jackson, was a nurse, and came to New York at an early age from her birthplace of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Jackson Lee graduated from Jamaica High School in Queens. She earned a scholarship for Black students at New York University before transferring to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Yale University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975. In 1987, after she had moved to Houston, she was appointed as a municipal judge for the city by Kathy Whitmire. In 1989, Jackson Lee was elected to the Houston City Council. She served in the office until 1994, when she began a campaign for a seat in the U.S. Congress. In the Democratic primary, she defeated incumbent Craig Washington and went on to easily win the general election.
Because Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States, would be attending the memorial, the Secret Service required a pre-registration application in order to be vetted so they would know who was attending and who would be inside the building.
Attendees had to undergo being checked by Secret Service bomb-sniffing dogs and metal detection walk-through portals, plus a separate, more sensitive full body scan to detect small metal objects on a person.
U.S. VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS:
Vice President Harris received a standing ovation upon entering the stage, and while delivering the eulogy, she said, “She had such an impact on me and my life. To know Sheila, she could be tough, but, oh my goodness, she was so loving and so encouraging. She always encouraged me, so I called shortly before she passed away to thank her for that.”
“Jackson Lee was a change maker. She worked with all her heart to lift up the people of her city, of her state, and of our nation.”
Harris, who also worked with Jackson Lee while a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), described the Texas congresswoman as a “force of nature.” She was “one of the smartest and most strategic legislators in Washington, D.C., said Harris, the former California senator.
“She was also one of the most unrelenting never-yielding legislators while seeking her goals,” Harris said. “To know her was to know a true champion, a fierce champion for justice,”
“Sheila Jackson Lee was a woman of deep faith and deep compassion. She was a beloved member of our Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and she was a dear, dear friend to my husband Doug and me.”
“When it came to crafting policy, there was no detail too minor, or point of order too obscure,” Harris said. “If it needed to be understood, the congresswoman would make sure everyone understood it and understood it well, and used it to the benefit of the people she served.”
Harris drew laughs from the audience when she admitted, “There were times… if I saw her walking down the hall, I would almost want to hide. Because I knew,” she continued, “whatever else may be on my mind, Sheila Jackson Lee would require a very serious and specific conversation with you about what she had on her mind.”
Harris said Jackson Lee wasn’t afraid to do what she needed for residents in Houston.
“Sheila Jackson Lee would always find a way to help, even if she needed to get a little creative. As some of you may remember, a number of years ago, the city of Houston faced a budget shortfall, and to save money, decided to close a number of public pools,” Harris said. “Well, Sheila Jackson Lee wasn’t having that. And so she called around, as the story goes, to business leaders across Houston and convinced them to donate more than $350,000. And those pools then stayed open all summer long.”
FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON:
Former President Bill Clinton recalled adding Jackson Lee to his “just say yes list” during her first term in the House. The list normally was reserved for more senior members of Congress, but Jackson Lee’s persistence on her priorities made her the most junior addition to the “short list,” he said.
“I knew, whatever she wanted, it was good,” Clinton said. “It was good for somebody; it was trying to help somebody.”
Clinton said Sheila led several presidents into doing the correct thing to make justice fairer to everyone. He emphasized, “We are the longest-lasting democracy in human history because we had enough people like Sheila Jackson Lee.”
FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when going to the podium, received a long standing ovation. She chose Jackson Lee to be a co-chair of her 2008 campaign for president, said the greatest way the attendees could honor her would be by organizing to help VP Kamala Harris win the presidential election in November.
“Come next January, when our first woman president takes the oath of office, I’ll be thinking of Sheila, wondering what up in heaven she’s wearing, what magnificent long scarf she has wrapped around herself, what hairdo she has managed to achieve for this special occasion,” Clinton said. “I’ll be thinking of her … and all the generations of women who helped to make that day possible because they never stopped believing.”
FORMER HOUSTON MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER:
Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner recalled her many small acts of service to the city while in office, including paying for the restoration of a church in Acres Home. And her efforts just this past May distributing food and water aid while she was battling cancer.
“Sheila, I want to thank you on behalf of the local community for bringing the world to the 18th Congressional District,” Turner said. Shelia is credited with bringing billions of grant dollars to Houston and Harris County to improve living conditions.
YUROBA HARRIS, CHIEF DISTRICT DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS:
“The Congresswoman was more than a boss to me. She was my mentor and a close family friend. I’ve known her all my life from when she worked with my mother on political and community matters.
“When the opportunity arose and she asked me to join her staff she told me, ‘We are finally together.’ It was a privilege and an honor to work with her to provide services to the citizens and communities of the 18th Congressional district. I thank God for the wonderful precious moments. Her legacy lives on and we will truly miss her. Forever our Champion for the people. Much love and respect to my ‘Madam Queen Congresswoman.’
“Some who are called to service to our nation must accept the responsibility of sustained excellence. This is what Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee required. The Congresswoman was not only a representative of the 18th Congressional District, she considered herself the congresswoman for all Texas.
“As a member of her staff, I was required to believe that through strategic strategy and God’s will, all things were possible. What people didn’t understand about her was her commitment to the people and those less fortunate. That commitment was shared by both of us. Yes, I was under pressure weekly to perform at the highest level. However, I accepted the task. Anyone on her staff who was not willing to work and put in long hours never lasted long.
“Most had no idea the drive and determination Congresswoman Lee possessed. I accepted the challenge day in and day out with the complete understanding that we were making a difference in people’s lives. Together, we initiated service that literally saved lives. There are too many instances where I felt overwhelmed, but at the end of it all, this past week, it really hit me, with the outpouring of love and gratitude from so many people, I know we made a difference. I am so honored and blessed to have worked for Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and the citizens of our great city, a city that we both loved passionately, Houston Texas. She would say I am about the people of the United States of America and the people of Houston, Texas. I loved her as a friend and considered her family. In my heart, she is simply irreplaceable.
“In closing, I will share a quote she shared with me: ‘You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.’ — Shirley Chisholm”
SHELIA’S DAUGHTER ERICA & SON JASON COMMENTS:
Erica Lee Carter, Shelia’s daughter who wore pieces of her mother’s famed outfits to the service, said, “Today I wore her cape, I wore her cloth, but I will never wear her crown.”
Jason Lee, her son, said that “despite her legacy as a public official, her first priority was to her family.” He recalled her passing at the hospital in Houston, where he told Jackson Lee, “You were a good mom,” right before she died.
“Her greatness, for everything else that it was, it was in her love for her family,” Lee said. “Hearing she had completed that mission, she knew she could go.”
NC STAR WRITER ALLAN JAMAIL:
As I write this article as a reporter, I’d like to also say from a personal observation from working with her on several news stories that I think SJL was always burning her candle from both ends. She was like a candle in the wind, that blew out way too soon.
Many praise her as a great leader; I say no, she was a great leader of leaders.
She was so goal-orientated she never took the time to take care of her own health. She cared so much about others’ health and well-being she neglected her own. Shelia had so much life left in her before she died. She was 74 when she died on July 19 after being treated for pancreatic cancer.
There’s been many times she said I wasn’t a friend but I was a family member to her.
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