Rep. Barbara Lee says that would be Shirley Chisholm’s message to Kamala Harris and Democrats today

No one in Congress fought harder to maintain Shirley Chisholm’s legacy than U.S. Republican Barbara Lee. The 78-year-old California lawmaker considered the late Chisholm a mentor and friend.

Although she made history as the primary black woman elected to Congress in 1968 and the primary black American and black woman to run for US president in 1972, it would be years before the pioneering profession of the “unbought and disempowered” congresswoman was recognized within the Capitol.

Determined to establish Chisholm as the large of American politics that she is, Congresswoman Lee has undertaken a variety of efforts to honor her, including sponsoring a House resolution commemorating her contributions and achievements, establishing a tribute U.S. postage stamp, and hanging Chisholm’s portrait on the partitions of Congress. Lee recently led fellow Democrats to introduce laws that would posthumously award Shirley Chisholm the Congressional Gold Medal.

Barbara Lee, whose relationship with Chisholm was portrayed within the 2024 Netflix biopic “Shirley,” met the New York lawmaker as president of the Black Student Union at Mills College. Lee invited Chisholm to speak on campus and later inspired him to work on her presidential campaign, eventually heading the campaign’s operations in northern California.

“(I was) amazed, mesmerized and truly shocked that there was a presidential candidate who not only looked like me but could address issues that no one else was talking about,” Lee reflected. “Shirley Chisholm spoke out on this issue and represented the values ​​that I have always held, but I never realized that any elected official could be out there, elected, speaking truth to power and not giving up.”

Although Chisholm is more well known today, Lee said the general public may not understand how progressive she was during her time in office.

“Shirley Chisholm continues to believe that progress is the foundation of her development. She was a black woman, but she worked with everyone. And that’s why she was so effective as a legislator,” Lee maintained. “She was who she was, and she knew how to negotiate, and she knew how to move the ball forward politically and in terms of political priorities without giving in to anyone else’s point of view. And this is a very important skill.”

After Kamala Harris’s devastating defeat within the 2024 presidential election, today’s Democrats could learn rather a lot from Chisholm, said Lee, herself a progressive luminary in Congress who, within the spirit of Chisholm, especially railed against the Vietnam War the one voice against the war in Afghanistan in 2001

“She said, don’t let this right-wing MAGA win… divide us and conquer us because we have to fight for equality (and) freedom,” said Lee, who urged Democrats to “fight and resist” within the spirit of Chisholm. “Don’t hand over. These headwinds will proceed until we break through.

She continued: “Focus on lifting people out of poverty, fighting for the middle class and making sure that racial equity, gender equity and equity are at the heart of our agenda.”

Lee believes Chisholm would be especially keen on Harris and her historic presidential campaign to change into America’s first woman, first Black woman and first South Asian president.

“Shirley Chisholm would applaud her… even though our vice president didn’t win, she opened the door for another black woman, another woman of color to run,” Lee said. “I feel Shirley would say, ‘Keep fighting… Kamala grabbed the baton and kept running.’

Lee added, “I think Shirley is content, happy, smiling and saying, keep it up, because sooner or later we’re going to have a woman of color, specifically a black woman, as our president.”

While lots of Kamala Harris’s supporters, especially Black women, feel disheartened and weary following Harris’ loss to President-elect Donald Trump, Congresswoman Lee said Shirley Chisholm would not want “any of us to give up.”

“She said, ‘Take a break,'” Lee said. “Shirley has been very clear about taking care of ourselves, being healthy and doing whatever we need to do to strengthen ourselves to keep it that way.”