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July 22, 2024

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Civil Rights Pioneer in Congress, Dies at at 74
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Longtime Texas Democratic Congressmember Sheila Jackson Lee has died at
the age of 74. Jackson Lee, who was a tireless fighter for civil rights
and progressive causes throughout her three decades in the U.S. House,
announced last month she had pancreatic cancer. In 2002, Congressmember
Jackson Lee was an early and outspoken opponent of the disastrous and
illegal invasion of Iraq. She was also an impassioned advocate for
reparations.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: "Black people in America are the descendants of
Africans kidnapped and transported to the United States with the
explicit complicity of the U.S. government and every arm of the United
States lawmaking and law enforcement infrastructure. The dehumanizing
and atrocities of slavery were not isolated occurrences but mandated by
federal laws that were codified and enshrined in the Constitution. The
role of the federal government in supporting the institution of slavery
and subsequent discrimination directed against Blacks is an injustice
that must be formally acknowledged and addressed."

Sheila Jackson Lee also led the charge to establish Juneteenth as a
federal holiday, which was finally signed into law in 2021, making it
the first new federal holiday in nearly four decades.


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