U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee passes away after battle with cancer

U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee passed away Friday evening after battling pancreatic cancer. She was 74. Jackson Lee represented Texas’s 18th Congressional District, which includes portions of Houston.  Sheila Jackson Lee entered politics after being named to a municipal judge seat in Houston and in 1989, she was elected to the Houston City Council.  Jackson Lee was elected to Congress in 1994 after defeating Craig Washington. During her time in the U.S. House of Representatives, Jackson Lee focused on issues of race, social inequality, LGBTQ+ rights and immigration.& Jackson Lee fiercely fought for her constituents Notably on January 3, 2019, Jackson Lee introduced U.S. House Bill 40. The bill was reparations legislation that focuses on truth, racial healing, and transformation. “I want to give them the honor that they deserve. And that is to recognize the insurmountable odds that some of them had and how they continue to plant seeds of respect and dignity in their children,” said Jackson Lee in an interview with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). “Has anyone addressed the question of slavery and its comprehensive impact on Black Americans in this country? This is what H.R. 40 will do.” Jackson Lee was also on the...