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'I Hope I'm Making a Contribution': Rep. Barbara Lee on Her Life in Congress

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Barbara Lee speaks in front of news microphones, wearing a light pink shirt with a mask under her chin.
US Rep. Barbara Lee speaks during a remembrance event to pay tribute to George Floyd held by the Oakland NAACP at Youth UpRising in Oakland on May 25, 2021. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

California’s 13th Congressional District Representative Barbara Lee was the sole member of Congress to vote against the authorization of the war in Afghanistan 20 years ago.

It's a moment that features heavily in director Abby Ginzberg's new documentary "Barbara Lee: Truth to Power," which examines Lee's life and work as a Bay Area representative whose career in Congress has spanned 23 years, and which centers the conversation on Lee’s resolve to stand in opposition to her colleagues during a time of national crisis.

Lee and Ginzberg recently joined Alexis Madrigal on KQED Forum to talk about her storied career in Congress, her early days at Mills College and her thoughts on the latest developments in Afghanistan, two decades after her news-making vote. Read on for the highlights of their conversation.

Growing up amid segregation in Texas

Born in 1946, Lee grew up in segregated El Paso, Texas, down the street from Ron Stallworth, who went on to write "Black Klansman" — his autobiography detailing his experiences infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan — and who still lives in the area.

Lee attended Catholic schools — the only schools in the area that would allow Black students to attend at the time. As the only Black Girl Scout in her town, she was invited by her non-Black cohorts to attend events at the historic Plaza Theatre. However, Black people were only allowed in the balcony — a degrading experience that deterred Lee and many other Black community members from going.

The first movie Lee ever saw at the Plaza Theatre was Spike Lee’s 2018 film adaptation of Stallworth's “BlacKkKlansman.” The experience was, in Lee’s words, "remarkable," and one that she wished her "mother had been there" for.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Lee wants Ginzberg’s documentary to play at the Plaza Theatre in the near future.

Rep. Barbara Lee during a speech in front of a podium and microphone. She has a hand raised and is wearing a blue shirt.
Rep. Barbara Lee speaks at an election event in Berkeley on Oct. 27, 2018. (Anne Wernikoff/KQED)

‘The right thing to do’

A trained social worker, Lee was able to, as Ginzberg put it, "find her moral center" during a time of "patriotic warmongering" immediately following 9/11.

"She understood what that 60-word resolution was going to lead us to," said Ginzberg. As the filmmaker sees it, it was Lee’s ability to set aside "national fervor" that made her "the one person in Congress who was able to do it."

It was after Rev. Nathan Baxter spoke at the Sept. 14, 2001, National Prayer Service that Lee made the decision to vote against a U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan. It was, said Lee, "a decision that did not come lightly."

In fact, this choice jeopardized her seat in Congress. "There are moments when you have to say, 'I'm risking everything because this is the right thing to do,'" said Lee.

When asked for her opinions on President Biden’s recent choice to withdraw the U.S. military from Afghanistan, Lee maintains that "he absolutely made the right call." She was, however,  quick to critique the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, stating that "there is no military solution in Afghanistan."

"I believe we should have withdrawn many, many years ago when President Obama was in office," Lee said.

As the daughter of a retired lieutenant colonel who was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, Lee understands that "the dislocation and the violence and the trauma and the sadness that people have experienced over the last 20 years" is not easily fixed in either the U.S. or in Afghanistan.

Lee is a chair of the subcommittee that funds the U.S. effort to withdraw from Afghanistan. This group’s focus, she says, is now on humanitarian assistance and diplomatic development assistance and an investment in nonmilitary strategies to provide security for women, and advocate for women’s education.

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Audience questions: Mills College and Palestine

Lee shared her experience as a single mother attending classes at Oakland's Mills College. "I took my children to college with me," she said. "They sat through classes with me." It was at Mills where Lee had her first introduction to longtime mentor Shirley Chisholm, in the only government course she enrolled in during her time there.

When asked by a KQED Forum caller about the future of Mills College amid the news of its upcoming merger with Northeastern University, Lee stressed the importance for continued educational options for single mothers, saying that "there are very few academic environments that are conducive" to pursuing a degree for women raising children alone.

Lee was also asked by a caller to justify her endorsement of a military aid package for Israel.

As a member of Congress who advocates for a two-state solution, Lee spoke about the complications of taking a more balanced approach to new humanitarian aid efforts toward Palestine. But "I don't think there are any members of Congress who have been more pro-Palestinian, in terms of justice for the Palestinian people and children, than myself," said Lee.

Even as Ginzberg's new documentary looking back on her life is released, Lee said she is focused on her future both inside and outside of politics. Emphasizing "that there is life after Congress," Lee said that she wants to "continue serving. I love my job."

"I love working for the people. I hope I'm making a contribution and helping my constituents," she said.

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