Sheila Jackson Lee accuses GOP of "racism" for using her photo in an email message

WASHINGTON, DC – This week the Harris County Republican Party of Texas sent an e-mail to its members soliciting their attendance at a redistricting hearing that will occur in Houston on Saturday. The Republican’s e-mail depicted Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee without mention of her name. (A copy of the e-mail follows this page.) After reading the offensive e-mail Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee said: “In order to provoke their party members to attend redistricting hearings in the 18th Congressional District of Texas, Republican Party officials stooped to their lowest level of party politics. Just when we thought they couldn’t go any lower the Republicans have outdone themselves with this e-mail.”

“They used a photo of me to play the race card. They did not include photos of the other Representatives from the Houston area although there are three. You do not see Reps. Chris Bell, or Gene Green, or Nick Lampson. The three of them are white males; none of them were referred to by name and none of them had their picture utilized.” “Instead of requesting that their members attend the redistricting hearings to have their positions heard on this important issue, the Republican Party chose to plaster my picture on their e-mail. If that is not bad enough, the Republicans chose not to use my name. They chose only to use a picture of an African American women with the language below it stating, ‘She will be there to express her views.’ They chose to circulate this e-mail as if there is some ominous overtone to an African-American woman attending this weekend’s redistricting hearings to state her opinion.”

“I do not believe for a minute that everyone to whom this e-mail was directed knows that is a picture of the Congresswoman from the 18th District. Many of them will simply see an African-American behind the podium, along with the Republicans’ foreboding language. Unfortunately, the Republicans chose to play the race card. It is deceitful and it is shameful. The Harris Country Republican Party should not simply apologize to me. They should apologize to the African-Americans in the Houston area and across the nation. The race card has no place in politics or in a democratic society, that seeks participation from all of its citizens.”

“This shameful episode provides additional proof that the Republicans created this redistricting plan to disenfranchise African-Americans in the 18th District. In fact, this ugly incident lays bare the fact that Republicans are truly seeking to destroy the 18th District and other districts across Texas that are home to large numbers of people of color. It is also obvious that Republicans desire to flood this week’s hearings with a lopsided display that might falsely reflect that most Texans are satisfied with the redistricting plan.”

“I am disappointed that rather than waging a fair political battle, the Republicans are playing the race card to force Majority Leader Tom Delay’s redistricting plan on our state. The Republican governor and state legislators in Texas are not attempting to work in the best interests of Texans but rather in the best interests of Tom Delay and Washington politics.”

“Let us not turn the clock back on the representation many fought so hard to attain. I call for all Texans of goodwill to attend the upcoming redistricting hearings. Come to the hearings to express your views, not because of a racist solicitation e-mail. Come to the hearing because you want to be heard.”

"Barbara Jordan"

I'm as conservative a Republican as you can get, but Barbara Jordan was much respected by me and a lot of others like me. She may have been a democrat, she may or may not have been a lesbian (THAT'S one I've never heard before about her!), and some might herald her as a civil rights hero...but she WAS always a class act. She was a brilliant orator, and even though she was confined to a wheelchair with her last illness of several years, her wonder voice and spirit fought on. She lived with her mother, and compared to the current crop of black congressional women (Sheila Jackson Lee, Maxine Waters), she was Mt. Everest to a couple of large hills along the highway.

Her voice and oratory (?) skills were such that one TV commentator said that if God were a woman, she would sound like Barbara Jordan.

Well, as much as I hate to disagree with this fine group, I think Queen Lee has a valid complaint about her name being left off.
Take another look at that flyer: The look on her face is neither stupid nor hateful, and her mouth is CLOSED. No way ANYONE could recognize her under those conditions!

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