Talking Iraq, poverty, and getting a seat at the table with the House’s lefty conscience.
REPRESENTATIVE BARBARA LEE OF California had spent the morning on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, giving a speech— word for word—that she’d given 17 years ago. “Let’s just pause … and think through the implications of our actions today, so that this does not spiral out of control.”
She’d first uttered those words on the House floor back in September 2001, when she opposed the Authorization for Use of Military Force, which granted President George W. Bush—and every president who’s come after him—the authority to go to war without congressional approval. Lee was just three years into her role representing her Oakland district when she became the only member of Congress to oppose its passage.
As she sat at a table in the Rayburn room of the House a few hours after having revisited her 17-year-old oratory, Lee recalled how she’d felt back then. “It was kind of lonely, but it’s okay. Being a black woman in America, you stand out. You have to just stand your ground with what you believe in. The majority of black women do that in their daily lives all the time.”
Lee, 72, is polite and laughs often, almost shyly; she holds the eye of whomever she’s speaking to, making sure she’s being understood clearly. She is also unfailingly optimistic. As a teen in California, Lee longed to be a cheerleader, but no black girls had ever been chosen for her high school’s squad. So she approached the NAACP, which helped her integrate the team. Lee displays a photograph of herself as a cheerleader in her House office.
Denne historien er fra November 12, 2018-utgaven av New York magazine.
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Denne historien er fra November 12, 2018-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Drowning in Slop - A thriving underground economy is clogging the internet with AI garbage-and it's only going to get worse.
SLOP started seeping into Neil Clarke's life in late 2022. Something strange was happening at Clarkesworld, the magazine. Clarke had founded in 2006 and built into a pillar of the world of speculative fiction. Submissions were increasing rapidly, but “there was something off about them,” he told me recently. He summarized a typical example: “Usually, it begins with the phrase ‘In the year 2250-something’ and then it goes on to say the Earth’s environment is in collapse and there are only three scientists who can save us. Then it describes them in great detail, each one with its own paragraph. And then—they’ve solved it! You know, it skips a major plot element, and the final scene is a celebration out of the ending of Star Wars.” Clarke said he had received “dozens of this story in various incarnations.”
The City Politic- The Other Eric Adams Scandal The NYPD shot a fare evader, a cop, and two bystanders. He defends it.
On Sunday, September 15, Derell Mickles hopped a turnstile, got asked to leave by cops, then entered the subway again ten minutes later through an emergency exit. This was at the Sutter Avenue L station, out by his mother's house, five stops from the end of the line. Police said they noticed he was holding a folded knife. They followed him up the stairs to the elevated train, asking him 38 times to drop the weapon.
Can the Media Survive?
BIG TECH, Feckless Owners, CORD-CUTTERS, RESTIVE STAFF, Smaller Audiences ... and the Return of PRINT?
Status Update
Hannah Gadsby's fascinatingly untidy tour through life after fame and death.
A Matter of Perspective
A Matter of Perspective Steve McQueen's worst film is still a solid WWII drama.
Creator, Destroyer
A retrospective reveals an architect's vision, optimism, and supreme arrogance.
In Praise of Bad Readers
In a time of war, there is a danger in surveying the world as if it were a novel.
Trust the Kieran Culkin Process
First, he nearly dropped out of Oscar hopeful A Real Pain. Then he convinced Jesse Eisenberg to change the way he directs.
The Funniest Vampires on TV
What We Do in the Shadows is coming to an end. Its idiosyncratic brand of comedy may be too.
The Water-Tower Penthouse
Gigi Loizzo and Angel Molina's apartment on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx looks out on Yankee Stadium.
