Barbara Lee

Black Californians Split on Supreme Court Gun Rights Ruling

Late last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom fired back by signing two pieces of new legislation intended to strengthen the state’s hardline position on possessing firearms in public. He says, together, the bills, AB 1621 and AB 2571, will take on ghost guns and prohibit the gun industry from “advertising to children.”

Published

1 year ago

July 10, 2022

Oakland Post

U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) says the current right-leaning Supreme Court has shown a double standard in the way the justices ruled on gun rights and women’s rights to abortion.

By Tanu Henry, California Black Media

A little over a week ago, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) handed down a 6-to-3 decision making it more difficult for a handful of states – including California – to keep strict laws they have in place against carrying guns in public.

“From our schools to our parks to our homes, our kids deserve to be safe – in California, we’re making that a reality. As the Supreme Court rolls back important gun safety protections and states across the country treat gun violence as inevitable, California is doubling down on commonsense gun safety measures that save lives,” said Newsom, who also pointed out that gun violence is the leading cause of death among children.

“The lives of our kids are at stake and we’re putting everything on the table to respond to this crisis,” the governor added.

News about the SCOTUS decision on guns June 23 was drowned out by coverage of the national outrage, and applause, that followed its ruling on Roe. V. Wade the next day.

Reactions nationally to the court’s gun restriction decision – the most significant change to the country’s firearm laws in a decade — were swift, passionate and strong. But the protests and celebrations mostly happened on the sidelines of the country’s more intense reactions to the abortion ruling.

In California, where more than 60% of all adults favor stronger gun laws, elected officials, activists and civil rights leaders have blasted the SCOTUS’ decision.

But not everyone agrees.

Micah Grant is Black, Republican, a father, husband and Natomas School Board member in Sacramento County. He agrees with the SCOTUS’ decision on guns, arguing that the New York law had a built-in racial and class bias.

“I think it’s a fundamentally sound ruling that comes at, obviously, a very sensitive time,” Grant said. “But the laws as they were created two separate classes of people, where in many regions, only the connected and elite could exercise their fundamental right to protection.”

Grant says with crime on the rise in many cities across California, just going outside is “cause enough” to carry a gun.

“The state can simply implement reasonable training requirements to ensure those who apply for permits are knowledgeable, responsible, trained and that they understand the liability that comes with gun ownership,” Grant added.

California is one of five states with gun restrictions on the books, both statewide and municipal, that are affected by the ruling. The others are Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Hawaii.

SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanagh said states are still allowed to ban handguns in certain sensitive places like courthouses, statehouses, polling places, etc.

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA-37) is running for mayor of Los Angeles, a city where the homicide rate has seen a steep 50% increase between 2019 and the end of last year.

“Only 31 days after 19 students and 2 teachers were murdered in one of the most devastating mass shootings in the history of this country, the Supreme Court has responded by striking down a law that was on the books for more than 100 years, making it easier now to carry a weapon in public,” Bass said in response to SCOTUS’ ruling.

Craig DeLuz is Black and Republican like Grant and also the publisher of 2ANews, an online news and opinion outlet focused on gun rights.

“When you have a patchwork of laws from one city to another you don’t know what the regulations are. You are setting someone up to violate the law,” he says.

DeLuz says as Gov. Newsom and state legislators draft new public safety laws to comply with the SCOTUS’ ruling, he hopes they do not violate the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that grants citizens the right to bear arms.

“His lack of knowledge on the issue of firearm policy and firearm technology is evident every time he speaks about it,” DeLuz said, criticizing the governor.

“Gun control laws in the state of California and nationally have been about disarming people of color going back to the 1870s,” he said. “It has been about making it illegal for Native Americans, Chinese Americans, Blacks and other people of color from owning firearms.”

Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson) has been the strongest voice in the California Legislative Black Caucus calling for strong gun control laws.

“Alarmingly, we are finding that more and more, no region or demographic is exempt from gun violence – our hospitals, grocery stores, schools, and even places of worship, are no longer safe. The proliferation of ghost guns, which are intentionally untraceable weapons to evade law enforcement, has only worsened the issue,” Gipson said.

U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) says the current right-leaning Supreme Court has shown a double standard in the way the justices ruled on gun rights and women’s rights to abortion.

“This conservative Supreme Court has ruled that states shouldn’t be trusted to make their own laws on gun control but can keep people from making their own health care decisions. It is unconscionable,” Lee said. “We are seeing the horrific consequences of minority rule playing out in real time—and this is only the beginning of their radical agenda to take America back in history and take another step toward eroding our democracy.”

There is overwhelming support and widespread commitment among elected officials in California for finding ways to strengthen gun laws in the wake of the SCOTUS decision.

In the state budget that Newsom signed last week, lawmakers and the governor’s office agreed to fund $176 million in gun violence prevention grants going to 79 cities and nonprofits.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that he is working with the state Legislature on Senate Bill (SB) 918, to preserve California’s existing concealed carry laws. He reminded residents of the state that “general prohibitions” against carrying firearms in public are still in effect.

“The data is clear, and the consequences are dire — more guns in more places make us less safe. In California, we are committed to passing and defending common-sense, constitutional gun laws that save lives,” Bonta said.

Up Next

WNBA Star Britney Griner Pleads Guilty to Drug Possession in Russian Court

Don't Miss

Gov. Newsom Signs $308 Billion Budget: Californians to Get ‘Inflation Relief’ Checks of Up to $1050

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Barbara Lee

Supreme Court Denies Affirmative Action for Everyone but the Wealthy and White

For generations, affirmative action has been a powerful means of lowering barriers to education for historically marginalized and underrepresented students of color. At its core, it simply aims to remedy the government-sanctioned, decades-long inequality by making race one factor in the college admissions process.

Published

3 months ago

July 10, 2023

Oakland Post

Barbara Lee

By Hon. Barbara Lee

By ruling that race and ethnicity cannot be considered in college admissions, the U.S. Supreme Court sets us back more than four decades.

Dismantling these policies will not only have devastating implications for students of color, but for the classrooms at these institutions, which will become devoid of diversity in the lived experience and perspective needed to solve America’s toughest challenges. Higher education serves as an incubator for the brilliant ideas of tomorrow. Those ideas will now become less diverse.

I’m a graduate of Mills College, a women’s college in Oakland. There was a time when, as a Black woman, my options for higher education were limited. But because affirmative action successfully addressed the centuries-long discrimination in higher education, I was able to earn my degree while caring for my two children as a single mother on public assistance.

I met my mentor, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm; received my master’s degree in social work; became a successful small business owner; serve in Congress; and ran to be only the third Black woman in our nation’s history to serve in the U.S. Senate.

The list of barriers to higher education is already long, and I fear that with this ruling we are turning back the clock, and a generation of talented young people of color may not be given the same opportunities that I had.

For those reasons and more, I’ve fought hard to uphold affirmative action. California’s Proposition 209, which effectively banned affirmative action across our state’s public education systems, was a harmful policy that deprived countless students of color the opportunity to study at some of the greatest academic institutions in the world.

In 2020, I fought for the reversal of Prop 209, but it sadly failed. I argued against the banning of affirmative action before the UC Board of Regents years ago, and since that policy went into effect, the share of Black, Latino and Native American students has fallen significantly.

California has a difficult relationship with race. Despite being one of the most progressive states in the country, we struggle with racial inequality of epic proportions.

Ironically, [June 29] the California Reparations Task Force completed the report they were commissioned to produce. I was the only member of Congress to testify in front of the task force, and yesterday’s ruling affirms the need for their work toward an effort to repair the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow and systemic racism, and for my continued effort at the federal level to establish a Commission on Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation.

While the country mourns the end of affirmative action in higher education, let’s be clear: The Supreme Court did not strike down affirmative action for everyone. It was just taken away for everyone that’s not wealthy and white.

For many wealthy white students, it still exists in the form of legacy admissions. Justice Brett Kavanaugh knows this intimately, as a legacy admission to Yale. Judge Clarence Thomas was an affirmative action admission as well. Yet, they are denying future generations their same opportunities, and making the application of a first-generation college student from an immigrant family less notable than the child of a fifth-generation Yale graduate from a wealthy family.

In the spirit of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent on the ruling, preventing the consideration of race does not end racism, and deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life. We do not live in a colorblind society.

Systemic racism is not an abstract idea. For the far right, it is intentional, deliberate and strategic. Their efforts to ban books, erase history and simply deny students of color entry into the building is a coordinated effort to uphold white supremacy.

Education has always been the great equalizer, which is why, for centuries, people of color were systematically shut out of educational opportunities. [Last] Thursday’s decision is simply one more part of this effort and, ultimately, lays the groundwork to undermine Brown v. Board of Education, which began the dismantling of Jim Crow.

The remnants of Jim Crow laws and the chains of slavery were meant to be broken, not meant to take new forms. Affirmative action is a crucial tool to not only incentivize racial diversity on our college campuses, but level the playing field for all those in pursuit of the American dream.

This opinion was originally published in the Sacramento Bee on July 1.

Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Condemns Ruling by Trump-Appointed Judge Undermining FDA Approval of Abortion Medication

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12), Co-Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus, released the following statement on Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration et al to side with anti-abortion hate groups and suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone.

Published

5 months ago

April 20, 2023

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12)

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12), Co-Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus, released the following statement on Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration et al to side with anti-abortion hate groups and suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone.

Mifepristone is the first drug in a two-medication regimen that has been used safely and effectively by millions of people for over 20 years for early abortion care and for miscarriage management.

“Study after study has found mifepristone to be an exceedingly safe and effective way to end a pregnancy; in fact, unfortunately, there are statistically more risks associated with pregnancy itself – especially for Black women. Since its approval by the FDA in 2000, mifepristone has been used safely by more than 5 million Americans. It is critical to remember right now that mifepristone is still legal and accessible, and we will not stop fighting to ensure it stays that way.

“Make no mistake: if the Supreme Court upholds this extreme and dangerous ruling, it will be the greatest loss for abortion rights since the fall of Roe. This is just the next step in the decades-long coordinated effort by anti-abortion groups to ban abortion care in every form, in every state.

“We can’t let that happen. As Co-Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus, I am working closely with our partners to respond to this egregious ruling and preserve access to mifepristone nationwide. People—not politicians—should have the freedom to make their own health care decisions, and we won’t stop fighting until they do.”

Activism

Rep. Barbara Lee Joins Competitive Race to Replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA12), the highest-ranking African American woman serving in the U.S. Congress, announced on February 21, that she will enter the race to replace 89-year-old Dianne Feinstein — California’s senior U.S. Senator who has announced that she will not seek another term.

Published

7 months ago

February 25, 2023

Oakland Post

Rep. Barbara Lee faces two other California Democrats in next year’s primary.

By Tanu Henry

California Black Media

“No one is rolling out the welcome mat – especially for someone like me. I am the girl they didn’t allow in, who couldn’t drink from the water fountain, who had an abortion in a back alley when they all were illegal,” Lee said in a video she released announcing her senatorial bid. “I escaped a violent marriage, became a single mom, a homeless mom, a mom who couldn’t afford childcare and brought her kids to class with her.”

“By the grace of God, I didn’t let that stop me,” Lee said over a soundtrack of loudening applause. “And even though there are no African American women in the U.S. Senate, we won’t let that stop us either. Because when you stand on the side of justice, you don’t quit when they give you a seat at the table. You bring a folding chair for everyone, and they’re here to stay.”

A week earlier, Lee, a 12-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives who is known for her progressive politics, filed the required paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to be a candidate in the 2024 race.

“It has been an immense honor to serve alongside Senator Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving woman senator in our nation’s history,” Lee said in a statement after Feinstein’s announcement. “For over two decades, we’ve worked closely together to represent the best interests of our great state of California; create an economy that works for all; and advance justice and equity.”

“The progress we’ve made in the fight for equity can be seen in the Senator’s tenure itself: when she was elected in ’92, there were just two women senators. Today, there are 25,” Lee said, continuing her homage to Feinstein.

If Lee wins, she will be the only Black woman serving in the U.S. Senate. Just two Black women, Vice President Kamala Harris and former Illinois Senator Carol Moseley Braun, have served in the upper house of the United States Congress in the body’s 230-year history.

“As one of the most liberal states in the nation, we must continue to send an independent voice who will be diverse in their perspective and positions,” said Kellie Todd-Griffin, founding convener of the California Black Women’s Collective, a statewide organization whose membership includes women representing various professional backgrounds.

“That is Congressmember Barbara Lee. She speaks for all of us,” added Griffin.

In 2020, after Kamala Harris became vice president, Black women advocates across California called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint a Black woman to replace her. They made the case that there would be no other Black woman in the Senate after Harris left, and that Black women are the most loyal, most powerful, and most consistent voting bloc in the Democratic Party.

Instead, Newsom appointed Sen. Alex Padilla, the first Latino from California to serve in the U.S. Senate. Although Black political advocates and Black leaders in the California Democratic Party eventually embraced Padilla’s nomination, many felt Newsom’s decision to not appoint a Black woman to replace Harris was a slap in the face.

“That is a terrible loss for America. That is our seat,” said Amelia Ashley Ward, publisher of the San Francisco Sun-Reporter, after Padilla was nominated. “It was won by an African American woman, and she had hundreds of thousands of African American women working hard with her, holding her up, standing behind her to win that seat.”

Lee, 76, will be competing for Feinstein’s Senate seat against two other Democratic members of California’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives: Katie Porter (D-CA-47), 49, and Adam Schiff (D-CA-30), 62.

Both Porter and Schiff, like Lee, have progressive voting records. Both Democratic competitors have already amassed tens of millions of dollars, respectively, in campaign donations. Their early fundraising places them in a stronger position than Lee to win the 2024 Democratic primary which will be held about a year from now.

In the U.S. House, Lee serves as co-chair of the Policy and Steering Committee. She is also a member of the Appropriations and Budget committees. She is former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and chair emeritus of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Lee has also been hailed by her Democratic colleagues as the only member of Congress who had the courage to vote against the use of force in Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

As a young activist, Lee was a volunteer for the 1973 Oakland mayoral campaign of Black founder co-founder Bobby Seale.

Griffin says for Black women particularly, and for African Americans in general, it is important to have representation in the United States Senate.

“Congressmember Lee has been a progressive leader whose record demonstrates she will fight to solve the issues that impact our community.

She has effectively served California by advancing meaningful policy while standing up for the things that matter to everyday citizens,” said Griffin.