Activism
How I Accidentally Met (And Spoke With) Rep. Barbara Lee and Survived
When Lee arrived, I could only stand and stare. I’ve never seen her before, yet the moment my mentor, Mrs. Wanda, introduced me to her, that feeling of meeting a stranger faded away. She was so bright, smiling at everybody and cracking jokes. To be in the same room as her was being able to see and appreciate her charisma up close. I complimented her suit (I’ve never seen someone pull off a bright blue suit the way she did) and we took a couple pictures together.
By Anka Lee
Post Intern
Last Wednesday, I was in no hurry to get anywhere. I had yet to readjust to waking up early and arriving at places on time after winter break. After school, I walked to the Post News Group building, ready to tune back into my ‘journalist’ mentality after a two-week hiatus from socializing. Little did I know, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee would be visiting… to be interviewed.
When Lee arrived, I could only stand and stare. I’ve never seen her before, yet the moment my mentor, Mrs. Wanda, introduced me to her, that feeling of meeting a stranger faded away. She was so bright, smiling at everybody and cracking jokes. To be in the same room as her was being able to see and appreciate her charisma up close. I complimented her suit (I’ve never seen someone pull off a bright blue suit the way she did) and we took a couple pictures together.
We went upstairs to prepare for the interview about her mayoral campaign and what she strives to accomplish as mayor of Oakland. She and a couple other Post News Group members, as well as the interviewer and cameraman, sat around a long table. Mr. Cobb, the publisher of The Post, asked Mrs. Wanda and I to prepare questions for Lee before he headed inside. I was going to sit in on the interview and contribute to it. I would have never expected this in a million years.
They began the interview immediately, which I found incredibly productive but also insanely stressful. How was I going to interview Barbara Lee when I was barely accustomed to interviewing people on a regular basis? Mrs. Wanda saved me from a near meltdown when she helped me write down the questions. Once I wrote them down, she gently urged me to enter the room.
The first thing I noticed when entering the room was the formality in the air. It felt like too important of a moment for me to witness. Lee was answering the interviewer’s questions animatedly and with conviction to every word she spoke.
Each person chipped into the conversation, and it was near the end of the interview that Mr. Cobb made a gesture at me. All eyes suddenly turned to me and I tried my best not to seem as scared as I felt. I told myself to treat this as any other interview I’ve done.
I asked about the youth involved in her campaign. She said that already some young people are volunteering and helping, and she intends to bring a couple people in to get trained in campaigns and have meetings with young people about their policy agenda.
There are young people attending college while some are living in the streets, she observed. She wants the “input and involvement” of the youth to better understand how she can fix that situation the best she can.
The second question was about her plans to address racial and ethnic division in Oakland. She emphasized that although Oakland may be ahead in some ways compared to other cities, during a meeting with leaders among different communities she noticed “none of them had ever met each other.”
It was then that she realized unity is the key to creating a more diverse and equal city—to have discussions outside of the mayor’s office in order to empower people of all communities to work together, especially those in the Black community: “I’m going to make sure every single community has input, a seat at the table, and work together.”
Anka Lee is a student intern at The Post from the Oakland School for the Arts.
