Barbara Lee has been Oakland's mayor for half a year. This month she found herself consoling the friends and family of a beloved community college football coach who taught thousands. A veteran congresswoman and first-term mayor, Lee sat with The Associated Press at her downtown Oakland office the next day. She discussed her city's struggle with violent crime and its deep sense of community. No longer representing the region from Washington, she lives her city's rich culture, its tough streets and its tensions with the Trump administration. Almost every day she is torn between her roles as Oakland booster and crime fighter.
Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California has always stood apart. She was the first Black student to integrate her Southern California cheerleading squad. During her more than two decades in Congress, she's been the only Black woman elected to the House from California's regions north of Los Angeles. But it was a vote in 2001 that has come to be her defining moment. She was the only lawmaker to vote against the authorization for the use of military force against those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. Lee is now leaving Congress and her renegade approach is being appreciated by colleagues and serving as a model for the next generation.
