Elected officials, leaders, and constituents gathered to pay their respects at the Houston City Hall. Credit: Getty
President Joe Biden arrived in Houston on Air Force One at Ellington Field to pay his respects to the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
“Sheila Jackson Lee was a great American. I had the honor of working with her during her nearly 30 years in Congress. No matter the issue – from delivering racial justice to building an economy for working people – she was unrelenting in her leadership,” Biden said in a statement earlier in July. “Always fearless, she spoke truth to power and represented the power of the people of her district in Houston with dignity and grace.”
Jackson Lee died from pancreatic cancer on July 19, leaving her seat open for the first time in nearly 30 years. Elected officials, leaders and constituents gathered for a public ceremony opened by Mayor John Whitmire at the Houston City Hall on July 29.
Soon after, visitors who came to pay their respects entered inside, where Jackson Lee’s casket was kept, draped in the flag of the United States. Behind it stood the flags of the country and the state.
Jackson Lee lay in state in City Hall.
Jackson Lee’s husband, Elwyn, and children, Jason Lee and Erica Lee, were in attendance and greeted visitors.
Whitmire ushered in a week of remembrances and memorial services:
On July 30, a viewing and remembrance will be held at God’s Grace Community Church from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.,
On July 31, a viewing has been organized from 11 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., along with a community farewell and appreciation service from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, and
On Aug. 1, a Celebration of Life service will be held at 11 a.m., titled “Remembering the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee,” at Fallbrook Church. The Vice President of the U.S., Kamala Harris, Jackson Lee’s friend and sorority sister of the first historically Black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, is expected to attend and deliver a eulogy.
The legacy she left behind
Attorney Mary A. Daffin and her husband were in Jerusalem, Israel, when the Israel–Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7 last year. All flights got canceled.
Stranded thousands of miles away from her home in Houston, Daffin asked her daughter Pamela D. Cormier, a clinical associate professor at Prairie View A&M University, to call Congresswoman Jackson Lee.
Cormier was already in touch with her. Since then, Jackson Lee’s office called her parents every day to ensure their safe return to the United States. “Do you need food? Do you have enough money?” the office enquired daily.
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When she returned home five days later, she received a personal call from none other than Jackson Lee.
“Her legacy is a legacy for all of us. It’s a legacy for fighting for what is right, what is good for all of us, the underserved and disenfranchised,” Daffin told the Defender. “She’s been everywhere for everybody and she loved the people of the 18th District, she fought for her constituency, and the whole city of Houston. She didn’t just go to Washington to sit up there and and be a placeholder.”
One day while working in the community, Jackson Lee asked Kim Roxie, the founder of Lamik Beauty, about her business. When Roxie introduced her to the brand, she got makeup from her. Since then, Roxie did her makeup for certain events.
“She helped me grow my business by being just one of my billboards, walking, always front and center,” Roxie told the Defender.
When she lost her mother to metastatic breast cancer, Jackson Lee, who also had breast cancer and recovered, spoke at her mother’s funeral.
“She just said, ‘I got you.’ And she did. And she became like a mother to me,” Roxie said. “I got pregnant very shortly after my mom passed, and she touched my stomach and said, ‘I’m gonna be the baby’s godmother.’ I feel like I just lost my mother all over again, to be honest.”
Roxie remembers that she would always show up, even on Grandparents’ Day at her daughter’s school, a sentiment echoed by many Houstonians.
Algia Hickenbotham, a retired nurse who came to pay her respects with friends, remembers Jackson Lee as someone who always showed up to help people. Credit: Houston Defender
“We are going to miss her loving, smiling face. She’s always been a spokesperson for the needs of our community, for children. You also see her every time there’s an emergency or something going on in the city where the community is impacted. The void is going to be huge to fill,” Algia Hickenbotham, a retired nurse from the Houston Health Department and a fellow member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, whose father, M. L. Jackson, was a pastor at the Bethlehem Baptist Church in the Fifth Ward and a friend of Jackson Lee. “There’s nothing that she wouldn’t do for other people. The last encounter I had with her was at the Lyons Avenue Renaissance Festival, where a senior citizen became ill and overwhelmed with the heat, and she [Jackson Lee] was right there personally to help her.”
What Houston is looking for in her absence
The race to fill Jackson Lee’s seat is already in motion, with three local politicians considering bids. Among them are former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, State Rep. Jarvis Johnson, and Houston Councilwoman Letitia Plummer. Edwards, a former Houston City Council member who ran against Jackson Lee in the March primary, has expressed her continued interest in serving the “community.” Historically, the 18th Congressional District has been held by Black Democrats.
Texas law outlines how Democrats can nominate a new candidate to run against Republican candidate Lana Centonze in the general election. The deadline to nominate her replacement is 5 pm on Aug. 26.
Houston residents believe her successor has “big shoes to fill.”
“They [candidate]have to be their own individual, but we cannot forget her legacy. And when we look at the 18th district, from Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland, Craig Washington, and then Sheila Jackson Lee, what a formidable force! That’s a lot of history there,” Daffin said. “That person is really going to have to step it up.”
Jackson Lee was also perceived as “accessible.”
“As a native Houstonian, a lot of us saw Sheila Jackson Lee as a congresswoman who was accessible. If you invited her to a birthday party, she was there. That’s gonna be a huge void for the Houston community, but at large, we’ve lost a great leader who advocates for our rights in the Black community as well as the LGBTQ community. She was a huge presence that will definitely be missed here in Houston,” Cheri Green, vice president and Houston Community Manager at JPMorgan Chase & Co., told the Defender.
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