Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke on Wednesday paid tribute to her trailblazing, former colleague Eddie Bernice Johnson, who died on Dec. 31. She was 88.
“Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson was an enormous,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, instructed Caribbean Life about Johnson, a political icon, who had represented North Texas’s thirtieth Congressional District for 30 years.
“As the primary particular person of colour and girl to chair the Home Science, Expertise, and Area Committee, she was pivotal in making historic investments to strengthen our economic system and help HBCUs,” added Clarke, the consultant for the predominantly Caribbean 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn.
HBCUs are traditionally black schools and universities that had been established earlier than the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with the objective of primarily serving African Individuals.
Clarke famous that earlier than Johnson sought elected workplace, she was enlisted as the primary Black nurse on the Veterans Administration Hospital in Dallas, Tx after which grew to become the hospital’s chief psychiatric nurse, “however her service for her neighborhood didn’t finish there.”
Not lengthy afterward, Clarke stated Johnson – who was born in Waco, Tx, on Dec. 3, 1934 – was elected to the Texas Home of Representatives as the primary Black girl to win electoral workplace in Dallas.
Clarke stated Johnson left the Legislature to function regional director of the US Division of Well being, Schooling and Welfare, after which grew to become a State Senator “earlier than rising to serve within the US Congress in 1992.
“She served within the US Congress for 30 years, bringing residence a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of federal {dollars} to the Dallas space, because the area’s strongest Democrat,” stated Clarke, First Vice Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“All through her lengthy and famend profession, she stood as a guiding gentle to many Black girls, reminiscent of myself, who had the distinction of working alongside her within the Congressional Black Caucus,” she added.
“As we mourn together with her household, communities within the Dallas space, and lots of extra throughout the nation, we should take solace in the truth that her legacy and management will reside on inside us and the remainder of the lives she touched,” Clarke continued.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, whose father is retired Jamaican-born economist Donald J. Harris, described Johnson as “a visionary, a pioneer and a fighter.”
“At a younger age, she witnessed and skilled the profound results of segregation and determined she wouldn’t keep on the sidelines within the struggle for justice,” stated Harris in a White Home assertion.
“She would go on to have a trailblazing profession — from turning into the primary Black chief psychiatric nurse on the Dallas Veterans Affairs Hospital and the primary Black girl elected to public workplace in Dallas, to serving within the state Legislature, turning into the primary Black particular person to characterize Dallas in Congress, and making historical past as the primary registered nurse elected to the Home of Representatives,” she added.
All through her lengthy profession in public service, Harris stated Johnson was “at all times clear-eyed about what she was preventing for: the fitting of each particular person in Dallas and throughout the nation to reside free from discrimination and to have the chance to reside as much as their full potential.
“As the primary particular person of colour and girl to chair the Home Science, Area, and Expertise Committee, she performed an instrumental function within the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, which is making historic investments in our economic system, innovation, and HBCUs,” the vice chairman stated.
She stated she “had the privilege to serve alongside” Johnson within the Congressional Black Caucus, including that she knew that “so many have benefited from her tireless work, myself included.”
“Her legacy and management might be felt for generations to return,” Harris stated.
President Joe Biden additionally famous that Johnson was “a devoted nurse, state legislator and longtime US congresswoman with immense braveness and a dedication to the promise of America.”
“She had unwavering dedication to the individuals of North Texas,” he stated in a White Home assertion. “She and I labored collectively all through her 30 years in Congress, and I’ve at all times been grateful for her friendship and partnership.”
Biden stated Johnson turned a childhood dream to work in medication into “a lifetime of service, preventing to get hundreds of thousands of Individuals entry to healthcare, training and alternative.”
Early on, because the chief psychiatric nurse on the Veterans Administration in Dallas, Biden stated “she helped our nation to satisfy its most sacred obligation, to look after the troops we despatched into hurt’s manner once they’re residence.
“And within the Texas statehouse after which over 30 years as the primary Black American elected to Congress from Dallas, she fought to develop civil rights, to create jobs, to fight the local weather disaster, and rather more,” the president stated.
“Lately, her management was essential in passing our Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation and CHIPS and Science Act in 2022, creating tens of hundreds of good-paying jobs and ensuring America leads the industries of the long run,” he added.
All through her life, and because the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Biden stated she was “an icon and mentor to generations of public servants, by means of whom her legacy of resilience and function will endure.
“Jill and I ship our like to her household, together with her son Kirk and her grandchildren Kirk Jr, David and James; to her many buddies; and to the individuals of Texas’ thirtieth Congressional District, who had been so lucky to have her as their champion for therefore lengthy,” he continued.
