Vacationers touchdown on the George Bush Intercontinental Airport’s Terminal E will now be greeted by a reputation that’s deeply entrenched in Houston’s soul: Sheila Jackson Lee.
The unanimous determination by the Houston Metropolis Council to rename the terminal after the late Congresswoman is not only a symbolic gesture however a testomony to her achievements and imaginative and prescient for the town.
After I first got here to Houston two years in the past, everybody I met locally knew Jackson Lee. She was greater than a political determine. Those that noticed her in motion informed me she all the time confirmed as much as folks’s doorsteps throughout pure disasters, birthday events, cultural occasions and above all, to relay her constituents’ must the decision-makers in Washington, D.C.
Houston, a metropolis wealthy with historic figures who formed its political, cultural and financial panorama, has added yet one more milestone in celebrating these leaders.
By renaming Terminal E after Jackson Lee, alongside former Mayor Lewis Cutrer and former U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, the town affirmed its inclusiveness and respect for public servants who opened doorways for underserved communities.
The transfer can also be important for younger folks and worldwide guests who fly into Houston. The title might encourage them to search for Jackson Lee and study her accomplishments in Houston and throughout the seas. It is going to introduce them to the colourful and brave historical past she carved out for herself.
For Black youth rising up right here, seeing Jackson Lee’s legacy prominently displayed at a serious gateway into the town will remind them that their voices matter they usually, too, can advocate for his or her neighborhood on the world stage.
Because the longest-serving U.S. Consultant for Texas’s 18th Congressional District, Jackson Lee’s accomplishments are infinite. She was a founder and co-chair of the Congressional Kids’s Caucus and served on three congressional committees: the Home Committee on the Judiciary, Homeland Safety and the Essential Funds Committee.
That’s not all. She secured catastrophe reduction after Hurricane Harvey and stood by her constituents from Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 to Hurricane Beryl final yr earlier than her loss of life.
Jackson Lee, a former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Basis (CBCF) Board, fought for legal justice and immigration reform and championed for ladies and youngsters, supporting the Paycheck Equity Act and the Pregnant Employees Equity Act. She additionally launched an modification to H.R. 2262 that referred to as for outreach to minority- and women-owned companies within the industrial house trade. Throughout her 29-year tenure as a Congresswoman, she advocated fiercely for the wants of Houston’s Black neighborhood and secured $125 million for the Houston Airport System.
Remembering Jackson Lee this manner has a extra profound that means— the town selected to have fun a lady who embodied resilience, service and compassion. Now, passengers touring by means of Sheila Jackson Lee Terminal E can have a possibility to study a lady who advocated fiercely for her folks. For taking that step, Mayor John Whitmire and Metropolis Councilmembers deserve applause.
As her daughter, Erica Lee Carter, movingly said, “We aren’t simply affixing a reputation to a constructing, we’re telling the world that Sheila Jackson Lee mattered to Houston, and that her legacy lives on boldly, visibly and completely.”
