In Which Sheila Jackson Lee Accidentally Makes Perhaps the Best Case Against Affirmative Action

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool

Like many members of Congress on the Democratic side, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) is still very upset over the Supreme Court decision two weeks ago that effectively struck down the use of affirmative action programs in college admissions.

Advertisement

In a floor speech she made Tuesday, the longtime Congresswoman from Texas’ 18th congressional district took to the mic to share her thoughts on the ruling as well as to note she would continue to work with the Congressional Black Caucus to (presumably) try to find ways around it. But during her speech, Jackson Lee also announced that she was a beneficiary of affirmative action in her college years, though she didn’t specify if it was during her time at Yale, the University of Virginia Law School, or both:

“I rise today to join my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus and will continue to work with them and proceed to analyze the very wrong-headed decision that was made by the United States Supreme Court on the question of affirmative action. I thank the gentle lady from Florida, the gentleman from New York, and certainly the gentleman from Nevada in their leadership. But I rise today as a clear recipient of affirmative action, particularly in higher education. I may have been admitted on affirmative action, both in terms of being a woman and a woman of color, but I can declare that I did not graduate on affirmative action. This is my personal story.”

Watch:

Advertisement

Raise your hand if you were aware that Rep. Jackson Lee had a law degree?

Not that members of the legal community are supposed to all act and talk in a certain way. I mean Joe Biden of all people purportedly earned a law degree but you wouldn’t know it by how he talks and by how he seems to not grasp what the Constitution actually means, either. But still, you’d think most of them would conduct themselves in a way that is befitting of someone who knew what they were talking about not just on matters of legal import but also when it came to the important issues that impacted their communities.

Jackson Lee, as many RedState readers will recall, is not one of those people in her profession who gives off the impression that she knows what the heck she’s doing, as has been extensively documented. Here are some examples:

In 1997, while on a trip to the Mars Pathfinder operations center in California, Jackson Lee asked if the Pathfinder had succeeded in taking a picture of the flag planted on Mars by Neil Armstrong in 1969. Needless to say, Jackson Lee, then a member of the House Science Committee, had confused Mars with the Moon.

[…]

While Jackson Lee is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, she seems to be badly in need of a new atlas. In 2010, she compared the war in Afghanistan to Vietnam, an analogy that has often been invoked by Democrats. But the lesson she took from that was unique, to say the least. “Today, we have two Vietnams, side by side, North and South, exchanging and working.” Jackson Lee went on to caution: “We may not agree with all that North Vietnam is doing, but they are living in peace. I would look for a better human rights record for North Vietnam, but they are living side by side.” South Vietnam has not existed for almost 40 years since North Vietnamese forces took Saigon and reunified the former French colony in 1975.

Advertisement

Let’s also not forget what she said about the Tea Party in 2010, comparing them to the KKK in part because they allegedly made comments about Jackson Lee’s braids. She also alleged that members of the CBC were “spit on” prior to their vote on Obamacare, a claim that has never been substantiated:

All those who wore sheets a long time ago have now lifted them off and started wearing [applause], uh, clothing, uh, with a name, say, I am part of the tea party. Don’t you be fooled. [voices: “That’s right.”, applause] Those who used to wear sheets are now being able to walk down the aisle and speak as a patriot because you will not speak loudly about the lack of integrity of this movement. Don’t let anybody tell you that those who spit on us as we were walking to vote on a health care bill for all of America or those who said Congresswoman Jackson-Lee’s braids were too tight in her hair had anything to do with justice and equality and empowerment of the American people. Don’t let them fool you on that [applause]….

The bottom line here is that “Queen of Mean” Jackson Lee’s history of saying some incredibly fact-challenged and “out there” (to put it mildly) things, including that the Constitution was “400 years” old and now admitting that she got into college due to affirmative action sort of proves the point that the Supreme Court made the right call.

Advertisement

The good news here is that Jackson Lee is running for mayor of Houston, and if she wins, she won’t be in Congress anymore. The bad news here is that if she wins, she will be the mayor of Houston, and we should all pray long and hard for residents there if so…

Flashback: Kamala Harris Is the Poster Child of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; It’s Not a Good Look

Related –>> READ: Clarence Thomas’ Straight-Fire Response to Ketanji Brown Jackson in Affirmative Action Case Concurrence

Recommended

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on RedState Videos