Hakeem Jeffries, big tent Democrat tasked with bringing back the House
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on December 3, 2022
When Hakeem Jeffries was growing up in Crown Heights, a working-class neighbourhood in Brooklyn, his congresswoman was Shirley Chisholm, a New York politician who in 1968 became the first black woman elected to the US Congress. In 2012, Jeffries was elected to represent the same area.
This week — on what would have been Chisholm’s birthday — Jeffries made history of his own when he was unanimously elected as House Democratic leader. He becomes the first black person to lead a political party in Congress and the successor to Nancy Pelosi.
Speaking on Capitol Hill . . .
