Juanita Millender-McDonald

Floor Speech

JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD

Mr. SHERMAN. You know, it is heartwarming to sit here for a while and to listen to these personal tales of our good friend, JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD.

I first got to know JUANITA in our days as activists during the 1980s on the Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee. Both of us entered State government in the early nineties; both of us came here to Congress in the mid-90s.

JUANITA broke barriers. JUANITA led the charge. She was the first African-American woman on the Carson City Council, the first African-American woman to chair the Revenue and Taxation Committee of the California Assembly, where I enjoyed working with her on State tax issues. JUANITA was the first African-American woman to give the Democratic Radio Address response. And finally, she was the first African-American woman to serve as Chair of the House Administration Committee.

Now, her fine work on that committee has been detailed by so many of the prior speakers who have come to this floor. And the prior speakers have also spoke of her work on the Transportation Committee, where we in Southern California are so grateful to her for her efforts on behalf of the Alameda corridor.

JUANITA will be missed, of course, by her husband James, by her five children and by her five grandchildren. She will be remembered here for her record of legislative accomplishment, and she will be remembered here for the spunk she showed every day. And finally, she will be remembered for the courage she showed in these final days, because JUANITA barely mentioned to her closest friends that she was a bit under the weather. Right up to the end she was fighting the good fight. JUANITA's courage and strength will be remembered.

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