WATCH: Remembering Sheila Jackson

Paint The Polls Black talk about Sheila Jackson and the impact she made in this world .

Transcript

00:00You know, what's interesting is that we were reminded that she is of Jamaican descent.

00:07And one of the jokes that we would always talk about when it came to Sheila is that she was

00:12always in 50 meetings at one time, right? So her body would physically be in one meeting,

00:18and then she'd be on Zoom with somebody else with the headphones. But listen, as much as we joked,

00:27this is a woman who worked all the time. Even when she was sick on her deathbed,

00:33she never stopped working. She believed that the people, specifically the people of Texas,

00:37deserved better. And when it came down to representing people, while she was elected

00:43to represent Texas 18th Congressional District, that is famously known because Barbara Jordan

00:49held that seat as the first black woman to ever go to Congress from Texas. She also made sure

00:55that she never, ever lost sight of the fact that she was a black woman in America. And so being

01:00able to celebrate Juneteenth is because she never gave up. She was the fighter at all times for

01:06reparations, as well as the George Floyd Policing Act. I mean, this is a woman that never stopped

01:15and never lost focus of community. And community wasn't just her district, but it was black folks.

01:21So definitely, she will sorely be missed. But I can tell you, as the next generation is trying

01:28to do our part, Chantel and I will continue to fight and make sure that her legacy continues

01:34to live on and that her legislation doesn't die with her, but it continues on until we finally

01:40get to the promised land and actually start to see a United States that really starts to respect

01:48and love us wholly, not just in word, but also in legislation.