Post by jdaddy on Dec 19, 2007 15:54:07 GMT -4
U.S. Rep. Julia Carson remembered: Congresswoman gave voice to disadvantaged
by Rob Schneider, Indianapolis Star
U.S. Rep. Julia Carson never forgot what it was like to go to the poor-relief office to ask for food as a child when her mother was sick.
Carson spent a lifetime speaking up for those who couldn't speak for themselves: the poor, the homeless, the victims of discrimination.
"A lot of people get elected to positions and forget that they serve all the people," said John M. Thomas, former president of Community Action of Greater Indianapolis. "She never forgot that."
"Her weapons of choice are blunt talk and a dollop of charm," the Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America once said of her.
A steadfast Democrat, Carson opposed President Bush's request for authority to wage war in 2002 and, in 1999, won enactment of a measure awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights figure Rosa Parks.
But to her constituents, she was just Julia.
The congresswoman -- one of only 25 black women who have served in Congress, one in the Senate and 24 in the House -- was the daughter of an unwed teenage mother who made her living in Indianapolis cleaning houses for the rich. Her mother's life was one from which she drew strength in later years.
"I never thought I would even be a state senator or working for Congress," Carson said in an interview in 1996.
When she did start her political career, Carson had a fear much greater than losing. As a child, she had a stutter so bad that she couldn't say her own name, and she worried that it would resurface.
Often she would deliberately arrive late at campaign appearances to avoid being seen with opponents whom she considered to be better-spoken.
But people who underestimated her did so at their own peril. She never lost an election.
"I told somebody, she may be an African-American woman, but she reminds me of a redneck county judge when she works the room," President Bill Clinton once said.
"She kind of sidles into these rooms in Washington, and all these self-important people are there in their expensive suits, using these big words. And then Julia sort of sidles out, and she's got whatever it is she came in for, and they still don't know what happened."
Carson was first elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1972 and after two terms was elected to the Indiana Senate, where she served until 1990. She then served as Center Township trustee, a post she held until she was elected to Congress in 1996.
by Rob Schneider, Indianapolis Star
U.S. Rep. Julia Carson never forgot what it was like to go to the poor-relief office to ask for food as a child when her mother was sick.
Carson spent a lifetime speaking up for those who couldn't speak for themselves: the poor, the homeless, the victims of discrimination.
"A lot of people get elected to positions and forget that they serve all the people," said John M. Thomas, former president of Community Action of Greater Indianapolis. "She never forgot that."
"Her weapons of choice are blunt talk and a dollop of charm," the Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America once said of her.
A steadfast Democrat, Carson opposed President Bush's request for authority to wage war in 2002 and, in 1999, won enactment of a measure awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights figure Rosa Parks.
But to her constituents, she was just Julia.
The congresswoman -- one of only 25 black women who have served in Congress, one in the Senate and 24 in the House -- was the daughter of an unwed teenage mother who made her living in Indianapolis cleaning houses for the rich. Her mother's life was one from which she drew strength in later years.
"I never thought I would even be a state senator or working for Congress," Carson said in an interview in 1996.
When she did start her political career, Carson had a fear much greater than losing. As a child, she had a stutter so bad that she couldn't say her own name, and she worried that it would resurface.
Often she would deliberately arrive late at campaign appearances to avoid being seen with opponents whom she considered to be better-spoken.
But people who underestimated her did so at their own peril. She never lost an election.
"I told somebody, she may be an African-American woman, but she reminds me of a redneck county judge when she works the room," President Bill Clinton once said.
"She kind of sidles into these rooms in Washington, and all these self-important people are there in their expensive suits, using these big words. And then Julia sort of sidles out, and she's got whatever it is she came in for, and they still don't know what happened."
Carson was first elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1972 and after two terms was elected to the Indiana Senate, where she served until 1990. She then served as Center Township trustee, a post she held until she was elected to Congress in 1996.