John, that's me you're looking at.

I was born in El Paso, Texas. My father served as a lieutenant colonel in WWII and the Korean War. My mother worked at the USO and was the first Black clerical worker in Fort Bliss.

And yet, despite all the service that my parents provided for our nation, despite all of the racial barriers that they shattered, we were still forbidden to drink out of the same water fountains as white folks. We were still seen as lesser.

And maybe I would've believed that sentiment if I didn't have a mother as dedicated to equality as mine was. From a young age, my mother taught me that if people refuse to make a place for me at the table, I'll just have to make one for myself.

And that is a lesson I have carried with me my entire life.

So when there were no Black cheerleaders at my high school, I worked with the NAACP and earned my spot as the school’s first Black cheerleader.

When I went on to become the president of Mills College's Black Student Union and had the honor of meeting Shirley Chisholm, our nation's FIRST African American congresswoman, I was driven by Congresswoman Chisholm's mentorship to seek out a life of public service in D.C. It's there that I began a decades long career on Capitol Hill – working from an intern all the way up to one day following in Congresswoman Chisholm's footsteps and becoming a congresswoman.

But this fight is proving to be anything but easy.

So please, John: Can I count on you to chip in $5 or more now to help me elect Progressives up and down the ballot this November?

If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:

Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you.

– Barbara Lee

Elect Progressives is a nationwide movement led by Congresswoman Barbara Lee in partnership with her One Voice PAC. Their aim is to elect the next generation of diverse leaders up and down the ballot.

Chip in $3 or whatever you can to help fuel her fight.