Hilda Solis: A Profile In Courage

President-Elect Obama has made an outstanding choice in selecting Hilda Solis. She's a tireless champion for working families. She understands the struggles that millions of Americans are facing, and she'll be an invaluable asset to President Obama in protecting workers' rights and restoring economic opportunity. I look forward very much to working with her on these critical issues in her new position.

Hilda has an extraordinary background in public service. She first came to my attention in 2000, when she was nominated for and won the Profile in Courage Award that year for her remarkable work as a California State Senator. The award is given annually by the Kennedy Library to persons in public life who have the quality of political courage that President Kennedy so admired.

My statement praising Solis in presenting the Profile in Courage Award to her on May 21, 2000 follows. I feel the final paragraph in the statement is true as well about Hilda's service in Congress, and will be just as true about her service as Secretary of Labor.

Our goal in these annual Profile in Courage Awards is to pay tribute to the political courage of contemporary elected officials, at whatever level of government they serve -- federal, state, or local. By doing so, we hope to encourage the American people to value the quality of courage more highly in their elected representatives.

As a young Senator in the 1950s, President Kennedy won the Pulitzer for his book about elected officials in American history who demonstrated an unusually high degree of political courage.

What he meant are political leaders who act on principle, who are willing to risk their career, to challenge prevailing views and powerful entrenched interests, in order to do what they believe is right.

I know that both President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy would be especially proud of the winner of this year's Profile in Courage Award.

When President Kennedy made his famous visit to Ireland in the spring of 1963, he spoke to the Irish Parliament and quoted one of the lines he loved best, from George Bernard Shaw -- "Some people see things as they are and say why. But I dream things that never were and say why not?"

Robert Kennedy loved those words too. In fact, he found them so inspiring that he made them the heart and the soul of his campaign for the White House in 1968 -- and those words quickly became the slogan of Bobby's campaign that year.

To me, those words have always stood for the ideal at the core of the concept of a profile in courage in our modern society. Elected officials and private citizens are constantly under enormous pressure from powerful forces in our society to get along by going along -- to support the status quo -- and avoid the risk of seeking needed change.

I think that when all of us on the selection committee for this year's Profile in Courage Award learned the story of Hilda Solis, we knew she would be the winner.

This courageous young state legislator of Hispanic heritage from California understood what my brothers meant in that beautiful quotation. She has lived her life by those words. She truly had the vision to see things that never were. She insisted on asking why not, when others refused to speak out. And best of all, she had the ability and dedication to overcome the entrenched opposition of special interest groups -- and make that change happen.

The extraordinary successes of Hilda Solis as a member of the California legislature show the power of one person with vision, ability, dedication, and courage to overcome even the most powerful forces of oppression and resistance.

As Andrew Jackson once said, "One man with courage makes a majority." And as Hilda Solis has proved, one woman with courage makes a majority too.

Her achievements for environmental justice, minority rights, workers' rights, and women's rights are outstanding. Frankly, her achievements on any one of those issues -- so uphill and against such great odds -- might well have earned her this award. But to do as well as she has done on all four of these issues is amazing -- it's truly a grand slam for profiles in courage.

In so many ways the story of Hilda Solis is the story of the fulfillment of the American dream. She's a profile in courage for her generation and for our times.

She was born in Los Angeles in 1957. Her parents were both immigrants - her father from Mexico, and her mother from Nicaragua. They met in U.S. citizenship class.

It seems as if Hilda was born to be an activist. Her junior high school teacher tells about how, when he mentioned the Bill of Rights, Hilda would ask why Cesar Chavez was being denied the right to form a union for his farm-workers.

To Hilda and her family, college seemed an impossible dream. But education is the golden door to the American dream, and Hilda found the key. Pell Grants helped bring the impossible dream within reach, and she made the most of it.

She graduated from California Polytechnic University at Pomona, and then earned a master's degree in public administration at USC. She learned the ways of Washington by serving in the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs during the Carter Administration, where she was editor of the first Hispanic newsletter published by the White House.

Back home in Los Angeles in the 1980s, she was soon elected to the Board of Trustees of a local community college. It was here, in the battle to stop the expansion of a local landfill, that she first became active on the issue of environmental justice for the residents of minority communities, and she's been a leader on the issue ever since.

As Hilda once said, "If you flew over my State Senate district, you'd think it was a war zone - the enormous garbage dumps -- the largest landfill west of the Mississippi River -- acre after acre of gigantic rock mining pits -- rocket-fuel additives polluting the ground-water."

When she took a helicopter tour of the vast area, her reaction was intense. Here is what she said: "It was disgusting. I was ashamed at the degradation of the earth, the communities, the landscape."

She dedicated herself to ending that injustice. She didn't hesitate to take on the entire Los Angeles County Sanitation District -- and all 80 local mayors who made it so powerful. And Hilda Solis has turned out to be the irresistible force that makes the immovable object move.

As a member of the California legislature, first in the State Assembly and then as the first Latina in the State Senate, she continued her leadership on environmental justice for low income communities.

Every battle was uphill. On one of her first days in the State Senate, the elevator operator told her to get off. It was reserved for State Senators, and he couldn't believe a Latina could be a Senator.

She also became renowned for her strong support for workers' rights and women's rights. One of her most impressive victories was in raising the state minimum wage to $5.75 an hour. In Congress, we haven't been able to increase the level beyond $5.15 an hour - so I've already asked Hilda to give me a minimum wage lesson.

As you all probably know, Hilda's star is continuing to rise. She's just won a landslide victory in the California primary for nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives to serve her local Congressional district -- and she's certain to be elected this fall. I just wish she were in Congress already -- we'd have been more successful this year in raising the federal minimum wage to a fair level.

As Shakespeare said, "All the world's a stage." And I know that Hilda will be a star on this new stage in her life and career of public service.

Comments

[bigmadd]

Can't hardly wait for Jan.21th! Our national nightmare is coming to a end!

[SCG]

Thank you Senator Kennedy,

I'm not familiar with Rep.Solis as of yet, but take your kind words on her behalf as good authority. After eight years of the Bush and his cabinet we can only go upward.

Be well, and very good to hear from you.

[IntExec]

Bravo Senator Kennedy. She is a true American hero. We are all lucky to have her our new president's administration. All the best to you and your family this Christmas

[roshni]

All the best to you Sen. Kennedy. Good health and happiness in the new year.

[AlsoSarah]

Thank You Senator Kennedy. It is good to read your post. Please forgive me for pointing the courage finger at you Sir. But yes, when I heard that Hilda Solis had been appointed and heard her speak, I had to rejoice rather loudly. I can't wait to see you back to work. I understand the work ahead will be challenging, but oh what a time to be challenged!

[MomfromTexas]

Senator Kennedy,

Thanks so much for telling us about her. She sounds like she's going to be a "breath of fresh air" to the Department of Labor. Happy holidays to you!

[stillsmokin]

Thank you, Senator Kennedy.

From the Berkshires, I send you love.

[balatro]

Spoken like a man who knows all about courage.

[Carolab]

Thank you Senator Kennedy! I hope you are returning to full health and can work with our new Minnesota Senator Al Franken!

[NoSandwiches]

OMG! I remember watching Profiles in Courage films in school and I can still hum the them song! We use to hum along and then there was a point where these bells would bong together in a dramatic fashion. They were great!
Thanks for the memory.
It's great to hear that the tradition lives on...

[aOsO]

Its good to hear the Lion roar again, thank you Senator.

[guajiro]

Mr. Kennedy, you bring tears to my eyes. Were it not for you, your brothers, and the rest of your family, this nation would never have known what it is to have such dedicated patriots in the service of this nation. The fighting spirit in you is incredible. I'm sorry, but I can't help but get emotional. I've kept the family tradition of having pictures of you and your brothers on the walls along with pictures of our family members. You're right about Ms. Solis. A year or two ago I remember reading an article about one of her political struggles and sent her some money simply because I was impressed at how determined she was to correct an obvious wrong. And she's not from my state! It must be the same spirit your brother Bobby saw in Cesar Chavez as they both worked to bring fair working conditions to the grapepickers. Although I was around 5 yrs old, I still remember getting up early and arriving well before sunrise to start picking grapes with my parents. Unidos hamos vencidos, Ted. Be well.

[LaurieR]

I agree that she is a wonderful choice. To whomever wrote this item, please do pass on some of our comments if you can... Thank you, Ted, for this and so much more. You are loved, and your late brothers continue to be an inspiration to many. Hope you are well, and have a lovely Christmas!

[Benevolus]

With all due respect to Senator Kennedy, he fails to mention that she has been supportive of illegal workers who have helped drive down the wages of working class Americans.

Other than the Bush Administration, no group has hurt big labor more than illegal immigrants taking construction and other jobs from union workers.

Solis needs to decide where her top priority is. With union members or illegal immigrants that drive wages down.

[LeftCoastLarry]

The working class has been struggling because of right-wing policies intent on destroying their ability to make a living wage. Blaming immigrants or any other minority is nothing more than a right-wing ploy to demonize a minority in a cheap attempt to deflect responsibility away from their own actions.

[Benevolus]

Which Union are you a member of? I have seen many jobs go to illegal immigrants instead of union workers. Every time they do that they cost me money.

Please, which union are you a member of?

Fortunately my last job was to come in and correct the shoddy work of an illegal worker.

Unions protect working americans, illegal workers take food out of my children's mouth.

We have laws in America, but people like George Bush, and people that support ILLEGAL workers, like you, don't seem to care.

[orangepetal]

Can't you hear the people crying out ? Must people have nothing for you to listen to their voices. Oh easy, lump them into a bigoted pile and dump them on the other side of the fence. The elite liberals whose children all go to Montessori Schools and never enter a community hospital are just so ready to print passports and fight anything that would limit people from crossing the border. Well I do care about people and I also care about AMERICAN people who are dependent on public services (remember those) and are communicating their dissatisfaction at the errosion of the quality. And BTW they are pushing down the cost of labour, and how do I know, because I choose to listen when people speak without branding them. You complain that we are number 30 in healthcare, well if illegal immigration is not addressed, I expect that to get even worse, not better. So yeah, we will fight, if necessary from the right, and just because some of us are white it will be easy to call us racist, but then the shrill left is like ---- so whatever.
And we don't like extreme enviromentalists either. We want OUR resources and to keep our money. Irrelevant. Really ? You wish.

And on a completely different note 'Merry Christmas' to the Kennedy family, and a very nice article.

[mwestorca]

I'm delighted to read this endorsement. But I am a little confused. The author appears to be Senator Ted Kennedy, but there is reference to him in 3rd person in the text itself. So is this a statement on his behalf from his office? or are these his own words?

I ask because I am hoping it is an indication that he is still well enough to be writing himself, but wonder if it means he is too ill and has a staffer expressing his approval of the nomination.

In either case, Ted Kennedy is a great statesman. We need him as the "senator for all Americans." He represents the best in public service. I am hoping his niece Caroline will pick up the torch for him and carry it forward if, as I hope will be, she is nominated for the vacant seat in NY.

[Madampotential]

I think he is referring to one of his brothers, all three were senators.

[rucognizant]

I perceived it to be that Sen Kennedy wrote a short current statement, and reran, what his speech from 2000 when she received the Profile in Courage.