Rep. Diane Watson, a prominent African American woman in Los Angeles and national politics for three decadecs, announced today she will retire from Congress at the end of the year.Now, the race is on as to which black democratic candidate is best positioned to replace the increasingly Latino populated area.
State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass is obviously the front runner will commander the safely Democratic seat, which has been held by a minority as far back as most can remember. Bass is the first black woman to hold the speaker's post in Sacramento, and she is leaving the Assembly at the end of 2010. Perfect timing!
Diane Edith Watson, 76, who started on the local level before going on to become a California state senator and a Micronesia US ambassador under President Bill Clinton, said she was stepping down to spend more time with her 100-year-old mother, who recently broke her hip.
Watson's claim to fame came in 1975 when she was elected the first black woman to serve on the Los Angeles Unified School District board. Her entry into the political arena came at a time of racial friction over mandatory school busing.Many recall the bruising campaign she waged against her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sister, former Congresswoman and County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, that fractured the black middle class and saw various political camps stem from Burke's ultimate victory. Burke herself was on the losing end of a campaign to become the first woman and African American to serve as Attorney General of California.
Ironically, now San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris is striving to accomplish that same goal this year.
Assemblywoman Bass issued a statement calling Watson a mentor and praising her for fighting for better schools and health care in the district, which covers a swath of Los Angeles County running from Culver City to the Hollywood section in Los Angeles.
Photos courtesy of Leroy Hamilton