Dianne Feinstein, the first woman to serve as a U.S. Senator for the state of California, died last Thursday at her residence in Washington, D.C. She was 90 years old.
“As the nation mourns this tremendous loss, we know how many lives she impacted and how many glass ceilings she shattered along the way,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said announcing her death on the Senate floor.
It’s true. Dianne Feinstein was a trailblazer and a woman of many firsts.
She was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate for the state of California, the longest-serving senator from the state, and the oldest sitting U.S. senator at the time of her death.
She was also the first woman president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, a role she was elected to in January 1978.
She was the first woman to run the city of San Francisco, taking on the role of acting mayor following the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk that year.
Among other firsts: Feinstein chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 2009 and led the Democratic Party on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017.
Born Dianne Emiel Goldman to a Jewish family in San Francisco, Feinstein graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in history, where she served as student body vice president. She initially planned to study medicine, but found that her interests and grades soared in history and political science.
Her political career has been incredible and deeply inspiring for so many — paving a path for hundreds of women who have since gotten involved in politics.
Feinstein authored the 1994 national assault weapon ban; was the lead sponsor of the California Desert Protection Act; introduced the bill for AMBER Alert with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas); co-sponsored the Respect for Marriage Act to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 that restricted marriage to heterosexual couples; co-sponsored legislation with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) outlawing the use of torture; and introduced legislation to formally recognize the Tule River Tribe’s reserved water rights with Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), as URL Media partner Native News Online reported.
“Senator Dianne Feinstein was one of the most amazing people who ever graced the Senate, whoever graced the country,” Schumer added. “She was smart. She was strong. She was brave.”
“Interested in reading more essential journalism and thought-provoking stories from our national network of independent Black and Brown publishers? Explore at the NEW url-media.com.”
Even in death, Feinstein became the first woman senator to die while in office.
But the politician’s refusal to retire in her late years was not only a disservice to herself and the people of California (of which I am one), but to the United States as a whole.
Questions about her alleged cognitive decline reached a turning point in 2020 after a piece ran in The New Yorker citing anonymous sources casting doubt on her short-term memory. Despite growing calls for her to resign, she filed the initial paperwork to run for re-election next year.
Earlier this year, she missed 10 weeks of work due to complications from shingles, and returned to congress appearing frail, as URL Media partner Black Voice News reported. But her insistence on remaining in office might actually signal a larger issue within the Democratic party — a failure to plan for the future.
Because while the Democratic Party might have a decent bench when it comes to the presidency, the seeming lack of effort and support to develop future generations of state and local politicians to replace those currently in office is worrisome at best and catastrophic at worst. (As the saying goes: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.)
While I send my heartfelt wishes to Feinstein’s loved ones, I hope current lawmakers are taking note of the importance of building up the next generation and creating a plan for their own retirement when they’re no longer able to adequately serve. The voters, the nation, and the party deserve that much. —Alicia Ramirez
Uplift. Respect. Love.
