Contrast between Lisa and Cathy
I met Lisa Brown in 1981 when she came to Spokane to teach economics at Eastern Washington University. We became friends in activism for peace and human rights.
Later, I was a community organizer for a nonprofit dealing with legislative issues of poverty. We developed leadership skills in low-income people, so they could then educate the community on the realities of family budgeting with inadequate resources. Lisa volunteered to worked with our members, mostly single mothers, empowering them to advocate for themselves in speakers’ bureaus, lobbying teams and mutual support groups. Lisa inspired their confidence to present themselves as the experts on their own homes’ economics. We then made presentations to college classes, radio and television programs, and community organizations.
Most importantly, we met with legislators to enlighten the policy they made dealing with poverty. Some of us met in Olympia with the newly appointed Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers for thirty minutes. In great contrast to the mentoring that Lisa had provided these women, Ms. McMorris Rodgers spent the whole time cutting out newspaper clippings about her recent appointment and pasting them into her scrapbook. She couldn’t tear herself away from her own privilege to pay respectful attention to these less-fortunate constituents.
Morton Alexander
Spokane