一年后众议员柯里·布什。赢得了历史性的初选这位国会女议员和黑人的命也是命活动家根据自己的生活经历赢得了在美国国会大厦台阶上进行的一场战斗。
布什是密苏里州弗格森市的一名长期社区组织者，她在一次通宵抗议中煽动了一群民主党议员，并在国会大厦外露营了五个晚上，以引起人们对联邦驱逐禁令的关注，并迫使她在国会的同行们理解一段对她来说切中要害的经历。
“我一生中被驱逐过三次——一次是在一次家庭暴力袭击中，一名前伴侣将我遗弃致死。我和我的两个孩子住在车外已经好几个月了。布什在一份声明中写道:“我看到我的东西被装在后座的垃圾袋里。”美国有线电视新闻网专栏8月6日出版。“我知道门上的通知是什么意思。天气寒冷，或者想知道哪里可以找到浴室，我一直在想，在DC，谁在为像我这样处境的人说话。”
根据2020年12月的一份报告研究根据普林斯顿大学的驱逐实验室，黑人租房者的驱逐申请和驱逐率明显高于白人租房者，而女性，尤其是黑人和拉丁裔女性租房者有…表面的比男性更高的驱逐率。
这位新生立法者在一月份宣誓加入第117届国会，同时创纪录数量的女性和有色人种女性。布什被欢迎进入“团队”——一群进步的有色人种国会女议员，包括众议员亚历山大·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯、伊尔汉·奥马尔、拉希达·特拉伊布和阿扬娜·普雷斯利——所有这些人都在驱逐战中与布什站在一起。
奥马尔是国会中最早的两名穆斯林女性之一，上周告诉美国广播公司新闻直播她作为索马里难民的经历驱使她大声疾呼。
“第一天晚上，我和柯里和阿杨娜在一起...因为我们三个知道被驱逐意味着什么，”这位明尼苏达州的民主党人说。“你知道，我显然是为了逃避冲突，被强行带离了我的家，在难民营里度过了几年，但我知道，当你没有家的安慰时，这是多么令人不安。”
乔治城大学政府和非裔美国人研究教授纳迪亚·布朗(Nadia Brown)认为，这场驱逐战表明了“代表权”为何重要，因为它凸显了国会山历史上罕见的各种经历和故事。
“乐观的部分是，是的，国会有更多的有色人种，有更多的同性恋者，年轻的国会议员人数增加了;第一代人也增加了。但是绝大多数还是白人，绝大多数是男性，绝大多数是富人...但我们之所以关注伊尔汉·奥马尔和柯里·布什，是因为他们是局外人，”她说。
布朗补充说，从历史上看，“活动家”和“政治家”的身份被视为分开的，但这些身份在像布什和奥马尔这样的立法者身上趋同，他们在如何为国会选民服务的问题上坚持自己的激进主义根源。
“这是新的东西，”布朗说。“我有机会采访柯里·布什，当时她是弗格森的一名活动家，对吗?当她分享说她填补了一个真空，因为目前的领导层不在那里时，她非常难过。”
“当民选官员不在的时候，街上的人们相信她会成为他们的代言人。所以我认为这不仅仅是战术，而是不同的风气，”她补充道。
像新生纽约众议员蒙代尔·琼斯和贾马尔·鲍曼这样的进步议员也参加了山上的抗议活动，随着支持者的增加，一些温和的民主党人很快加入了这个团体。
在疾病控制和预防中心的驱逐令到期之前，国会议员回到他们的选区，准备在8月份休会，但是布什-第一位在国会代表密苏里州的黑人女性-在数百万驱逐者逼近之际，留在首都继续战斗。
拜登政府一再辩称，在没有国会的情况下，它没有联邦权力延长疾控中心的驱逐禁令，但随着山上的抗议活动继续，来自进步人士和一些温和的民主党人的压力越来越大，最终出现了明显的逆转。
乔·拜登总统8月3日宣布，疾控中心将在新冠肺炎大量高传播的地区将联邦驱逐禁令再延长60天，给租户多一条生命线。
民主党高层直接称赞布什和与她一起站在国会大厦台阶上的同事们通过向联邦政府施加压力来移动针头。
“你做到了，”参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默说说当他走到国会大厦的台阶上，在新闻中拥抱布什和奥西奥-科尔特斯时。
“我赞扬疾控中心暂停驱逐...我特别赞扬众议员柯里·布什，她理解被驱逐的感觉，她带着自己的激情，将这种激情转化为令人惊讶的有效行动，”舒默说。
当被问及布什的角色时，参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦说这位密苏里州的女议员“在实现真正的变革方面绝对举足轻重。”
“她是一个站起来说‘我不动了’的女人。”她根据个人经历作证说，这就是失去你的家的感觉...这足以吸引全国许多人的注意力，以及这栋大楼里和宾夕法尼亚大道另一端的许多人的注意力，”沃伦说。
布什在美国国会大厦外庆祝这一进展时发表了激动人心的讲话，对她作为活动家的根表示了认可。
“让我们明确一点，积极分子在国会。因此，期待事情有所不同，”布什说，并补充说，进步人士“已经在为驱逐危机中的下一场战斗做准备”。
A record number of women of color are in Congress. The eviction fight shows why it matters
One year afterRep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., won her historic primary race, the congresswoman and Black Lives Matter activist won a battle waged on the steps of the U.S. Capitol based on her own life experiences.
Bush, a longtime community organizer in Ferguson, Missouri, galvanized a group of Democratic lawmakers in an overnight protest and camped outside the Capitol for five nights to draw attention to federal eviction moratorium and to compel her peers in Congress to understand an experience that for her, hit home.
"I've been evicted three times in my life — once following a violent domestic assault in which a former partner left me for dead. I've lived out of my car for months with my two babies. I've seen my belongings in trash bags along my backseat," Bush wrote in aCNN op-edpublished Aug. 6. "I know what that notice on the door means. Cold from the elements or wondering where I could find a bathroom, I've wondered who was speaking up in DC for people in my situation."
According to a December 2020studyby Princeton University's The Eviction Lab, eviction filings and eviction rates were significantly higher for Black renters than for white renters, while women -- particularly Black and Latino female renters --facedhigher eviction rates than their male counterparts.
The freshman lawmaker was sworn into the 117th Congress in January, along witha record number of women and women of color. Bush was welcomed into the "the squad" -- a group of progressive congresswomen of color that includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley -- all of whom rallied with Bush in her eviction fight.
Omar, who is one of the first two Muslim women in Congress,told ABC News Live last weekthat her experience as a Somali refugee drove her to speak out.
"I spent the first night with Cori and Ayanna ... because we, the three of us, know what it means to be unhoused," the Minnesota Democrat said. "You know, I obviously fled conflict and was forcefully removed from my home and spent years in a refugee camp, but I know how deeply unsettling it is when you don't have the comfort of your home."
According to Nadia Brown, a professor of government and African American studies at Georgetown University, the eviction fight shows why "representation matters" because it highlights diverse experiences and stories that are historically rare on Capitol Hill.
"The optimistic part is, yes, that Congress has more people of color, has more queer people, the number of younger Congress people has increased; people that are first-generation has also increased. But it's still overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly male and overwhelmingly wealthy ... but the reason why we're paying attention to Ilhan Omar, to Cori Bush, it's because they're outliers," she said.
Brown added that historically the identities of "activist" and "politician" were seen as separate but those identities converge in lawmakers like Bush and Omar who embrace their roots in activism in how they serve their constituents in Congress.
"This is something new," Brown said. "I had the opportunity to interview Cori Bush back when she was an activist in Ferguson right? And she was very poignant when she shared that she's filled a vacuum because the current leadership just wasn't there."
"People on the street trusted her [to] become this voice for them when elected officials weren't. So I think it's not just the tactic, it's the ethos that's different," she added.
Progressive lawmakers like freshmen New York Reps. Mondaire Jones and Jamaal Bowman also participated in the protest on the Hill and as support grew, the group was soon joined by some moderate Democrats.
Ahead of the expiration of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium, members of Congress traveled back to their districts for August recess, but Bush --the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress-- stayed in the nation's capital to resume the fight as millions of evictions loomed.
The Biden administration repeatedly argued that it does not have federal authority to extend the CDC eviction moratorium without Congress but as the protest on the Hill continued, pressure from progressive and some moderate Democrats mounted, culminating in an apparent reversal.
President Joe Biden announced on Aug. 3 that the CDC is extending the federal eviction moratorium for an additional 60 days in areas where there is substantial and high transmission of COVID-19, giving tenants an additional lifeline.
Top Democrats directly credited Bush and the colleagues who joined her on the steps of the Capitol for moving the needle by applying pressure on the federal government.
"You did this," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumersaidas he walked out to the steps of the Capitol and embraced Bush and Ocasio-Cortez amid the news.
"I applaud the CDC for imposing an eviction moratorium ... I particularly applaud Rep. Cori Bush who understands what it's like to be evicted and who took her passion and turned it into amazingly effective action," Schumer said.
Asked about Bush's role, Sen. Elizabeth Warrensaidthe Missouri congresswoman has been "absolutely pivotal in getting real change."
"She's one woman who stood up and said, 'I'm not moving.' She testified from personal experience and said this is what it's like to lose your home ... and that was enough to capture the attention of a lot of people across this nation and a lot of people in this building and at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue," Warren said.
Bush gave a nod to her roots as an activist during emotional remarks outside the U.S. Capitol celebrating the development.
"Let's be clear, activists are in Congress. So expect for things to be different," Bush said, adding that progressives are "already gearing up" for the next fight in the eviction crisis.
