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SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

and we were going door-to-door

talking about drugs,” she said. “I

thought initially the problem was

crack houses. My premise was

completely wrong. We talked to a

few thousand people eventually

and discovered it was the liquor

stores, the recycling centers, the

motels that were supporting the

drug trade.”

The tools she turned to were

street protests, empowerment

seminars and public hearings at

city council meetings. The organi-

zation began to agitate for fewer

liquor stores in the area and lobby

local leaders on land-use policies.

In time, Bass also took on school

funding, the foster-care system

and funding for social programs.

Saul Sarabia, who joined the

Community Coalition in 1999, de-

scribed Bass as deeply principled

and rigorous. She was explicit in

her aim to bring together long-

time Black residents of South Los

Angeles with the newer Latino

arrivals who were slowly becom-

ing the new majority.

“She was very clear at that time

that the racial history of the coun-

try required that we be color-con-

scious and not be colorblind,

which was the liberal and conser-

vative consensus about how to

deal with race in the multicultur-

al 1990s,” said Sarabia, who re-

called that his car was stolen on

his first day of work, a reflection

of the conditions in the neighbor-

hood at the time.

And there was a careful meth-

od to her work, said Sarabia. Edu-

cational seminars and panels

were common at the organiza-

tion, part of an expectation that

the group would study and dis-

cuss past social movements.

Much of Bass’s work focused on

teaching new organizers how to

advocate for themselves and their

communities.

“One of her core commitments

is, fundamentally, that there is

wisdom in these communities,

and that their knowledge should

guide the work,” he said.

Though Black and Latino vot-

ers are often referred to in tan-

dem today as key parts of the

Democratic coalition, the notion

that they made up a unified politi-

cal force in multicultural neigh-

borhoods like South Los Angeles

was only just beginning to take

shape.

Activists like Bass led the

charge, said Sarabia.

Fabian Núñez recalled the dra-

matic demographic transforma-

tion happening in South Los An-

geles at the turn of the century, as

the number of Latino residents

skyrocketed while the Black pop-

ulation steadily declined. With

few Latino political leaders at the

time and a growing anti-immi-

grant sentiment, Latinos in the

region faced rampant workplace

abuses, discrimination and vio-

lence, said Núñez, then an activist

who would himself become the

speaker of the California State

Assembly.

Bass stood out to Núñez for

intentionally including Latinos in

her organizing efforts. He re-

called being surprised and im-

pressed by the diversity of an

education protest Bass organized

while he was the government af-

fairs director of the Los Angeles

Unified School District, one of his

first memories of her.

“To have people like Karen

working toward social justice for

Latinos and Black people at a

time when nobody was paying

attention to Latinos, that tells you

she is someone who has always

worked to bring people together. I

could see that her work was real,”

he said.

By the early 2000 s, Bass’s sup-

porters were encouraging her to

pursue elected office, which she

seemed to resist at first. But she

decided to run, she said, because a

lot of local leaders she had relied

on as an organizer were being

termed out. In 2004, she was

elected to the State Assembly.

Her instinct for consensus-

building quickly earned her a fa-

vorable reputation in Sacramen-

to. Her rise in the legislature was

rapid, and in 2008 she was elected

the speaker of the Assembly.

But the duties of the speaker-

ship, amid a deep nationwide

recession that wreaked havoc on

California’s tax revenue, soon

proved at odds with her onetime

priorities as an activist. During

the swearing-in ceremony for

new members in December 2008,

Bass urged her colleagues to take

stock of all the “commitments

and pledges we made during our

campaign” and to take a “real,

hard, objective look at the crisis

we face.”

“We face the challenge of put-

ting our ideologies aside and do-

ing what we need to do for the

state of California,” she said. “We

should all be very mindful that

the clock is ticking and we need to

use our time to solve problems.”

Dan Dunmoyer, at the time

Cabinet secretary for Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger (R), said Bass

was gracious even with those she

disagreed with — a political tool

that “nobody understands... in

the modern era.”

“She’s really unique in this

business. I’ve dealt with some of

the best politicians on the planet,

the Kevin McCarthys, the Nancy

Pelosis, all the governors. Karen’s

unique for one key reason, and

that is that she is stunningly lik-

able at all times,” Dunmoyer said.

“It doesn’t mean you agree with

her. She’s like the velvet hammer

for the Republicans of the world.

She’s very polished, she’s very

gracious. She’s firm in her convic-

tions, but she’s very nice.”

Bass’s background as a com-

munity organizer largely insulat-

ed her from critiques on the left

that she was not sufficiently in-

vested in progressive causes. The

liberal bona fides gave her cover

while making cuts that distressed

Democrats in Sacramento and be-

yond, including deep cuts to pub-

lic schools and in-home health

services for older adults.

Bass recalled that at one point

she found herself the target of

protests after a vote to increase

tuition by the University of Cali-

fornia at Los Angeles, of which

BY JOSE A. DEL REAL

She had earned a sterling repu-
tation among progressives as an
activist on the streets of South Los
Angeles, but now Karen Bass was
the new speaker of the State As-
sembly, and California was in the
midst of a budget crisis.
It was 2009 — the height of the
Great Recession. Bass was re-
sponsible for negotiating tens of
billions of dollars in cuts to some
of the very social programs she
had pledged to protect.
“The whole reason I went up
there was to expand and strength-
en programs, not cut them. I had
to cut $40 billion,” she recalled in
an interview. “It was devastating
to me. But I fought to cut because
the alternative was to dismantle
programs altogether.”
The difficult decisions she
made during that period, which
drew admiration from colleagues
on both sides of the aisle, help
explain the five-term congress-
woman’s quiet rise in the ranks in
Congress and the intensifying
speculation about her future as a
potential running mate for pre-
sumptive Democratic presiden-
tial nominee Joe Biden.
As Biden nears a decision
about his vice-presidential pick,
Bass’s boosters see in her some-
one whose activism in Los Ange-
les in the 1990s could bring pro-
gressive credibility to the ticket
during a fresh wave of racial un-
rest in the country. She could also
help assuage liberal skeptics who
have been critical of Biden’s now-
controversial efforts on criminal
justice reform in the 1990s. She
has already made history once as
the first Black woman in the Unit-
ed States to rise to the role of
assembly speaker in any state.
Bass is relatively unknown
compared with the others on
Biden’s shortlist and has largely
been spared the spotlight — and
vetting — of a national political
campaign. Biden’s eventual run-
ning mate, particularly if it is a
Black woman, will undoubtedly
attract immediate, harsh scruti-
ny, entering a campaign that has
been marked by aggressive per-
sonal attacks and misinforma-
tion.
But her rise from scrappy activ-
ist to powerful politician well
liked by her Democratic and Re-
publican colleagues could make
her particularly suited to this mo-
ment of national upheaval, say
those who have known her for
decades in California.
Her leadership in Sacramento
during the Great Recession in
particular provides a window
into how she has balanced her
ideological commitments against
the raw needs of governing in
crisis, a test that carries particu-
lar relevance now amid economic
upheaval, a global pandemic and
heightened racial tensions.
Her approach in Sacramento,
say those who worked with her at
the time, was to create a sense of
shared responsibility, outwork
the critics and find a way to agree.
In two years she would leave
Sacramento and head to Wash-
ington as a congresswoman,
where she is now chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus and
has been discussed as a possible
future speaker of the House.
In many ways, the skills that
have made Bass an effective poli-
tician are those she honed as a
community organizer.
The 1980s and ’90s were an
especially fraught time in South
Los Angeles. The crack epidemic,
mass poverty and urban blight
were tearing at the fabric of the
community. Many felt govern-
ment was not only unequipped
but also uninterested in finding
solutions. Bass founded the Com-
munity Coalition in 1990 with
federal grant funding, she said, to
escape the sense of hopelessness
she felt about what was happen-
ing. She soon began going door-
to-door to survey residents about
their experiences.
“I thought people weren’t go-
ing to talk to us. This was the
height of the Crips and the Bloods

she served on the Board of Re-

gents. After the vote, protesters

recognized her and surrounded

her car.

“The students were protesting

madly. They started pounding on

my car,” she said. “I talked to them

for as long as they wanted to talk

to me. They were very upset. And I

said to them: ‘These were my

choices. What would you do?

Should I cut food stamps or raise

your tuition?’ ”

Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat

who at the time was the president

pro tempore of the California

State Senate, described her as

“unflappable” during the negotia-

tions, which were held between

himself, Bass, the legislature’s two

Republican leaders and the gov-

ernor. Bass remained focused on

the math while trying to ensure

cuts were done in a way that could

be reversed in better financial

times, he said.

“Her job during that period

was to convince members who

had their own goals and ambi-

tions to vote for things that were

the exact opposite of what they

came to Sacramento to do. Re-

publicans don’t come to Sacra-

mento to vote for taxes. Demo-

crats do not come to Sacramento

to vote for spending cuts to very

important programs,” said Stein-

berg, who is now the mayor of

Sacramento.

In Congress, Bass is known for

pulling off complicated — and

sometimes undesirable — tasks

confronting the House leader-

ship. She is friendly with Kevin

McCarthy, the House minority

leader and a staunch Republican.

She was recently the co-author

of the George Floyd Justice in

Policing Act, which would ban

chokeholds and establish a na-

tional police misconduct data-

base. It passed the Democratic-

led House but has not been taken

up by the Republican-controlled

Senate.

“The protests created the polit-

ical will to make that [bill] hap-

pen,” she said.

Bass sounded conciliatory

when asked about Biden’s record

on the 1994 crime bill, which

encouraged states to build more

prisons and toughened sentenc-

ing requirements for violent

crimes and drug trafficking. Crit-

ics say the law, which Biden

championed, contributed to mass

incarceration.

“There were many Black mem-

bers of Congress who supported

the law. I totally understand why,

though I did not support the

crime bill,” she said. “One of the

main reasons I started Communi-

ty Coalition was because the com-

munity was demanding those

types of policies. To me, the point

of the organizing was to try to

show there was a different way, a

better way.”

If she were picked as Biden’s

vice-presidential nominee, Bass

would also be subject to intense

national scrutiny unlike any she

has received before.

Already, some Florida Demo-

crats have publicly bristled over a

2016 statement her office released

after the death of Fidel Castro.

“The passing of the Comandante

en Jefe is a great loss to the people

of Cuba,” said the statement,

which critics in the presidential

battleground state said glorified

Castro’s brutal government.

Asked about the incident in a

recent interview on MSNBC, Bass

said that “it was certainly not

something I would say again” and

that her statement was meant in

support of the Cuban people.

Bass declined to comment on

the possibility of being tapped as

Biden’s running mate. But she

said she has direct experience

with some of the most confound-

ing — and interrelated — issues of

the time amid a pandemic, a

struggling economy and a bur-

geoning movement for racial jus-

tice.

“These are issues I have dealt

with for decades. And I want to

jump out there and be involved,”

she said.

[email protected]

VP contender Bass brings activist roots, pragmatic record

JAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) is on presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s shortlist for his running mate. Bass was

a community organizer before being elected in 2004 to the California State Assembly, of which she was speaker just four years later.

BY NICK MIROFF

Matthew Albence, the top U.S.
Immigration and Customs En-
forcement official, announced
his retirement in a statement
Friday, leaving an agency at the
forefront of President Trump’s
immigration agenda without a
clear successor.
Albence had directed ICE
agents to back off some enforce-
ment activity during the pan-

demic, frustrating some at the

White House, but there was no

indication that his decision to

step down was intended as a

statement of protest. His retire-

ment from the job as deputy

director and senior official per-

forming the duties of director,

had been rumored for months.

“After more than 25 years as a

federal law enforcement officer, I

am announcing my retirement

from federal service,” Albence’s

statement said. “This was an

exceptionally hard decision to

make, a decision prolonged due

to the uncertainty of a global

pandemic and the essential role

ICE continues to play in our

nation’s response. I am grateful

for the opportunity to serve my

country and to help protect it

from those who would do it

harm.”

Albence said he would work

alongside Department of Home-

land Security and ICE leadership

“to ensure a smooth transition.”

Trump never formally nomi-

nated Albence for the top job at

ICE, leaving him to serve in an

acting role for more than a year.

Well-liked by his workforce, Al-

bence was known for his fierce

defense of the agency and his

unsentimental views on immi-

gration enforcement. His com-

parison of ICE family detention

facilities to “summer camp” dur-

ing congressional testimony in

2018 was widely mocked, but it

was reflective of his insistence

that the agency has been unfairly

stigmatized as cruel and harsh.

Albence’s retirement state-

ment said as much. “Every day,

against incredible odds, constant

politicization, and mispercep-

tions of the incredibly critical

and complex mission they per-

form, ICE employees carry on

with professionalism and integ-

rity,” he said.

Trump, who took office vowing

to immediately deport millions

of immigrants, made ICE into a

central element of his immigra-

tion agenda, and Albence wel-

comed the president’s praises.

Behind the scenes, though, he

sometimes pushed back on direc-

tives from the White House that

he viewed as unworkable or un-

lawful, including a plan he resist-

ed last year seeking to bus mi-

grants to liberal-leaning “sanctu-

ary cities.”

More recently, Albence

clashed with Ken Cuccinelli, the

acting deputy secretary of DHS,

whom he viewed as attempting

to interfere politically in his

agency, according to DHS offi-

cials who described the tensions

on the condition of anonymity

because they were not autho-

rized to discuss the situation

publicly.

Albence leaves no clear succes-

sor, and several ICE officials

contacted Friday said they were

unsure who would take over.

Derek Benner, who is the “senior

official performing the duties of

the deputy director,” is the top

official in the agency’s investiga-

tive arm — Homeland Security

Investigations — rather than En-

forcement and Removal Opera-

tions, the division responsible for

arrests, detention and deporta-

tions.

A documentary series featur-

ing rare, up-close footage of ICE

agents making arrests and de-

scribing the conflicting emotions

of their work is scheduled to

debut next week on Netflix, de-

spite the agency’s objections. Al-

bence is not among the ICE

personnel who appear in trailers

for the series “Immigration Na-

tion,” which promises “unprece-

dented access to ICE operations.”

[email protected]

Top Immigrations and Customs Enforcement o∞cial announces retirement

Matthew Albence’s move

leaves the agency

without a clear successor

COURTESY OF REP. KAREN BASS

Bass speaks at an event with the Community Coalition, which she founded in 1990 alleviate the sense of hopelessness she felt about

what was happening in South Los Angeles.  For analysis of Biden’s vice presidential shortlist, go to wapo.st/BidenVP.