Her great uncle was lynched for ‘reckless eyeballing.’ Now she’s running for Congress.
(Courtesy: Jan Perry for Congress)
Running for office is in Jan Perry’s blood. After all, both of her parents were political history makers.
Her father, a World War II veteran, was elected Mayor of Woodmere Village, Ohio, in 1965, becoming the state's first black mayor since Reconstruction and one of the country's first black mayors.
While her father would go on to law school, Perry’s mother succeeded her husband as mayor of Woodmere Village, bringing her experience of social work to elected office.
A photo of Jan Perry’s family. (Courtesy: Jan Perry for Congress)
But resilience goes back even further in Perry’s family. Her grandmother, Mabel, left the south to escape segregation and dedicated her entire life to taking care of other people’s children, while her own children went on to fight in the civil rights movement.
Her great uncle Columbus was allegedly charged with "reckless eyeballing," an act of resistance that cost him his life. Columbus' lynching would become a taboo topic in the family, with guilt and shame silencing the grief of Columbus’ loved ones—something Perry wants to change.
A painting of Jan Perry’s great uncle Columbus. (Courtesy: Jan Perry for Congress)
Her family’s history, Perry believes, tells a raw and real history of being Black in America.
Perry’s uphill climb to Congress
Two things are certain going into an otherwise unpredictable midterm election: California's 37th Congressional District will be represented by a Democratic Black woman. And while Perry may have narrowly made it through the primaries, the former municipal politician is betting on herself to represent Los Angeles County in Congress.
Perry is campaigning to succeed Democrat Karen Bass, who is vying to become Mayor of Los Angeles after spending 12 years in Congress.
While she might be a long shot, Perry has no shortage of experience in Los Angeles County. With a career in public service spanning more than two decades, Perry got her start in 2001 when she became a member of the Los Angeles City Council, where she served until 2013.
A young Jan Perry graduating from the University of Southern California with honors. (Courtesy: Jan Perry for Congress)
Perry’s opponent, California State Senator Sydney Kamlager, has racked up an impressive list of endorsements, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Adam Schiff, and incumbent Bass. Perry, on the other hand, has been endorsed by just one Democrat in Congress — California Rep. Maxine Waters.
But the former city councillor refuses to write off her campaign simply because the Democratic Party has thrown their support behind Kamlager, who received 44 per cent of the vote in June’s primary compared to Perry’s 18 per cent.
"I'm sure it's very much a great honor to have an endorsement from a Vice President. I'm sure that's exciting," Perry said in an interview with The Blueprint, but pointed out that voters in Los Angeles "tend to vote for those candidates with whom they have a relationship." Perry believes that "ultimately, people are voting for our names on the ballot, not our endorsement lists."
Perry calls the Congressional race “an interesting situation” due to the fact that both candidates are Black women and Democrats, a combination that she feels has left voters with an “either one of you would be fine” point of view.
“I'm extremely different than my candidate,” she said. “That’s a blatantly racist comment to make, as if we're interchangeable like a pair of socks.”
Perry pointed to a piece of advice she received from Waters early on in the campaign.
“She told me I’m the outsider, I’m the non-traditional candidate. And she said, ‘you have to show everyone that you have strong community support,’” Perry recalled.
And that’s exactly what she’s spent the last several months doing.
(Courtesy: Jan Perry for Congress)
“I have been able to get support from people from all walks of life,” Perry said. “But I think the thing that's really different about my campaign is, I got a lot of grassroots support, which I'm very excited about.”
Not only does her political record set Perry apart, she also plans to bring her experiences of working to combat homelessness, providing year-round jobs for young people, and overseeing non-profits — a well-rounded mix that she believes gives her a "360-degree view" of the issues most impacting residents of Los Angeles County.
Pointing to her dedication to “taking people left behind and helping them push their lives forward,” Perry noted she’s made progress on a wide variety of issues, ranging from housing, jobs and infrastructure.
“The hardest thing, at least in the beginning, was to convince people to take a look at my record and my accomplishments,” she said. The second most difficult part, she added, is watching the same voters complain that their elected officials aren’t returning their phone calls and go on to vote for the same people who failed to help them.
“Look, if you really are sick and tired of being sick and tired, then you need to look at me,” she said.
‘Hate is hate’ and California as a ‘safe haven’ for abortion access
For Perry, who converted to Judaism in the 1980s, the rise in both anti-semitism and anti-Black racism across America represents a poison in need of an antidote.
“Hate is hate. Once you’ve crossed the threshold of hate, wherever it’s directed, it needs to be stopped,” she said. “Because it feeds, and it grows, and if you let it slide on one front or one group, it’s going to eventually come back to bite you.”
One way Perry wants to cement herself as a Congresswoman would be through the creation of a national endowment for culture, ethnicity, and community, to give underrepresented communities and people who have been left behind a platform to share their stories and their legacies.
“I remain hopeful that we can push back on a lot of what we're seeing,” she said. “The scary thing is, when someone opens the door to racist words, racist practices, racist beliefs, then if the door stays open too long, people are going to follow. You can see that happening right now in real time.”
And just because abortion isn’t in jeopardy in California doesn’t mean reproductive rights aren’t on the mind of Perry and her campaign. She calls California a “safe state” when it comes to access to abortion for those in states where abortions have been outlawed.
While Perry is proud that California could become a safe haven for abortion, she acknowledged that government officials will need to be prepared for the possibility of a strain on the health-care system by an influx of out-of-state patients needing reproductive health services.
“We’re going to codify it here,” she said. “It's on the ballot right now and I expect it will pass handily, because people are not so easy to give that up here, and neither is our legislature.”