Colleagues offer Mink gestures of tribute
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — In what he described as a profoundly sad occasion, an emotional U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie formally announced to the House of Representatives yesterday that U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink had died.
The announcement was part of a House resolution that authorized federal spending to send an official congressional delegation to Mink's memorial at the State Capitol in Honolulu on Friday.
"She was smart and she was tough, and she was articulate, and she wouldn't quit," Abercrombie said of Mink's rise from a young Japanese American from Maui to the first woman of color to serve in Congress. "She was an inspiration, then and now."
With a large photograph of Mink as a backdrop, lawmakers honored the late congresswoman for her spirit, passion and commitment.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, urged colleagues to sign a letter in support of a privately financed portrait or sculpture of Mink to be displayed at the Capitol, possibly in a new visitors' center.
Kaptur and others said Mink's leading role in the passage of Title IX, which mandates equal access for women in education, would give her a place in the history of the equal rights movement.
A separate letter by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., asked lawmakers to name and fund in Mink's honor the Women's Educational Equity Act, providing federal money to promote equality in education.
U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., described her as an American icon.
"It's hard to believe that Patsy Mink is gone," he said. "I miss her from the bottom of my heart."
Mink's liberal politics were in the minority of a House ruled by conservative Republicans. She was often combative and uncompromising, and several colleagues said they would miss her unique voice. "Patsy's watching us," U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., said. "Patsy is going to hold us accountable."
At the end of the tribute, lawmakers held a moment of silence in Mink's memory.
A coalition of women's groups will pay tribute by forming a "human lei of aloha" around the State Capitol tomorrow.
Mink will lie in state at the Capitol atrium beginning at 4 p.m. tomorrow. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the Capitol.
Anyone interested in being part of the lei is asked to meet near the Queen Lili'uokalani statue between 4 and 4:20 p.m. Each person should bring two flowers. When people join hands while holding the flowers, a human lei will be formed.
Organizers hope to have enough people to circle the Capitol between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.
"It's a grassroots effort of women and organizations that benefitted from all of the hard work that she did," said Jeanne Ohta, interim director of the State Commission on the Status of Women. "I think there are a lot of people who want to do something in a very simple and respectful way."
Mink's family asks that donations be made to the Patsy Takemoto Mink Education Foundation for Low Income Women and Children, P.O. Box 479, Honolulu, HI 96809.
Advertiser staff writer Curtis Lum contributed to this report.
