Honoring PresidentJimmy Carter

Sharon shares her experience visiting the National Archives in Washington DC.

President Jimmy Carter’s funeral was held at the National Cathedral at 10am Thursday, January 9th. Earlier this week I was in Washington, DC visiting family and friends and had the opportunity to visit the National Archives and pay tribute to President Carter.  

The National Archives has a special display on President Jimmy Carter which included his signatures on the Camp David Accords for peace in the Middle East (1978) and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty (1979). 

I signed a remembrance book that will be delivered to his family. I thanked President Carter for his dedication and mission to supporting human rights internationally and locally. My dad, Luke T. Lee, was teaching at Tuft University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and left his job to work for President Carter on refugee and immigrant affairs at the State Department. His job took him far and wide traveling the world visiting refugee and resettlement camps as he helped formulate U.S. and international policies on refugees and immigration. 

It was a very meaningful moment for me to honor President Jimmy Carter and to also reflect on my dad’s life work on international human rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights. My dad passed away in 2015, yet his work on refugees, internally displaced persons, and population law was groundbreaking. These issues are even more important in today’s context with all the wars and conflicts. 

As we honor President Carter for being a leading champion for human rights, we also thank our many partners who work with us as we continue to provide housing, tiny houses and services to families and individuals who have had to flee their home and country. 

Visiting the National Archives

When in Washington, DC consider visiting the National Archives Museum to see the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Magna Carta, and other important historic documents. There is a terrific multimedia exhibit on the fight for justice and human rights covering civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 I Had a Dream speech, women’s rights, Japanese Internment, Chinese Expulsion Act, LGBTQIA rights and more. 

As the 119th Congress convenes, we hope that our elected officials uphold the legacy and progress on democracy and human rights and not go backwards. As an example, when President Trump first took office in 2017, he tried repeatedly to slash the HUD budget by billions of dollars. This would have negatively impacted housing for millions of families, seniors, and people living with disabilities. He proposed massive cuts to public housing, Housing Choice Vouchers, elimination of the National Housing Trust Fund, cuts to HOME, CDBG and more. “The breadth and depth of cruelty reflected in this budget proposal is breathtaking…It is a cruel and unconscionable budget proposal and it should be soundly rejected by Congress,” said Diane Yentel, CEO and president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition in 2018. It was only Congress that stopped him from carrying out devastating cuts to the HUD housing budget during Trump’s first term.

National Day of Mourning for Jimmy Carter

On January 9th, the six days of remembrance for Carter will be completed. Following the funeral, the final journey of the 39th president to Georgia will begin, where he will be buried in his hometown next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter.

Grandson Jason Carter highlighted many moments of his grandfather's life, and said "In the end, his life is a love story." Not just the love story between Jimmy and Rosalynn — who he called the flagship of the fleet — but also the "broader love story about humanity. I believe this love led him to preach the power of human rights. Not just for some people, but for all people."

President Biden gave a eulogy at the service highlighting Carter's character. "The very journey of our nation is a walk of sheer faith to do the work to be the county we say we are, to be the country we say we want to be — a nation where we all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives," Mr. Biden said.