[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 175 (Friday, October 9, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E945-E946]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      THE PASSING OF COMMUNITY LEADER AND ACTIVIST SHARON COTRELL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALAN S. LOWENTHAL

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 9, 2020

  Mr. LOWENTHAL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my deep sadness 
on the passing of my dear friend Sharon Cotrell. A voice of the 
progressive community in Long Beach for over 40 years, Sharon was a 
consummate professional who cared deeply about our community and making 
the world a better place for us all.
  She was the first woman dock worker on the West Coast, starting with 
SeaLand in 1974 at the Port of Long Beach, and eventually becoming the 
leader of Teamsters Local 692.
  Karen Harper, a longtime friend, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram 
that Sharon was ``. . . not welcomed by the men at first and

[[Page E946]]

was harassed mercilessly. But she won them over with her intelligence, 
work ethic, physical strength, sense of justice and expertise at 
organizing.''
  Sharon was also a union organizer on the docks fighting for a greater 
voice for all port workers, cofounding the Long Beach chapter of the 
Teamsters for a Democratic Union. Because of her organizing against 
what she called the corruption of the Teamsters Union hierarchy, her 
life was threatened, and she was forced for a time to live in hiding.
  Despite such temporary roadblocks, Sharon remained a tenacious 
activist fighting for equality and justice, as well as an ardent 
community watchdog, for more than four decades.
  She served for many years as a member of Long Beach Area Citizens 
Involved (LBACI) and worked for the establishment of the Long Beach 
Citizen Police Complaint Commission. She was an early member of both 
the Black Lives Matter and Occupy Long Beach organizations.
  Karen Harper said Sharon saw the brutal treatment of African 
Americans on her family television ``and sought solutions for racism 
from then on. She loved working with young people and mentoring them on 
effective grassroots organizing.''
  Sharon was also an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights and the 
homeless, which she fought for through her involvement with the Long 
Beach Area Peace Network, the Justice and Peace Committee for the South 
Coast Interfaith Council and Harbor Halfway House.
  According to the Press-Telegram, Sharon was born on Dec. 2, 1942, in 
San Francisco. But from 5 years old, she grew up on a dairy farm in the 
Lower Flathead Valley, near St. Ignatius, Montana, on the Salish-
Kootenai Indian Reservation.
  Her family moved there after her father, Lewis Cotrell--a descendant 
of the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe and the Cherokee people--returned 
from World War II service in the U.S. Navy.
  Sharon's younger sister, Gretchen, said that from early childhood her 
sister was sensitive to the needs of others, reaching out to the left-
out, excluded, and mistreated.
  ``These traits grew to a keen interest in the injustices of the 
world, the chief driving force throughout her life,'' Gretchen told the 
Press-Telegram. ``She possessed the courage of her convictions and 
lived them fiercely.''
  Sharon's ancestry also led her to another area of activism--Native 
American and indigenous people rights. She was a tribal researcher for 
the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribal Council and was involved with the Puvungna 
Coalition to save the tribe's sacred land from development on the Cal 
State Long Beach campus. She also cofounded the People for Palestinian-
Israeli Justice.
  Sharon attended Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and the 
University of Montana, before moving to Long Beach in 1964. She went on 
to earn a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Cal State Long Beach.
  Her friend Karen Harper recalled to the Press-Telegram that Sharon 
also had a great sense of humor--even when jokes were directed at her. 
Karen remembered that she would often refer to Sharon as ``the 
historical figure'' because of her work on the docks.
  ``She would laugh,'' Karen said. ``She always got a kick out of 
that.''
  But, to me, Sharon was not just a dear friend and fellow progressive; 
she was my campaign manager when I first ran for LB City Council in 
1992 (in addition to running previous campaigns for former Mayor Tom 
Clark and former City Councilmember Wally Edgerton). Through our years 
together she was both my mentor and formative political conscience who 
I relied upon for her incredible insight and wisdom.
  Sharon touched so many lives and her passing is a loss for all of us. 
She was a role model and inspiration for all who met her, and she will 
be sorely missed by everyone who fights for a more just society and a 
better world.

                          ____________________