[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 919 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 919

  Honoring Retired Lieutenant Commander Wesley Anthony Brown for his 
  historic achievement as the first African American graduate of the 
United States Naval Academy and paying tribute on the occasion of July 
 4 to Wesley Anthony Brown and other residents of the Nation's capital 
 who have served in the armed forces and have continued to pay taxes, 
                both without representation in Congress.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 17, 2006

 Ms. Norton submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
 the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on 
 the Judiciary and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Honoring Retired Lieutenant Commander Wesley Anthony Brown for his 
  historic achievement as the first African American graduate of the 
United States Naval Academy and paying tribute on the occasion of July 
 4 to Wesley Anthony Brown and other residents of the Nation's capital 
 who have served in the armed forces and have continued to pay taxes, 
                both without representation in Congress.

Whereas Wesley Anthony Brown retired from the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander and 
        joined William F. Halsey, Jr., and Chester W. Nimitz, Alfred Thayer 
        Mahan, and Hyman G. Rickover with the rare honor of having a United 
        States Naval Academy building named after him, the Wesley Brown Field 
        House;
Whereas July 4 is an appropriate occasion to pay tribute to Wesley Anthony Brown 
        as an especially fitting representative of the citizens of the District 
        of Columbia, who for 230 years have served in the armed forces of the 
        United States, always without equal representation in the Congress and 
        always paying taxes without representation, notwithstanding that this 
        form of tyranny was one of the major causes of the War for Independence 
        which led to the founding of the United States;
Whereas Wesley Anthony Brown and other residents of the District of Columbia 
        continue to meet all of the obligations of citizenship without equal 
        representation in the House of Representatives and the Senate;
Whereas July 4, 2006, is a particularly fitting occasion to remind the Nation of 
        H.R. 5388, the District of Columbia Fair and Equal House Voting Rights 
        Act of 2006, a bipartisan bill pending in the House of Representatives 
        which was recently voted out of one committee with an almost equal 
        number of Republican and Democratic votes, and of Wesley Anthony Brown 
        and other residents whose service in the armed forces of the United 
        States entitles them to all elements of citizenship, including voting 
        representation in the House of Representatives and the Senate;
Whereas Wesley Anthony Brown, a resident of the District of Columbia, attended 
        Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School before entering the Naval Academy in 
        1945;
Whereas Wesley Anthony Brown served his country in three wars: World War II, the 
        Korean War, and the Vietnam War;
Whereas after graduating, Wesley Anthony Brown joined the Civil Engineering 
        Corps, where he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander;
Whereas before Wesley Anthony Brown, 5 African Americans during the period 
        between Reconstruction and World War II met the highly competitive 
        standards of excellence for entrance into the United States Naval 
        Academy but encountered such harsh physical and mental racial abuse that 
        they were unable to finish;
Whereas Wesley Anthony Brown met the rigorous academic and physical challenges 
        of the United States Naval Academy despite racial discrimination and 
        abuse;
Whereas Wesley Anthony Brown's pioneering effort to integrate the United States 
        Naval Academy has inspired more than 1,600 African Americans who have 
        since graduated from the Academy;
Whereas today nearly 23 percent of the Academy's students are from minority 
        groups;
Whereas Wesley Anthony Brown has remained committed to public service by 
        chairing the Service Academy Selection Committees for former District of 
        Columbia Congressman Walter Fauntroy from 1988 through 1991, and also 
        was the first Chair for Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's Selection 
        Committee;
Whereas Wesley Anthony Brown was inducted as an honorary member of the United 
        States Naval Academy graduating class of 1999;
Whereas author and historian Robert Schneller chronicled the life of Wesley 
        Anthony Brown in his book ``Breaking the Color Barrier: The U.S. Naval 
        Academy's First Black Midshipmen and the Struggle for Racial Equality'';
Whereas Wesley Anthony Brown's graduation was a pivotal moment in the Nation's 
        efforts to integrate the armed forces of the United States and to 
        improve racial conditions, and he should be honored for this pioneering 
        accomplishment and the service he rendered to the cause of equal 
        treatment for all Americans by courageously accepting the challenge, and
Whereas on Independence Day 2006, the best way to appreciate the groundbreaking 
        service of Wesley Anthony Brown and other District of Columbia veterans 
        and members of the armed forces is to pass H.R. 5388, affording the 
        residents of the District of Columbia the full vote in the House of 
        Representatives for the first time in American history: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives commends Retired 
Lieutenant Commander Wesley Anthony Brown for his commitment and 
dedication to serving the people of the United States and recognizes 
the dedicated efforts of all residents of the District of Columbia who 
serve and have served in the armed forces, as well as the bipartisan 
work in the House of Representatives to bring equal citizenship to the 
residents of the District of Columbia.
                                 <all>