[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 136 (Monday, September 26, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                            CYNTHIA SILLERS

  Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Cynthia Sillers.
  Cynthia is like many people of my State who take their part as 
community leaders and problem solvers. She comes by this because, for 
several generations, her family has set the example of community 
service. Her father, Doug Sillers, served in the State Senate. Her 
brother Hal is a leader in agricultural groups throughout the State. 
They all farm together in the great Red River Valley of northwestern 
Minnesota.
  As a teacher, Cynthia Sillers believes that the well-being and 
education of children serves as the foundation of a better life. She 
believes this fervently, not only for the children of Moorhead, but 
also for the children of migrant workers who reside in the community. 
With candor and hard work, she took on a most difficult job as migrant 
issues coordinator for the city of Moorhead, its school district, and 
for Clay County.
  Cynthia has done a remarkable job. But, like those rare citizens who 
are willing to work at the intersection of State and Federal 
bureaucracies, cultural and ethnic diversity, longheld misperceptions, 
and volatile emotions, she has carried the brunt of criticism from 
every side.
  Last month, when Cynthia Sillers indicated an interest in a different 
position, the Fargo Forum published an editorial that put into context 
the work that she has carried out. Excerpts from that editorial follow:

       Her [Cynthia Sillers'] moderate voice has been a sane note 
     in the otherwise droning chorus of rancor and recrimination 
     that too often dominates discussions of cultural and ethnic 
     diversity, racism and other issues of importance to migrant 
     laborers, the city's growing permanent Hispanic population 
     and the community in general.
       With compassion and diplomacy, Sillers has tried to 
     represent the complex interests of migrant workers, the sugar 
     beet industry, resident Hispanics who feel unaccepted, and a 
     larger community struggling to adjust to change.
       In all arenas she has honestly discussed the strengths and 
     failings to those constituencies, even if doing so made her 
     unpopular with those she aimed to serve. And it has.
       Not long ago, she candidly discussed the political 
     divisions among Hispanics in Minnesota and was branded a 
     racist by the newsletter of the state's Spanish Speaking 
     Affairs Council.
       Then, in an act of profound moral hypocrisy, the newsletter 
     suggested that since Sillers is white, she is incapable of 
     representing the interests of Hispanics. Had such a sentiment 
     been expressed about a Hispanic in any other taxpayer-funded 
     publication, Minnesota's human rights gestapo would have been 
     on the doorstep the next day.
       The chief complaint among Sillers' detractors is that she 
     was not an advocate for Hispanics. If by that they mean she 
     was not a confrontational jerk who portrayed Hispanics as 
     perpetual victims--whether true or not--or who was not 
     willing to lie for ``the cause,'' they are right.
       She was, however, tirelessly dedicated to her job--and to 
     the idea that quiet, earnest work succeeds where inflammatory 
     rhetoric and political posturing fails. That's what Sillers 
     was all about and so was her staff--Hispanic staff, Anglo 
     staff.
       There are in the community countless numbers of men and 
     women--black, white, Hispanic, Native American--whose only 
     concern is that children are educated and that families are 
     functional and happy.
       Advice to the Joint Powers Commission: Find them, use them 
     all. Fire the mavericks. Moorhead doesn't need self-anointed 
     messiahs. It needs sincere, effective workers.
       As for Cynthia Sillers, the community owes her a debt.

  Mr. President, all of us who serve the public owe Cynthia Sillers a 
debt of gratitude as well. Our gratitude is also extended to the family 
that nurtured her on the importance of public service. We need to 
underscore the fact that our communities and our Nation function at the 
highest level when people offer their hearts and their minds to serving 
others at home.

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