[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 34 (Thursday, February 23, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E415]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           BLACK HISTORY MONTH

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                               speech of

                       HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 22, 1995
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it has been said 
that the 1995 National Black History theme represents a milestone in 
the life of black Americans. It causes us to reflect on the visions of 
three men who were repressed by slavery, disillusioned by the Bill of 
Rights, and despite these setbacks--championed the cause for freedom 
through vigilant and aggressive action.
  These three individuals, Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. DuBois, and Booker 
T. Washington, were prolific scholars and great leaders.
  Their determination to change the course of history for black 
Americans, planted the seeds of progress that later blossomed into the 
political and economic freedom that we continue to cultivate. The 
course of history for black Americans was greatly influenced by these 
three giants, whose visions have seen a nation through 300 years of 
conflict.
  As we celebrate Black History Month, it is important to remember 
these men * * * who have been termed our first ``civil rights 
generals'' in a war that seems to never end.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to use my time today to pay tribute to a group of 
Americans who have given their lives in wars of a different kind: Black 
Americans who have proudly served their country in the military.
  It is not news that more than 25 percent of the young men and women 
who served our country in the
 Persian Gulf were black. Were it not for the more than 100,000 
thousand black soldiers, sailors, and airmen, former President Bush 
probably could not have launched the war to drive Saddam Hussein from 
Kuwait.

  Nor is it news, Mr. Speaker, that a disproportionate number of black 
Americans served in Vietnam. But it is important to remember that black 
Americans have served in every battle in which this country was ever 
engaged.
  Yes, Mr. Speaker, we can go all the way back to the American 
Revolution, the first war in our country's history. In the most serious 
clash between the Americans and the British--the Boston Massacre of 
1770--one of the five colonists who fell in action was a runaway slave, 
Crispus Attucks.
  Gen. Andrew Jackson, this country's seventh President, heaped the 
greatest praise upon the thousands of black soldiers who played a 
decisive role in the War of 1812.
  In the Civil War--this country's bloodiest battle--the question for 
blacks was this: Would they remain loyal to their immediate oppressors 
who owned them outright, or would they sacrifice their very lives for 
the freedom of their race and their country?
  The answer was simple. Nearly 200,000 black combat troops fought in 
the Union Army, and one in every four men in the Union Navy was black.
  In this country's First World War, the most famous of the eight Black 
regiments was unquestionably the ``Fighting 369th.'' In 1918, this unit 
went into action and remained on the front lines for 191 consecutive 
days--``Without losing a trench, retreating an inch, or surrendering a 
prisoner.''
  Upon their triumphant return to this country, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois 
served notice on America that returning black servicemen meant to 
realize full equality under the law as first-class citizens. He said:

       We stand again to look America squarely in the face. It 
     lynches, It disenfranchises, It insults us.--we return 
     fighting. Make way for democracy. We saved it in France, and 
     we will save it in the U.S.A.

  On the infamous morning of December 7, 1941, when Japanese fighters 
flew over Pearl Harbor and rained a hail of bombs and bullets on the 
slumbering U.S. Naval Base, Dorie Miller, A black messman, was going 
about his duties collecting the laundry, when the sounds of battle 
sirens and exploding shells rent the air.
  Miller rushed up on deck, and instantly hauled his wounded captain to 
safety. Moments later, he sprung into action behind an anti-aircraft 
gun he had never been trained to operate.
  Firing calmly and accurately, he brought down four zero fighter 
planes before the cry to abandon ship was heeded by all survivors. On 
May 7, 1942, this great seaman was cited for bravery by Fleet Adm. 
Chester Nimitz, who decorated him with a Silver Star, and so 
acknowledged the Nation's debt to a black man of ``extraordinary 
courage.''
  Mr. Speaker, as a child I can remember assisting my father in his 
plans to welcome home Dorie Miller, a fellow Texan. As a Member of 
congress, I have introduced legislation to pay the appropriate tribute 
to this great American, who fought so nobly for his country, the 
Congressional Medal of Honor.
  The experience of settling America, and the burden of defending it, 
have been shared by many groups of people. As one historian has noted--
blacks, too, have built this Nation, forged its destiny in peace, and 
defended it in war. Black men and women began serving America long 
before the Nation had come into being, and have fought long and 
honorably in every major American conflict since.
  America is free because, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, 
``Though they have often been reduced to a `fifty percent citizen' on 
American soil, black soldiers have always been one hundred percent 
citizens in warfare.''
  Mr. Speaker, it is fitting and proper that we recognize and honor the 
vast contributions to this Nation's military history, and this 
country's freedom, by black men and women who have fought and died for 
a better world.


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