[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 141 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H8800-H8804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      INJUSTICES IN REDISTRICTING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentlewoman from Georgia [Ms. McKinney] is recognized for 
60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my concerns about the 
words of the gentlewoman from Idaho, and to say to her and to the 
American people that I share her love for the institutions of this 
country, and I wish that tonight I had a better story to tell than the 
story that she just told. But, unfortunately, I think we are going to 
have to endure another 60 minutes of another tragedy. Let us hope that 
it does not become a tragedy.
  On my way back from Atlanta today, I thought about what an honor it 
is for me to represent the good people of the 11th Congressional 
District of Georgia, and what I am going through right now I sincerely 
hope no other Member of Congress has to endure. Unfortunately, I fear 
that others will.
  So tomorrow I have requested that other Members of Congress who are 
impacted come and, at about this hour, also tell their stories of what 
it is like to fight the fiercest political fight there is, and that is 
the battle for redistricting.
  The first question that I pose this evening is, is redistricting 
about shape or shade? I have got some maps here. This is a map of 
Illinois' Sixth District, which has gone unchallenged despite its 
irregular shape. It is a district that has a supermajority of white 
constituents at 95 percent. This district has gone unchallenged.
  I have another map of Texas' Sixth District, which is of irregular 
shape, which also has a supermajority of white constituents at 91 
percent. This district has gone through a similar court battle as has 
been experienced by the 11th Congressional District, and this district 
has been declared constitutional.
  Finally, there is Georgia's 11th Congressional District, not of 
grossly irregular shape, not the monstrosity that it has been called, 
consisting of a supermajority that is 64 percent black. However, this 
district was both challenged and, unfortunately, found 
unconstitutional.

                              {time}  2215

  I am forced to conclude that the redistricting battle that the 
Supreme Court has embarked this Nation upon is one about shade and not 
shape.
  The battle in Georgia, as of today, has just been landed in the 
courts. That is because the Georgia Legislature was caught in an 
impasse.
  One of the questions I pose is, was the redistricting impasse in the 
Georgia Legislature about Democrats and Republicans?
  Now, I have a newspaper article here from the Metro Courier, which is 
published in the city of Atlanta, GA. The headline reads, ``Committee 
Okays One Black District. Plan Offers Little Representation for 
Blacks.''
  In this article, it reads,

       Political analysts project that as black voters are shifted 
     from Georgia's other two solidly black districts to simply 
     black-influenced districts, Georgia's political landscape 

[[Page H 8801]]
     becomes more favorable to white Democratic candidates. Chairman of the 
     legislative black caucus, reapportionment task force, Senator 
     David Scott of Atlanta, said the map was a long way from 
     being acceptable and suggested that Democrats could be due 
     for some bad press in the black community.

  He goes on to say, ``I do not think white Democrats want this label 
around their neck that they are dismantling black congressional 
seats,'' Scott told reporters.
  The head of the Democratic Party in the State of Georgia, our 
Democratic Governor, was reported in the Atlanta newspaper: Miller 
staying out of redistricting fray.
  Sensing that something bad might, indeed, be coming down the pike, I 
thought I would write a note to the Democratic leadership of the State 
of Georgia. We do have a Democratic Governor, a Democratic Lieutenant 
Governor, and a Democratic speaker of the house. And the title of my 
statement is, ``Ain't I a Democrat, too?'' And I am going to read this 
statement.
  It says:

       In this 75th year of the passage of the 19th Amendment 
     giving America's women the right to vote, it is important to 
     note the important role that women played in the abolitionist 
     movement to free black people and the deep impression that so 
     Sojourner Truth made on her audience when she spoke before 
     men and women who had gathered at a suffrage convention.
      When Sojourner rose to speak, there was tension in the air. 
     Nobody knew what she was going to say. And for a brief 
     moment some in the audience began to boo and hiss. But 
     determined to be heard, Sojourner raised her voice and 
     began:
       ``What is all this talk about women need to be helped into 
     carriages and lifted over ditches and have the best place 
     everywhere? Nobody ever helped me into carriages or over 
     puddles or gives me the best place, and ain't I a woman?''
       When she concluded, she left amid a standing ovation. So 
     Sojourner Truth had impressed upon them that, though she was 
     black and never really was able to share the niceties of 
     life, she was still a woman.

  I entered office in 1989. When I ran I had a D behind my name. All I 
knew growing up was a Democratic Party. In the legislature, I worked 
alongside other Democrats who led our State. I thought we shared 
important values. I took my constituents seriously. I took my party 
seriously. And I have been in the trenches of the Democratic Party ever 
since, organizing, registering, and sounding the message of Democratic 
values.
  One day I was asked by Jesse Jackson, when was the last time you 
registered anyone to vote? And since then, I have been busy 
registering; everywhere I go I try to register people to vote, knowing 
that every person I register, black or white, will vote for the 
Democratic Party.
  I have argued with the Democratic Party, State and national, about 
maintaining its commitment to grassroots organizing. I have asked the 
party to look at its unified campaign strategy. And most important of 
all, I have delivered votes to the Democratic Party. I have delivered 
votes in the State of Georgia that have benefited members of the State 
Democratic Party.
  And when I do my job in Washington and cooperate with the Democratic 
leadership of the U.S. Congress and with the Democratic values and work 
to further Democratic interests. I do not make a distinction between 
black Democratic interests and white Democratic interests. I speak on 
behalf of poor people both black and white who want to work in a decent 
work place, receive a decent wage, come home to decent housing, and 
enjoy a protected environment.
  I speak on behalf of working people who want opportunities to 
advance, who want quality education for their kids and who expect 
Government services that work. I speak on behalf of senior citizens 
both black and white who have given to this country and entered into 
their own Contract With America. And I speak on behalf of America's 
women who, despite 75 years of the vote, have only just begun to take 
their seats at the table where policy is made.
  When I cast my vote in Washington in the U.S. House of 
Representatives, my vote counts the same as everyone else's. I did not 
change parties. I did not visit with the Republican National Committee. 
I never considered switching parties. I just continue to sweat for the 
Democratic Party.
  I tried to recruit candidates to run in 1994 and in 1996. I have 
taken Leon Panetta to Georgia so that the chair of our State Democratic 
Party could have a personal meeting. I have made recommendations to the 
State party. I have committed to help raise money for the State party. 
I have met with the new executive director of our State party and even 
recently visited the party's office. And the last time I looked, the 
Governor of the State of Georgia is a Democrat. The Lieutenant Governor 
of the State of Georgia is a Democrat. The Speaker of the House is a 
Democrat.
 Well, ain't I a Democrat, too?

  I must conclude that the redistricting impasse cannot possibly be 
about Democrats and Republicans. What kind of Representative have I 
been since I have been in Congress? I have tried to the best of my 
ability to be a voice for my constituents, not just one group of my 
constituents but all of my constituents.
  I was elected as the people's candidate and sometimes I joke about 
it. I used to say, and sometimes I still say, I was a candidate that 
nobody wanted. I did not have big name people behind me. I did not have 
big money people behind me. All I had were the people of the 11th 
Congressional District.
  The theme of my campaign was warriors do not wear medals, they wear 
scars. The people who supported me in my campaign where our State's 
warriors. The people who wake up early every morning, the people who go 
to bed late at night, the people who give and give and give and give 
and give and continue to give even more, and all that they ask in 
return is that they have a better community. And all that they ask is 
that their Government treat them right.
  I do not have a fancy background. My mother is a nurse. My father is 
a policeman. He later became a member of the Georgia Legislature. But I 
am just an ordinary person. I come from common stock. And so it is not 
often that people like me can grace the halls of the U.S. Congress. The 
politics that I have learned to practice are not go along to get along 
but to come to Washington to take care of serious business and to speak 
on behalf of people who have been left out.
  I have done my job. I am doing my job. I am giving hope to people in 
the 11th Congressional District in Georgia. Hope, though, in a listless 
people is sometimes viewed as a dangerous thing.
  I have made a difference in the lives of my constituents, and somehow 
I cannot help but believe that that difference contributes to the 
problems that some Georgians may have with me.
  What could have been the intent of the Democratic leadership of the 
State of Georgia? Was it to dilute black voting strength?
  I have a document here entitled ``General Assembly Held Hostage:'' 
Just at the beginning of the special session that was called for the 
purpose of redrawing congressional districts, 17 State House districts 
were targeted by the plaintiffs who had successfully challenged the 
11th Congressional District. Five State Senate districts were targeted. 
Some of the targeted representatives, State Representative Tyrone 
Brooks, State Representative Henry Howard, State Representative Carl 
Von Epps, State Representative Eugene Tillman, targeted Senators, State 
Senator Dianne Harvey Johnson, State Senator Robert Brown, State 
Senator Nadine Thomas, State Senator Steve Henson, State Senator 
Charles Walker.

                              {time}  2230

  What could have been the purpose of targeting black State legislative 
districts that had not been challenged in the courts? What could have 
been the purpose of targeting black State legislative districts that 
had not been found unconstitutional?
  State Senator Donzella James gathered her thoughts, and she composed 
a piece called the Redistricting Hoax. I will read some excerpts:

       Georgia legislators convened a special session of the 
     General Assembly to take up the issue of reconfiguring 
     Georgia's congressional and State district lines. This effort 
     is a result of what many have come to view as Supreme Court 
     double talk. Specifically, Supreme Court Justice Clarence 
     Thomas from Pinpoint, Georgia, in a five to four vote cast 
     the pivotal vote mandating the congressional districting 
     question is unconstitutional.

[[Page H 8802]]


                              {time}  2230

       The decision not only results in new interpretations for 
     defining redistricting, but also prohibits consideration of 
     race as a predominant factor in formulating district lines.
       Although the Court's decision is seen by many as a major 
     set back, these current events do not necessarily affect the 
     integrity of Sections 2 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act. By 
     Governor Miller signing a proclamation for State legislators 
     to reconvene in August to readdress political boundaries in 
     Georgia's court-challenged Eleventh District, the Georgia 
     legislative leadership seized the opportunity to have both 
     legislative House and Senate seats included in the 
     redistricting cauldron. This undertaking forced us to shelve 
     the Constitution for a short-term quick-fix remedy.
       The zeal to dilute African-American voting strength appears 
     to be motivated by the need to bring about racial 
     polarization. The pending outcome of these efforts may indeed 
     result in the establishment of case law, hereby, 
     congressional seats currently occupied by African-American in 
     Louisiana, North Carolina, Florida and Texas, will be greatly 
     impacted by the deliberations of the Georgia State 
     Legislature.

       She goes on to say,

       In this episode of political gamesmanship, Republicans 
     attempted to play the white Democrats against the black 
     Democrats by promising both sides their support in addressing 
     their redistricting concerns.
       Further, the struggle within the Democratic Party between 
     competing political interests was transformed into one 
     involving race. The eagerness on the part of the white 
     Democrats to ``Republican proof'' their districts blinded 
     them to their overall goal. That is, to foster equal and 
     inclusive representation for all of the people of Georgia.
       Self-serving individuals on all sides of the debate 
     practiced deceitful game playing and clever trickery and have 
     made a mockery of the reapportionment mandate. The Georgia 
     General Assembly may come to regret this entire ordeal. A 
     number of questions will have been answered concerning our 
     legislative process. For example, was the court order 
     legislative undertaking a hoax? And if so, could this be a 
     needless waste of the taxpayers' money and will the lawyers 
     laugh all the way to the bank?
       My fear is that when it is all over and done, will the 
     redistricting issue be remembered as racial rights versus 
     civil wrongs?

       Well, feeling that something unsavory was happening, 
     certain members of the Georgia legislative Black Caucus 
     decided to compose a letter and send it to Deval Patrick, 
     Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. 
     Department of Justice. I am going to read the letter.

       Dear Mr. Patrick, I am submitting this comment urging you 
     to object to the reapportionment plans passed by the Georgia 
     General Assembly in its special session in 1995. These plans 
     were enacted by the State of Georgia with a racially 
     discriminatory purpose and will have a retrogressive effect 
     on black voters throughout the State.
       The plans for the State Senate and State House also violate 
     section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, because those plans 
     dilute black voting strength. In carrying out these 
     redistrictings, the State legislature specifically aimed 
     their sights at legislative districts with majority black 
     voting populations. The decision by the legislature, 
     therefore, was targeted at black voters with the intent to 
     reduce the black voting strength throughout the State.
       The legislature undertook this action even though there had 
     been no court decision invalidating our existing plans, nor 
     had there even been a lawsuit challenging any of the 
     districts.
       The context in which these new plans were drawn is also 
     important to understand. The special session in which these 
     new reapportionment plans were enacted was called to address 
     also the reapportionment of the congressional districts 
     pursuant to the decision in Johnson v. Miller.
       The white leadership in our legislature forced the assembly 
     to address legislative reapportionment first and then proceed 
     to congressional reapportionment.
       In exchange for cooperation in legislative reapportionment, 
     the leadership promised to work with the black Members of the 
     legislature on congressional reapportionment. The leadership, 
     therefore, used legislative reapportionment as a stick and 
     forced legislators to make concessions they would otherwise 
     not have made.
       The enclosed statistics show the degree of
        retrogression and discrimination. For all of these 
     reasons, we urge you to object.
       Please call us so that we can provide further details.
           Sincerely,

  It was signed by several Members of the Georgia legislative Black 
Caucus.
  I have information that was compiled by Representative George Brown 
of Augusta that was circulated by Representative LaNett Stanley, which 
cites the district number, the black population of those districts in 
1992, and how those districts were dismantled in 1995.
  All told, the Georgia legislative Black Caucus voted to dismantle, 
along with the rest of the Democratic leadership, voted to dismantle 
nine majority black districts in the House and two in the Senate.
  I also have a list of all of the districts that were changed in the 
course of this. Out of 56 Senate seats, 46 were changed. Out of 180 
House seats, 69 were changed.
  And I have the story of one incumbent black State representative 
whose district I helped to draw in 1992, Reverend Tillman. His district 
was 60 percent black as drawn in 1992. It was reduced in this special 
session from 60 percent to 30 percent, roughly.
  He says that they told him that if he voted for this plan that 
dismantled all of these districts, that they would increase his 
percentage. They would not kick him out of office. They would at least 
give him a fighting chance up to 40 percent. So, he voted for the plan 
and his district was increased to 40 percent. But what was lost? What 
was lost?
  Reverend Tillman used to represent three counties in Georgia: Liberty 
County, McIntosh County, and Glynn County. And I will never forget the 
day that the reapportionment committee held its hearing down in 
Savannah, GA, back in 1991 or so. A gentleman from Liberty County rose 
to speak to his elected government from the State of Georgia and he 
said, ``I come from a county named Liberty, but they still treat us 
like slaves.''
  That gentleman got his district in 1992. That gentleman got 
representation in 1992. That gentleman might lose his representation in 
1996. That gentleman might loose his representation in 1996. And 
furthermore, if Reverend Tillman wins in the district that the 
legislature drew, that gentleman would not have Representative Tillman 
as his representative.
  What else could have driven this process? Was it protecting big 
business? Well, in a news release that State Senator Donzella James 
released September 6, she implicates kaolin interests in driving a 
redistricting.
  Kaolin is a white clay in Georgia. In fact, there is so much of it in 
Georgia, that seven counties in Georgia have most of the world's 
reserves. And those seven counties in Georgia just happen to be in the 
11th Congressional District of Georgia.

       State Senator Donzella James expressed concern today that 
     Georgia's kaolin companies are exerting undue influence on 
     the State's redistricting process. As legislators slowly 
     hammer out a new congressional map, Senator James is 
     increasingly convinced that kaolin interests in Washington, 
     Jefferson, and Glascock Counties have issued a veto threat 
     over any congressional map which puts them in the Eleventh 
     District represented by Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia 
     McKinney.
       Ms. McKinney first drew the ire of the kaolin companies 
     when she questioned industry practices which exploit poor 
     landowners and force them off their property.

  She goes on to elaborate.
  And then, of course, it became clear to me, and so
   I issued my own press release after hearing so many rumors in the 
State capitol under the gold dome.

    Representative McKinney Says: Kaolin Lobbyists Responsible for 
                 Redistricting Impasse at State Capitol

       Kaolin industry lobbyists are preventing State legislators 
     from reaching agreement on a new congressional map, according 
     to Eleventh District Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.
       House and Senate conferees are apparently deadlocked over 
     the desire to protect two majority black districts, while at 
     the same time keeping the kaolin counties of Washington, 
     Jefferson, and Glascock out of McKinney's Eleventh District. 
     Some legislators are suggesting that the kaolin industry has 
     served notice to key State officials that the kaolin belt is 
     not to be included in the Eleventh.
       At present, conferees are looking for ways to move black 
     voters from Fulton county, the City of Atlanta, into the 
     newly reconfigured Eleventh District, in order to maintain 
     its black majority. However, McKinney and others are pointing 
     out that there is no need to go into Fulton County, if the 
     new Eleventh District includes Washington, Jefferson and 
     Glascock Counties.

  Now, I have some maps here. I have a map of the State of Georgia and 
this is one of the plans that was put on the table. There were so many 
plans. People were drawing plans left and right. But this is 
Washington, Glascock, and Jefferson Counties. This is the Eleventh 
Congressional District and it has got a little finger that goes into 
Fulton.
  I have got a blowup of that finger. That is the finger that goes into 
Fulton. Now, you do not have to go into Fulton County to get the 
finger; just put the counties in the district.

[[Page H 8803]]

  And then another map surfaced which had everything just about right. 
It had the Second Congressional District close to where it needed to be 
to protect the Democratic incumbent in the Second Congressional 
District. It had the necessary attributes that the Congressperson there 
thought were necessary in order to protect that incumbency; had the 
Eleventh Congressional District where the Georgia Legislative Black 
Caucus had said they wanted that number, which was 50 percent, which is 
neither a majority black nor majority white, just fair.
  But, with that finger into Fulton, something happens. Washington 
County, which is the headquarters of the kaolin industry, is omitted 
from the map.
                              {time}  2245

  Because you have got that finger into Fulton, what you end up doing 
is gutting the Fifth District. Now, we cannot do that. There is enough 
population in the State of Georgia to get the numbers right to protect 
the Democratic incumbents without encroaching upon other districts. 
There was no need to encroach upon the Fifth District.
  I have got a couple of newspaper articles here, Atlanta Journal 
Constitution, September 7, 1993, ``Bring in the Feds to Probe Kaolin.'' 
Atlanta Journal Constitution, October 1, 1993,

       McKinney takes on Kaolin Industry. Her nosing around has 
     infuriated the industry. One Kaolin executive in 
     Sandersville, home to several Kaolin plants,

that is Washington County,

     suggested in a letter to a local newspaper that McKinney's 
     district be dismantled.

``King Kaolin's political prisoner?'' This is from the Atlanta 
Constitution, Wednesday, June 22, 1994.

       At first glance, U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney's 
     suggestion that a Warner Robbins resident has been turned 
     into a political prisoner seems rash. ``This is the American 
     gulag, and Robert Watkins is one of its victims,'' she said, 
     comparing the handling of the case to the infamous justice of 
     the prison system of the former Soviet Union. Surely, 
     McKinney was exaggerating. But a close look at the Watkins 
     case suggests he may well be imprisoned for political 
     reasons. McKinney is right to ask the Justice Department to 
     investigate. Given the financial and political power of the 
     Kaolin Industry in her district, McKinney is brave to look 
     into the strange case of Robert Watkins. The Justice 
     Department should immediately investigate the prison sentence 
     of the man who dared to challenge King Kaolin in middle 
     Georgia.''

  Finally, in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, October 22, 1993,

       This should not be Cynthia McKinney's fight, but Georgia's 
     politicians are so afraid of the Kaolin Companies, they don't 
     dare raise a peep.

The title of this story is ``Taking on King Kaolin.''

  The conclusion of the article is,

       So McKinney now is trying to get the U.S. Justice 
     Department to look into the problems. Politically, that may 
     not be a very smart move on her part because Kaolin money 
     will try to unseat her. But then again, who knows, maybe
      McKinney will prove that a woman with a backbone can succeed 
     in a State run by men with weak knees.

  Could the redistricting impasse have just been caught up in 
opportunities, political opportunities for favorite sons? Well, there 
was a plan called the DeLoach plan. That was one of the first plans on 
the map, on the board, and it just so happened to have been drawn by my 
former Democratic opponent, the gentleman who organized the lawsuit. 
His plan was renamed and revised a little bit and passed the Georgia 
State Senate. In that plan, the Second Congressional District is down 
from 52 percent to 35 percent, Fifth Congressional District down from 
59 percent to 52 percent, the 11th Congressional District down from 60 
percent to 39 percent; in other words, goodbye, Cynthia McKinney.
  Women can get hurt in this redistricting fight. Women win more seats 
that are opened up by redistricting, and we have got women who are 
affected by the current redistricting fights across this country: 
Cynthia McKinney, the gentlewoman from Florida, Ms. Brown, the 
gentlewoman from Texas, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson, the gentlewoman from 
Texas, Ms. Jackson-Lee, the gentlewoman from New York, Ms. Velazquez. 
Those districts have been targeted. Other women in delegations are 
affected, the North Carolina delegation, Florida delegation, New York 
delegation, Illinois delegation. Bottom line on this redistricting is 
not just a racial issue.
  What is the predicament in which blacks find themselves in Georgia? 
My father has been in the Georgia legislature for 23 years, a long 
time. He put out a paper entitled ``Billy's Dream.'' He says,

       ``I had a dream last night. I saw very clearly a group of 
     white men gathered around a table, and they were plotting the 
     future of black people in the South for the next century. I 
     was surprised that I recognized all of them. They were all 
     involved in the attempt to overturn the Voting Rights Act. 
     This distinguished group had been stunned by the Georgia 
     legislative Black Caucus at hearings before the Georgia 
     reapportionment committee. The Caucus had shown unusual 
     preparedness in its opposition to dismantling of majority 
     black districts. In stinging testimony, the assertions of 
     plaintiffs' attorney were proven to be untrue. The Caucus 
     brought down from the University of Virginia a constitutional 
     and civil rights law expert in Dr. Pamela Carlin, attorney
      Robert McDuff from Mississippi, Selwyn Carter of the 
     Southern regional council, who serves as the Georgia 
     legislative technical assistant on the Voting Rights Act. 
     This emergency meeting was called because what was thought 
     to be a routine turning back of the clock had gone awry. 
     The blacks would not march back to slavery with their hats 
     in their hands. Like their forefathers before them, after 
     such discussion, it was decided that the State would issue 
     an unheard of order demanding that the State appear before 
     the court and present maps and testimony with only 1 
     week's notice, 1 week of having been in the special 
     session, and the threat of having the judges, the same 
     judges who found the 11th District unconstitutional, draw 
     the district was supposed to scare the members of the 
     Georgia legislative Black Caucus. That is why you have 
     those State legislative districts held hostage, a 
     brilliant threat to throw panic into the Caucus, because 
     the Caucus isn't really a player in this chess game. Black 
     citizens are only pawns to be sacrificed in a fight 
     between the major parties. The Democrats have three 
     Members serving in Congress, but they do not count, 
     because they are black. So the plan is to banish the black 
     congressmen and spread the black citizens, who vote 95-
     percent Democratic, among other districts, a devious plan 
     that can only work if the Republicans remain aloof and 
     allow it to happen.

  He goes on to say,

       Conisder winning a judicial case when the prosecution and 
     the defense are all of one accord. The poor defendant is left 
     up a creek, and that is where black citizens find themselves 
     at this time. The Black Caucus, although not a player at the 
     table, must turn to the tactics of Dr. Martin Luther King, 
     and that is to play the moral card, appeal to the decency of 
     the American people, not to turn back the clock and expel 
     black elected officials from policymaking positions.

That was just a dream.
  I know that there are people around this country, indeed, people 
around the world, who are looking at what happens to Georgia's 11th 
Congressional District, and I also know that as the Representative for 
the 11th Congressional District I do not stand alone. We have many 
supporters.
  Our supporters that have filed friendly briefs in the court are the 
Congressional Black Caucus, the Democratic National Committee, the 
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has been of 
invaluable assistance to us, the State of Texas, the
 National voting Rights Institute, Mexican-American Legal Defense 
Educational Fund, National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, the 
NAACP, National Organization for Women, National organization for Women 
Legal Defense Fund, National Urban League, People for the American Way, 
Women's Legal Defense Fund.

  Other Members of Congress, I hope they do not have to go through what 
we are experiencing in Georgia, but we have quite a few who might be 
affected by the Georgia decision and the Georgia result: The gentleman 
from North Carolina [Mr. Watt], the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. 
Fields], the gentlewoman from Florida [Ms. Brown], the gentleman from 
Illinois [Mr. Gutierrez], the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. 
Thompson], the gentlewoman from New York [Ms. Velazquez], the 
gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] and the gentlewoman from Texas 
[Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson].
  I received an e-mail from a woman to a friend of mine, forwarded to 
me on my computer. The date of the e-mail is Friday, June 30, and the 
subject is, ``Wow, I would hate to be in Cynthia's shoes. Simma, I am 
back from South Africa 10 days earlier than expected.'' This is not 
from a black American woman. ``How ironic that my return from a country 
where black citizens 

[[Page H 8804]]
are finding new strength in the legislative process, I walk into a 
country where the intent of creating a color-blind society is to 
eliminate any possible chance for equal representation. Adding to my 
confusion is the battle over affirmative action. I hope other countries 
are not looking to us for civil rights leadership.''
  This is not the first time this has happened in America's history. It 
has not happened yet. I am going to fight like the dickens to make sure 
it does not happen.
  I have here the Congressional Record, and this is a Congressional 
Record from 1901. The Speaker is Representative George White, who was 
the last African-American Member of Congress to serve. He served from 
the State of North Carolina. North Carolina ended it; North Carolina is 
beginning it.
  Upon his exit from Congress, he spoke, ``Now, Mr. Chairman, before 
concluding my remarks, I want to submit a brief recipe for the solution 
of the so-called American Negro problem.'' He asks no special favors 
but simply demands that he be given the same chance for existence, for 
earning livelihood, for
 raising himself on the scales of manhood and womanhood that are 
accorded to kindred nationalities. Treat him as a man. Go into his 
home, learn of his social conditions, learn of cares, his troubles, his 
hopes for the future. Gain his confidence and open the doors of 
industry to him. This, Mr. Chairman, is perhaps the Negro's temporary 
farewell to the American Congress, but let me say, Phoenix-like, he 
will rise up someday and come again. These parting words are in behalf 
of an outraged, heart-broken, bruised and bleeding, but God-fearing 
people, faithful, industrious, loyal people, rising people full of 
potential force. Sir, I am pleading for the life of a human being. The 
only apology that I have to make for the earnestness with which I have 
spoken is that I am pleading for the life, the liberty, the future 
happiness and manhood, suffrage for one-eighth of the entire population 
of the United States.

  I do not want to have to give that farewell speech and lead what 
might be an unending procession of African-Americans, women and people 
of color out of the U.S. Congress.
  I want to take the opportunity to commend the Members of the Georgia 
legislative Black Caucus, State Senator Diane Harvey Johnson, 
chairwoman of the Georgia legislative Black Caucus, State Senator David 
Scott, who was the task force Chair, the reapportionment task force 
Chair, fought untiringly to protect the three Democratic incumbents of 
the Georgia congressional delegation, representative Calvin Smyre, 
served as House negotiator, State Representative David Lucas, served on 
the House Conference Committee, State Senator Charles Walker, served on 
the Senate Conference Committee.
  Finally, I have a poem. State Senator Donzella James has distributed 
this poem in the days when time was winding down and people's hearts 
were very heavy because the fight was about to leave the legislature 
and proceed to another level, another level of uncertainty.
                              {time}  2300

  Mr. Speaker, the title of the poem is ``Don't Quit.'' It goes:

     When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
     When the road you're trudging seems all uphill
     When funds are low and debts are high
     And you want to smile, but you have to sigh
     When care is pressing you down a bit
     Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

     Life is queer with its twists and turns
     As every one of us sometimes learns
     And many a person turns about
     When he might have won had they stuck it out
     Don't give up though the pace seems slow
     You may succeed with another blow.

     Often the struggler has given up
     When he might have captured the victor's cup
     and her learned too late
     when the night came down
     How close was the crown.

     Success is failure turned inside out
     So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
     It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

  I know that the good people of the State of Georgia are not going to 
quit in this fight for representation. I also know that the eyes of 
America are watching as Georgia goes through this process, and I have 
faith and hope that at the end of this process everyone in the State of 
Georgia will have been accorded what we only all ask, and that is a 
fair shake.


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