[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 189 (Wednesday, November 29, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     A TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM KUNSTLER

                                 ______


                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 29, 1995

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to attorney 
William Kunstler who recently passed away. In memory of William 
Kunstler and in tribute to the ideals for which he fought, I would like 
to enter into the Congressional Record this statement.
  Mr. Kunstler was profoundly committed to the fundamentally American 
ideal of justice for all. As an attorney he fought against racism and 
for the legal rights of everyone from important political figures to 
marginal outsiders. His notable achievements included his work with Dr. 
Martin Luther King and his representation of Adam Clayton Powell and 
Stokely Carmichael.
  To make the ideal of a just America a reality, Mr. Kunstler brought 
his considerable talents to defend unpopular and sometimes virtually 
unwinnable cases as a matter of principle. He took on the cases of many 
of the prisoners charged following the Attica Prison uprising. He took 
on the case of Wayne Williams, who was convicted of killing young boys 
in Atlanta, and Colin Ferguson, who was convicted of killing several 
people on the Long Island railroad. It is these cases that test our 
commitment to a fair and equitable justice system, and it is with these 
unpopular cases that William Kunstler proved the depth of his 
commitment to a fair justice system.
  In her tribute to William Kunstler, Bernice Powell Jackson from the 
Civil Rights Journal noted that William Kunstler was a man who 
challenged our legal system to be the best and the fairest it could be. 
In this time of increasing attacks on the rights of the accused, we 
need to be inspired by Mr. Kunstler's commitment to a fair and 
equitable justice system. I would like to take this moment to honor his 
memory.

                          ____________________