[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 31, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H1051]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO CONGRESSMAN KWEISI MFUME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Cardin] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I take this time to join, I know, all the 
Members of this House to acknowledge that in the next few days this 
House will be losing one of its most distinguished Members, a person 
who has contributed much to this Nation, who will be resigning to take 
on the presidency of the NAACP. I refer to my colleague and friend, the 
gentleman from Maryland, Kweisi Mfume.
  When Congressman Mfume resigns from Congress, I will be losing one of 
my closest friends in this House, and one of my closest colleagues. 
Both of us were elected to Congress at the same time in the 100th 
Congress. Both of us were elected from Baltimore to represent that 
community in the Congress of the United States.
  He is my seatmate, he is my colleague, he is my advisor and friend, 
and I will miss him dearly here in the House. We share the same vision 
for our communities, and we have worked together in order to 
effectively represent those communities here in the Congress of the 
United States.

  What a record has Congressman Mfume achieved during his now 9 years 
in the Congress of the United States. He has been an articulate 
spokesperson for the Nation's cities. As a result of his work, we now 
have empowerment zone legislation that is working to renew America's 
cities. Because of Congressman Mfume's role, Baltimore is designated as 
one of those empowerment zones, and we are already seeing the fruits of 
that labor in Baltimore, thanks to Congressman Mfume's leadership here 
in the Congress of the United States.
  He serves on the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, and has 
been a frequent speaker on this floor, to speak out for the needs of 
our Nation's cities. Of course, I think most of us know him best for 
the leadership that he displayed as chairman of the Congressional Black 
Caucus, particularly during the first 2 years of the Clinton 
administration. He brought forward the vision of so many Americans that 
we can do better for all of our communities.
  He was keenly responsible for much of the progress that we made 
during those 2 years. He united not just the Black Caucus, but he 
united all of us who were interested in renewing our commitment to 
America's urban areas and to all of our people.
  But you know what I think Kweisi's greatest legacy will be to this 
House will be the style in which he conducted his affairs. He brought 
the highest degree of integrity, hard work, coalition building, and 
what a communicator. What a way he has with words and can carry out on 
the floor in a very articulate way and get us all to work together.
  I could relate some stories in Baltimore where he brought communities 
together. He worked with me to build bridges between the African-
American community of Baltimore and the Jewish community in Baltimore. 
We learned from former Congressman Gray of Philadelphia about efforts 
that he made in Philadelphia, which we copied in Baltimore, known as 
Operation Understanding, where we arranged for African-American 
students and Jewish students to travel together to Africa and Israel to 
better understand each other's roots, an historic reason why we work 
together on civil rights legislation.

                              {time}  1615

  That program succeeded in bringing together children who are now good 
friends and are spreading, I think, an important message to our 
community that we must work together in order to move forward on areas 
such as civil rights and improvement in all ways of life.
  Mr. Speaker, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 was another accomplishment 
in which I know Congressman Mfume is very proud. He had a major part to 
play in that achievement. In minority businesses having greater 
opportunity, Congressman Mfume was there with legislation and gaining 
support throughout the Nation in order to infuse more capital, more 
dollars, more opportunities, and more jobs in our inner-cities.
  In Baltimore, we now see the Columbus Center, which was a dream a few 
years ago, become a reality where we will become the leader in marine 
biotech research in this country. It will mean jobs in Baltimore. It is 
good for this Nation, and it is another achievement that Congressman 
Mfume can be proud of, a proud legacy that he will leave when he 
resigns from this institution.
  The drug courts and law enforcement area was another idea that he 
brought forward.
  Mr. Speaker, let me say in conclusion that the loss of this Chamber 
will be the gain to the NAACP. I know I speak for all Members of the 
House to wish him only the best as he goes forward with this new 
challenge.

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