[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 31, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H1051-H1052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE KWEISI MFUME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Hoyer] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, it is a sad occasion for me to rise at this 
time to note and to lament the leaving of our colleague, the gentleman 
from Maryland, Kweisi Mfume.
  Most of you know that Kweisi Mfume is in many ways the embodiment of 
the American dream and American ideal. He was a young man, like so many 
of us when we were young, who had trouble coming to grips with life. I 
can empathize with that. I am sure many of you can as well. In fact, as 
a teenager he was, from the perspective of many, a teenager that would 
not make a positive contribution to his community. The joy of the story 
is that Kweisi Mfume looked at himself and make a similar conclusion, 
and decided that that was not the route he wanted to go.
  Robert Frost wrote a poem ``The Road Not Taken.'' He said in that 
poem ``I shall be telling this with a smile 

[[Page H1052]]
somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I 
took the one less traveled by.''
  The road less traveled by, as all of us know who go through a woods, 
has more briars, has more brambles, has more branches in the way of 
progress. But if one is prepared to overcome those obstacles, one can 
prevail and be admired for that victory of the spirit.
  I am not objective, Mr. Speaker. Kweisi Mfume is my friend. As the 
dean of the Maryland delegation, I can say with pride and with 
conviction that Kweisi Mfume has served the citizens of not only his 
district but of my district and of every district of our State 
exceedingly well. But more than that, Kweisi Mfume has been a leader in 
our country. Indeed, he has been a leader on the international scene.
  Kweisi Mfume was picked by his African-American colleagues to lead 
the Black Caucus here in the Congress. Frankly, it was, perhaps, one of 
the high points of the history of the Black Caucus during the 2 years 
of his leadership, in which he became perceived by the President of the 
United States, by the Speaker of the House, and by the minority leader 
as an individual of great consequence and conscience, as an individual 
prepared to fight for that which he believed, an individual who was in 
the best tradition of service in this House.
  There have been some 10,200 Members, citizens, who have been selected 
by their communities to serve in this House since 1789. Few have served 
with such distinction as Kweisi Mfume.
  Kweisi Mfume called me a few weeks ago, early on a Saturday morning. 
He informed me before it was to happen that he was going to be selected 
as the President and CEO of one of the historic and great institutions 
in this country, the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People.
  That organization has done as much for civil rights as any 
organization in this country, but that organization, frankly, has 
fallen on hard times. It was confronted with problems of great 
magnitude, not just financially but in terms of energy and direction 
and focus and agenda. The genius of that organization was that they 
looked around the breadth of America and made what I think was the very 
best possible selection they could have made.
  I am sad that they chose Kweisi Mfume, for myself, for my State, but 
I am glad that he will have an even broader stage, in some respects, on 
which to work. I am glad that the character of Kweisi Mfume will be 
associated with one of the great associations of this country.
  Kweisi Mfume is on the floor and stands before me just now, and 
Kweisi, I say to you as a friend, as a colleague, but as well, as an 
American concerned about my country, concerned about bringing blacks 
and whites together, not dividing us, concerned about the rise in 
racism and the lack of understanding between the white and black 
communities in America, an understanding which is critical for both 
communities if we are to be the kind of successful American dream which 
the rest of the world thinks about and admires.
  I want to thank the Speaker for his consideration of my closing with 
these comments about my brother, the gentleman from Maryland, Kweisi 
Mfume, who has served his country and his people so well. We wish him 
Godspeed and great success.

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