[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 17, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3556-H3557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO OUR FALLEN FRIEND, RON BROWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Rangel] is recognized for 5 minutes.

[[Page H3557]]

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, later on this evening, the gentleman from 
New Jersey, Don Payne, and other Members of Congress will continue to 
pay tribute to my fallen buddy, Ron Brown, but I just want to share 
some views as I saw Ron and 33 other coffins arrive in Dover, these 
flag-draped coffins covering the bodies of people that were in the 
business of selling the United States of America, and then heard the 
tributes that were paid to all of them, as well as attending at 
Arlington cemetery.
  As the bands were playing and the flags were unfurled and the cannons 
were blasting, I could only think what a great country we live in and 
how many things we just take for granted; that here a young American 
who comes from one of the poorest communities can, in such a short 
period of time, capture the love and gain the respect of not only the 
President of the United States but so many Americans from seashore to 
seashore, and, at the same time, to know that in so many foreign 
countries, some not as friendly as we wish that they would be, that 
they lowered their flags at half mast for this great American, Ron 
Brown.
  I think that when we start thinking about loving America, we have to 
think about what kind of person could love his country so much that he 
would try to climb mountains that other people would not even attempt, 
not only to show how great America was and what products we wanted to 
sell, and not how superior we were, but to actually talk with trade 
ministers and prime ministers and presidents in terms of the needs of 
their country. The poverty, the disease, the sickness, the hunger, the 
unemployment, the joblessness, and to be able to say to that country 
that America was there as a friend that wanted to help.
  This was a part of the world that we never spent that much time in. 
This was the part of the world that we had to develop markets in. This 
was the part of the world that we had to increase their ability to have 
disposable income so that as we had once done in Europe under the 
Marshall plan, that we could regain the leadership that we have 
possessed since World War II. And how they loved him, because it was 
not just selling America, it was the interest he had in them.
  I saw at the funeral Ambassadors that had flown in from Mexico, 
India, South Africa. They spoke, they talked, they loved, they cared. 
And I said what a wonderful country it is that we have in the United 
States of America, people that come from every country in the world.

                              {time}  1730

  Unlike other countries where you just look at the country and you can 
feel just the narrow culture interest that they have, there is no 
country in the world that we cannot reach and show that Americans come 
from all over. To see what investing in the education of a Ron Brown, 
or Ron Gonzalez, or Ron Lee, or the women that have been denied the 
opportunity to show, to be given the opportunity to show that they are 
Americans, this is a great country, and go abroad and find out that 
they are making friends for us, as well as creating trade.
  Mr. Speaker, I have received notices, as well as telephone calls, 
from Senator Dole and from Haley Barbor, who is the chair of the 
Republican Party, to say to me, as they have said to others, this issue 
is too big to look at party labels. It is too big to look at the color 
of American skins. It is American to be able to say that we can make 
our country a greater place, create more jobs if only we cared enough 
to train our people for these type of opportunities and to share our 
talents with so many other countries in the world.

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