[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 87 (Thursday, June 13, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H6406-H6411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CHURCH BURNINGS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May
12, 1995, the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Fields] is recognized for
the balance of the time until midnight as the designee of the minority
leader.
Mr. FIELDS of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about
the issue of church burning. Before I do, Mr. Speaker, I want to
commend the gentlewoman from North Carolina who had a resolution
tonight on the floor of this House and it passed. And I want to thank
the gentlewoman for her leadership in that area. I also want to thank
the gentleman from Oklahoma as well.
Mr. Speaker, I have been asked by the chairman of the Congressional
Black Caucus to chair an issue that we have been talking about tonight
for some time. That is the issue of church burning, burnings across the
country.
I take a moment of personal privilege to talk about these church
burnings here again tonight because in my on own State five churches
were burned.
Second, Mr. Speaker, I feel like Fannie Lou Hamer tonight. I feel
sick and tired of being sick and tired. I am tired of individuals who
have no respect for human life and no respect to buildings, burning
churches at night. I also feel sick and tired of being sick and tired
because while individuals burn churches at night, we have people who
wake up in the morning and put on black robes and burn congressional
districts in the daytime. And I think that is simply unacceptable and
unconscionable.
I am happy that the gentlewoman from Texas will be a part of this
special order tonight and the gentleman from Illinois will be a part of
this special order tonight, the gentlewoman from California as well as
the gentleman from South Carolina.
Before we talk about church burnings, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk a
little bit about the districts that were burned today in the Supreme
Court. To know that as a result of this ruling, a State like the State
of Texas, a State with a population of almost 20 percent African-
Americans, will not have the opportunity, not the guarantee but will
not have the mere opportunity to send an African-American to this
Congress is absolutely unacceptable and unconscionable. These burnings
must stop, not only the burning of churches but the burning of
congressional districts and legislative districts across this country.
In order for us to get along in this country, in order for us to move
forward in this country, we will have to learn how to be more
inclusive.
I want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas, who has represented her
constituents so well here in this body. I want to say to her in no
uncertain terms that she has done a great job. Continue to press on and
know that you must keep the faith. We are very pleased with the work
that you do.
Now, on the issue of church burnings, Mr. Speaker, the CBC, the
Congressional Black Caucus, we will first have a hearing right here in
the Nation's capital. We will have the Justice Department. We will have
ATF and all Federal agencies involved. That hearings will be headed and
led by Congressman Conyers. And we will talk, we will also have black
churches, members, ministers of black churches to talk about these
church burnings. Then we will leave this capital and we will travel
across this country in each congressional district or each State where
there has been church burnings, because we will not accept individuals
putting torches to churches.
We are going to insist that every Federal agency in this country use
every ounce of its power, every ounce of its resources, to make sure
that we find the perpetrators of these crimes and bring them to justice
and then move very swiftly to prosecute them.
I have, Mr. Speaker, a map of the entire United States of America
which
[[Page H6407]]
gives you some sense of church burnings across the country. Before I
yield to my colleagues who have joined me here tonight, I want you to
see, I want Members of the House to see how this proliferation of
church burnings is taking place all across this country.
Utah, the State of Utah, one church burning; Colorado, one church
burning; State of Arizona, one church was burned. Even the State of New
Mexico had a church burning.
Texas, the distinguished gentlewoman from the State of Texas, not
only have they burned the districts, the congressional districts in the
State of Texas, but two churches, two black churches were burned in the
State of Texas as well, which is absolutely, positively unacceptable
and we must insist that every Federal agency that has anything to do
with investigations do everything possible to find the perpetrators of
these crimes.
The State of Oklahoma, one church; even the State of Illinois, the
gentleman from Illinois who is here tonight, a church was burned in his
States. The State of Tennessee, which leads the whole Nation in terms
of church burnings, six churches were burned in the State of Tennessee;
five in the State of Louisiana; three in the State of Mississippi; five
in the State of Alabama; one in the State of Georgia; five in the State
of South Carolina, the gentleman who is here tonight, five churches
were burned, many of them were in his congressional district; three
churches in North Carolina; one in Virginia; two in Maryland; one in
the District of Columbia; one in New York; and one in Pennsylvania.
And then to know that in Oklahoma, which is the most recent church
burning, when we were debating tonight, we were debating on this floor
about church burnings, to wake up the next morning and learn that a
church was burned in the State of Oklahoma, it absolutely irks Members
of this Congress, particularly Members of the Congressional Black
Caucus.
I want to thank the Members who decided to come here tonight at the
wee hours of the night because this is an important issue. I want the
Members of this congress to know that the Congressional Black Caucus
will not sit idly by and allow individuals to burn churches and get
away with it. We are going to insist that every Federal agency that we
have under the control of this Federal Government do everything that is
humanly possible to find the perpetrators of these crimes, bring them
to justice and then prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Jackson],
who has been participating in these special orders for some time, and
also to the gentleman from South Carolina and the gentlewoman from
Texas and the gentlewoman from California as well.
{time} 2330
I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. I want to take this opportunity to thank my
distinguished friend from Louisiana, the distinguished gentleman, Cleo
Fields; and you, Mr. Speaker, for allowing us the privilege and this
opportunity to address the House during this special order.
Anyone who might have misunderstood what happened in the 1994
elections should have clearly been set straight on the 23rd of January
1995. That day, in the ornate hearing room in the House Committee on
Rules, the victorious Republicans, our colleagues on the other side of
the aisle, removed a portrait of former Representative Claude Pepper of
Florida, a renowned white, liberal Democrat, and certainly that was
understandable because the Republicans certainly have the right to
change pictures in various committee rooms to reflect their new
majority. But what tickled me about this was that the new Republican
committee chairman, Mr. Solomon of New York, distinguished colleague of
ours from New York, had ordered the Pepper portrait to be replaced by
another Democrat, the late Howard Smith of Virginia, a last-ditch
segregationist in many of his years as Committee on Rules chairman, one
of the most powerful opponents of civil rights legislation of the
sixties.
And so I am here today to really join my colleague from Louisiana, my
colleague from California, my colleague from Texas, and my colleague
from South Carolina really to say that we are sick and tired as well of
being sick and tired, sick and tired of having our churches burned at
night, sick and tired of having our districts burned during the
daytime, and what is left? Without political representation here in
this institution to protect our rights in the society beyond
Washington, with this whole motion and movement towards States rights,
we are looking at the same kind of climate that we witnessed during the
Tilden-Hayes Compromise of 1877.
I spoke not long ago at a high school to some students who at the end
of my presentation stood up and asked the question, they said,
``Representative Jackson, what's the difference between a Democrat and
a Republican?''
And I tried to say Democrats fight for jobs, they fight for
opportunity, they make room for more people, and Republicans tend to be
pro-business. But one of the young people said, ``But wait a minute.
I've heard Democrats on the floor argue on both sides of that issue.''
And so in 1877 what we really had was two parties with one
assumption. Demopublicans, they called them, and Republicrats; they
really conspired. We call it States rights, we call it more access to
resources in our communities by the States, and they began shifting
more resources to the States, and by 1896 they had stacked the Supreme
Court kind of, if you will, a Clarence Thomas court, a kind of Scalia
court, and then we got Plessy versus Ferguson. We had 22 African-
Americans in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1863 and 1896,
and after they stacked the Supreme Court, black robes, not white sheets
who burn churches, but black robes who burn districts by day; by 1901
there were zero blacks in this institution, and I believe it was our
late colleague from Illinois, Mr. DuPriest, who stood in this well and
gave a speech: We will rise again like the phoenix, we will be back.
And then it is not until the 1954 Brown versus the Board of Education
decision that allowed the principle of equal protection under the law
to be extended to the States in the form of a 1964 Civil Rights Act, a
1965 Voting Rights Act, and after three different reapportionments, the
1970 census, the 1980 census, the 1990 census. African-Americans in
this body are now finally achieving comparable numbers to those numbers
that they had at the turn of the century. And now we are looking at
Supreme Court decisions once again that are consistent with Plessy
versus Ferguson, and it is really unfortunate in 1996 that Mr. Thomas
is leading the voting rights cabal.
I also rise this evening to stand with my colleagues and to join the
gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] and the gentleman from
the other side of the aisle, Mr. Watts, in support of their resolution
to condemn not only these church burnings, but also to demand that our
Federal Government put the kind of resources behind this investigation
that is necessary. Mr. Deval Patrick, the assistant attorney general
for civil rights, along with the Attorney General of the United States,
Miss Janet Reno, have indicated to us on more than one occasion that
this is the largest civil rights investigation of its kind, and we are
just so grateful to have Representatives in this body who can fight and
encourage the Justice Department to put those kind of resources behind
these kinds of acts of violence, and it is only because we are here
that we can really fight for this right.
And so I would hope, and I have indicated this on another occasion as
I prepared to yield time to the gentlewoman from Texas, that in 1996 we
have an opportunity in this House, knowing that race and churches are
being burned and opportunities are being burned, we have an opportunity
in this House not to be demagogic in 1996. There is no need for us to
vote on affirmative action in this House in this climate; it only means
that more churches will burn. We should put it in the 105th Congress.
There are other racially sensitive issues in this political climate
that should not be considered in this political climate, and I would
urge those in the majority to consider the climate and the times that
we are living in and move these votes into the next Congress and give
us the opportunity and the Nation the opportunity to have an election
that will be free of race and race insensitivity.
[[Page H6408]]
And with that, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas.
She had a very tough and a very long day. She is one of the most
outspoken Members in the House of Representatives. We can count on her
to fight for women's rights, we can count on her to fight for the
rights of locked-out and disenfranchised people in our country, and it
is just unfortunate that a woman of her calibre and her stature who has
represented not only African-Americans--people see us, they see
African-American, but my district is 65 percent African-American, 35
percent white and Latinos and others live in my district. I am not just
a black Representative or a black Congressman. I represent probably one
of the most diverse districts in this country. I do not know an
African-American in here who represents 99 percent African-Americans.
Our districts are diverse, and so she represents her district and has
served this institution with great honor, and today the Supreme Court
of the United States rules against the calibre and the quality of
leadership that she represents.
With that, I now yield time to the distinguished lady from Texas [Ms.
Jackson-Lee].
Mr. FIELDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the lady.
I think the gentleman is absolutely right. The gentlewoman represents
a very diverse district, and, as I stated earlier, we appreciate her
leadership, and I think citizens not only in her congressional district
but citizens all across her State and citizens all across this country
appreciate her leadership, and this time I yield to the gentlewoman
from Texas.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE. The esteemed gentleman from Louisiana is
appreciated, along with my respect for my colleagues who are here on
the floor of the House, the gentleman from South Carolina in his
leadership over the years in fighting for the rights of South
Carolinians, the gentlewoman and her leadership from California, as I
have spoken to her frequently on her concern about education, and the
gentleman from Illinois who has reached out to the younger voter and
demanded of that younger voter that they be part of this process called
America.
The gentleman from Louisiana has had a longstanding friendship with
young people, but more importantly I have admired his refusal to, even
though tired and maybe sick and tired, never to be broken, and I
appreciate your leadership on this special order. You are right to
thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina and the gentleman from
Oklahoma for their wisdom and vision earlier this evening to begin to
set the tone for the American public on this whole issue of the burning
of houses of worship.
As I heard for the first time this morning the rendering of the
Supreme Court decision, it did not fall to my lot to immediately begin
to think about what Sheila Jackson-Lee or any congressperson would do
in this circumstance. But I began to think of those individuals in my
district who yet have not reached or have not achieved the opportunity
of even traveling outside of the 18th congressional district, citizens
in my district who have lived their entire life within the context of
the historic 18th Congressional District, individuals who are proud,
who believe in America, who have sent young men and women off to war
but yet live in housing of substandard quality, individuals who are
still struggling to get the kind of education to see opportunities for
their children, individuals who, if they missed one day of school lunch
or school breakfast, their children, of occurs, would suffer the
consequences and the pain of hunger; individuals who give their small
donations to their beloved churches and pastors, they give their very
best. And to be able to have to go home this weekend to speak to these
individuals, to be able to say to them that today on June 13, 1996,
they were declared less than an American by the U.S. Supreme Court,
individuals who heretofore had paid poll tax or had their ancestors or
grandparents or parents tell them how difficult it was first to achieve
the right to vote in the State of Texas and now having spent just a few
short years.
That is what America needs to understand, that these districts have
only come into existence a mere three decades or less. Individuals who
are in my district may be voting now consistently only for less than 30
years because of the obstacles that have been placed before them to
vote even in the smallest election in the State of Texas, and then to
have to go home to these individuals and to clear away the confusion
for, they will be asking: Are we no longer part of America? Has the
district been declared un-American? The chilling effect will be far
reaching.
Young people who are just coming out of high school who I had the
opportunity to speak before in the recent graduations in my district,
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, if you will, ready for the next day,
looking for career opportunities, believing in America; now they must
try to understand, are we truly second-class citizens in this country?
The criteria used by the Supreme Court today was truly a burning of the
Constitution. I would simply ask:
When does a configuration, a drawing, become a higher ideal than the
opportunity for people to choose an individual of their choice to
represent them in the U.S. Congress? When is it a sin and when is it
illegal to take into consideration the diverse concept of race as it is
with community of interests so that majority minority districts have
now been categorized and labeled as a derogatory concept in the
American political system? What does that say to an emerging population
who have yet not taken their rightful place in the political arena; a
Congress of 435 individuals with a mere 30-plus African-American
Representatives, a number that has grown only since the 1990 census and
the 1992 elections?
And so it is important, Mr. Fields, that we convene this special
order. It is not for any selfish motives of those of us who come to the
floor of the House, for I am grateful for the very small opportunities
that I have had, but it is for the future of this Nation to recognize
that the systematic destruction and undermining of the spirit of those
who would cling to democracy is a destruction of this Nation's future.
These opinions have continued to chip away at those who have tried to
speak peace and equality and inclusion.
And as I bring my remarks to a close, let me say that I am gratified
for the words that were said tonight with respect to this blight on
America, this blaze on the Constitution, the burning of churches or
houses of worship.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have indicated that they
will rise up with millions of dollars for the ATF, the Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms agency.
In the Committee on the Judiciary, under the leadership of ranking
member Conyers and Chairman Hyde, we have brought out a piece of
legislation that I have cosponsored to make the prosecution of these
individuals more swift and effective.
But the real key has to be that we must catch these individuals and
show America that we are serious, and then at the same time as we catch
these individuals we must, in fact, begin to understand that we should
not hide away from the racial anger and tones that have been set by the
climate of political rhetoric in this Nation, and I hope that we all
will commit to drawing down our words, stopping the polarization, and
in order to do that let me say to you in closing that I am gratified
that both Congresswoman Clayton and Congressman Watts accepted my
amendment that calls for, this week, calls for this Nation this week to
adopt a week of prayer from June 16 to June 23, gathering in our
respective houses of worship to speak not only against burning, but
against the anger and the rancorous talk and the castigating of those
of us who have come first as slaves in this Nation.
We must break the shackles of racism in this Nation. I call upon my
brothers and sisters of Hispanics and Anglos and African-Americans and
Asians and men and women in all parts of this community, Jewish people
and gentiles, to respect the need to embrace each other.
{time} 2345
I hope as we proceed this evening that our Supreme Court will be able
to reconsider itself, and recognizing it as the highest body in the
land, I respect its privilege, but I would simply hope that they would
call upon the spirit of the Honorable Justice Thurgood Marshall who
came to that court as a victor and a soldier and a general in the
[[Page H6409]]
war of civil rights, and he carried the message forward that in fact we
all are created equal. If we take that claim, we will stop the burning
of the districts and we will stop the burning of the houses of worship,
and we will rise as Americans together, and we will not be singing that
song, ``We Shall Overcome,'' but we will sing the song, ``We Have
Overcome.''
I hope this special order will be in tribute to the gentleman from
Louisiana [Mr. Fields] that Americans will listen and rise up to
support freedom. I yield back to the gentleman from Louisiana.
Mr. FIELDS of Louisiana. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
Now I would like to recognize the gentlewoman from California [Ms.
Millender-McDonald]. Before I do, I would like to say that in our
discussions on this task force on church burnings across the country,
particularly in the southern part of our country, the gentlewoman from
California, who by the way, is new to this body, made it very clear
that we should have hearings, we should talk to ministers, we should
talk to community people, people in the community about their feelings,
and also make sure that there is a relationship merged between the
investigators, the Federal agencies, and these ministers and these
parishioners of these churches. I just want to thank the gentlewoman
for her leadership because as a result, there was a meeting at 8 a.m.
this morning in the office of the gentleman from Michigan [Mr.
Conyers], and as a result of that meeting, the ranking member of the
Committee on the Judiciary decided to start his hearings right here in
Washington, DC. Because of her leadership, we will be traveling all
across the country as a caucus, Members of the Congressional Black
Caucus, in each of these several States holding hearings on church
burnings.
At this time I would like to yield to the distinguished gentlewoman.
Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Louisiana. It is really fitting and absolutely great for me to see two
young African-American men who are role models who are here tonight at
this hour to talk about the rash of church burnings in this Nation.
Then to hear the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee], who speaks
so eloquently on this floor, who has to now go back and try to see what
she can do with the recent decisions that have been brought down on her
by the Supreme Court.
I would like to thank also the Speaker for allowing us tonight to
come and speak about the rash of church burnings. Mr. Speaker, this
issue is very important to me, as it should be to all Americans.
However, I have a special concern about the rash of church burnings
that is taking place across the South and other areas as I have lived
through a similar period.
During the 1950's I was the child of an active Baptist minister in
Alabama.
Given my father's status and the respect he had earned, especially
among the African-American community, we lived in fear every night of
the bombings and the arson that was rampant at the time. The young
women who were killed in the church bombings in 1962 were neighbors and
friends of our family.
Mr. Speaker, I can personally attest to the fact that these burnings,
both in the 1950's as well as the ones with which we are currently
faced, are acts of terrorism.
Furthermore, the U.S. Government, which spends billions of dollars
each year investigating and attempting to abate terrorism here and
abroad, should do all it can to stop this terrorism that is currently
invading the souls of our community.
As we are all aware, Mr. Speaker, terrorism such as these church
burnings is the insidious act of cowards; people who are too afraid to
air their hatreds or fears in public lest they meet others who may be
able to talk some sense into them during a debate.
Yet in order to really understand these random acts of violence and
hatred, we should perhaps look at the culture by which they are being
perpetuated.
The burning of African-American churches is but one manifestation of
the fear, the hatred, and the divisiveness that is becoming more and
more prevalent in our society.
Mr. Speaker, we see this divisiveness in ballot initiatives, we hear
it in stump speeches by some politicians, and we witness it even in
some of the legislation that is coming before us.
Moore and more, people are blaming minorities, immigrants, and women
for their woes or their fears.
In my home State of California, we will have a ballot initiative in
November on Whether or not to do away with all affirmative actions
programs. This initiative follows closely on the heels of the Governor
of my fair State asking the regents of the University of California to
abolish all affirmative action administration programs.
While these actions, Mr. Speaker, as well as legislation that has
been introduced here and in other bodies to eliminate affirmative
action programs are not terrorism on the same level as the church
burnings, they are born from the same fears and divisiveness.
What we, as national leaders, Mr. Speaker, should do is try to pursue
a rational debate to try to solve the problems that face all Americans,
regardless of their color, their age, their gender, or their religious
affiliation.
We, the political leaders of our Nation, should not try to use the
fears of the population to promote ourselves or our agendas. In doing
this, we are only creating an environment in which hatred and anxieties
are driven to extreme measures, such as those we are witnessing in the
South and other places.
So, Mr. Speaker, I urge all Americans to join us in speaking out
against the current rash of church burnings and to alert the
perpetrators that this is not how civilized people conduct themselves.
I also urge Americans, and especially the politicians, to pause
before they speak words of divisiveness. Rather than playing on and
driving the fears of some citizens, I would hope that we could begin to
work together for the resolves that will help all Americans build a
better nation and indeed a better world.
Mr. FIELDS of Louisiana. I thank the gentlewoman. There are
individuals in this country who are trying to turn back the hands of
time, trying to make 1996 look like 1896, but we are not going back. We
have come too far now. We have come to a threshold of freedom, and we
have reached the periphery of liberation and we have seen the ambition
of liberty. We are not going back.
There are those who try to burn opportunities by burning affirmative
action. Some try to burn political inclusion by burning congressional
districts, and some even try to burn our spirits by burning churches.
But we are not going back.
At this time I would like to yield to the gentleman who has probably
the most experience in the civil rights movement of all of us here
tonight, the senior Congressman from the great State of South Carolina,
who I have a great deal of respect for.
I want to say to the gentleman, I have never been confronted with a
door that said colored or white only. I have never had to sit in the
back of a bus. I am benefiting from fruits of a tree that I did not
plant, I did not nourish, and I did not even shape. I am here today
because of people like the gentleman from South Carolina who stood in
those many lines and who marched the many highways. And I just want to
say thanks to the gentleman, and I know I speak for the gentleman from
Illinois as well.
{time} 2355
We are here today because of the sweat and tears of your work and we
want to thank you. I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina.
Mr. CLYBURN. I thank the gentleman very much, my good friend Mr.
Fields from Louisiana. Thank you, first of all, for your kind words. I
am pleased to hear them and I hope that I continue to earn them.
Second, let me thank the gentleman for organizing this special order.
I think that your work chairing the Task Force on Church Burnings for
the Congressional Black Caucus is work that is to be commended and I
thank you so much for brining us all here this evening. I am pleased to
join with my colleagues in this special order.
Let me begin my comments by first of all congratulating the people of
South Carolina, Williamsburg County, Greeleyville.
As you may recall, this past Tuesday evening, I traveled to South
Carolina
[[Page H6410]]
where on Wednesday morning I went with President Clinton to visit the
Greeleyville community, the community that suffered a church burning on
June 20 of last year. On Wednesday, we met at the site of a new church.
On this coming Saturday, 360 days after their church was burned to the
ground, the people of Greeleyville, the members of Mount Zion AME
Church, their pastor, Reverend Terrence Mackey, will all gather at the
site of the old church and they will march one mile to the new church.
I think that the people of that community, black and white, have
demonstrated to all of us what can be done and what should be done in
responding to these kinds of vitriolic actions.
I am very pleased with their demonstration of cooperation. Earlier
this evening I heard one of our colleagues talk about the difficulty
that a community is having rebuilding a church that was burned. I
thought as he spoke of the people in this little town in the poorest
county in South Carolina, how they all banded together, irrespective of
skin color, irrespective of hair texture, and they all came together to
make sure that they demonstrate to the rest of the world how we ought
to conduct ourselves.
Mr. Speaker, I know that the time is late and I think my time is
running out, but I want to say one thing in order to make my point.
Many of you may recall that Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 issued a
letter from the Birmingham City Jail, a letter that spoke to the
question of time and the neutrality of time. King admonished us in that
letter that we are going to be called to repent in this generation not
just for the vitriolic words and actions of bad people but for the
appalling silence of good people.
I want to say to all the Members of the body and the people of our
great Nation that these vitriolic actions may be bad but it is just as
bad for us to remain silent.
So I want all of us to speak up and speak out and make sure that we
do so in such a way that the people who perpetrate these vitriolic acts
will be driven back under the rocks from which they came and hopefully
we, the good people of our Nation, can march forward together.
I thank the gentleman so much for letting me be a part of this
special order.
Mr. FIELDS of Louisiana. I thank the gentleman.
In closing, I would just like to say to the gentleman that I am happy
and pleased that this Congress, and the American people should know
that this Congress stands in unison, we stand together tonight, both
Democrats and Republicans, blacks, whites, young, old, men and women.
We will not tolerate the burning of any churches. We are going to
appropriate the necessary resources to the agencies that are conducting
investigations and we will find the perpetrators of these crimes and
they will be brought to justice.
To end this special order, I yield to the distinguished gentleman
from Illinois. Before I do, I want to leave on this note. I often talk
about what we have in common.
I will never forget when I graduated from high school my mother said,
``What's the universal language?'' I said, ``It's English, Mom.'' And
she said, ``No, it's not.''
She said, ``If you cry, can you cry in English?'' I said, no.
She said, ``If you're in Spain can you cry in Spanish? If you're in
France can you cry in French?'' She said, ``No, you cry in pain.''
There is a lot of crying taking place tonight. I do not care if you
are black or white, young or old, male or female, we all cry the same.
I would hope we would work together to end that cry.
I yield to close to the gentleman from Illinois.
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Let me say that I think the gentleman from
Louisiana's words were most appropriate and fitting to close this
special order.
[National Rainbow Coalition, June 13, 1996]
``Burning Churches, Burning Opportunity'' Jackson Attacks Supreme Court
Decision
Washington, D.C.--The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson attacked
today's Supreme Court decision which struck down majority-
minority districts in North Carolina and Texas.
``At night, the enemies of civil rights strike in white
sheets, burning churches,'' Jackson said. ``By day, they
strike in black robes, burning opportunities.''
``1996 is looking more like 1896 every day,'' Jackson
continued. ``Churches are burned, all across the South. The
gains of the Second Reconstruction won by Dr. King are being
rolled back, just like Jim Crow rolled back the gains of the
First Reconstruction. The Supreme Court in 1896 ruled on
Plessy vs. Ferguson, with its idea of `separate but equal.'
The Supreme Court now puts out ruling after ruling under the
pretense that after four centuries of slavery and apartheid,
that a white population which makes up 85% of the electorate,
and an African American electorate which makes up only about
10%, operate on an equal playing field.''
Jackson noted with approval the words of Justice Stevens,
who wrote: ``A majority's attempt to enable the minority to
participate more effectively in the process of democratic
government should not be viewed with the same hostility that
is appropriate for oppressive and exclusionary abuses of
political powers.''
Jackson also commented on those who voted in the majority:
``On the side of those voting to end the Second
Reconstruction, we find Chief Justice Rehnquist, who first
came to public notice as he attempted to intimidate minority
voters from going to the polls.
``Second, we find Sandra Day O'Conner, an affirmative
action justice, who is only on the court because the civil
rights movement and the women's movement forced America to
widen the pool of those `qualified' to serve in our nation's
highest positions--despite that, she votes to end the most
effective electoral remedy we have yet found to diversify the
make-up of our legislatures.
``And third, of course, we find Justice Clarence Thomas,
who is on the Supreme Court only because he is Black--no
white justice with his limited legal experience would ever
have been considered for that position--and yet he turns his
back on the same movement and remedies that allowed him to
rise.
``Clarence Thomas is a memorial to George Bush's racial
cynicism, and he has imposed upon us blow after blow more
devastating than anything George Wallace was able to deliver.
Jackson concluded: ``It is humiliating and painful to watch
a prime beneficiary of Martin's movement stick the dagger in
the heart of Dr. King's dream.
``Districts have historically been drawn based on
incumbency, political parties, geographical boundaries, and
industry. Racial factors were added after judges found, years
after Selma, proof of patterns of racial discrimination.
Therefore, they ordered the redrawing of boundaries for
`racial inclusion,' rather than `racial exclusion.' These
judges chose to be `race-affirmative,' to offset centuries of
`race-negativity.'
``The result after the 1992 elections was the most
representative U.S. Congress, and the most representative
state legislatures, in the history of this nation. This is
the context in which the Supreme Court today has acted to
wound Dr. King's dream.
``America is moving towards the end of this century with
the same tragic music with which Plessy v. Ferguson ended the
last century. And the saddest notes of all are being played
by one of the civil rights movement's prime beneficiaries--
Clarence Thomas.
Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to join in this special order
on the recent rash of arson attacks on African-American churches
throughout the South.
It causes me great pain that such a special order is necessary today,
40 years after Brown v. Board of Education and 30 years after the civil
rights breakthroughs of the 1960's. I think that we all had believed
that we were past the shameful period of our Nation's history when
racist hate groups bombed and burned African-American churches in order
to frighten African-American communities into submission.
I don't know whether these fires were primarily the product of some
misguided individual or some fringe hate group--or whether they
represent the uncoordinated acts of a number of people who have focused
their hatred and frustration on these churches. We will have to wait
for the results of the ongoing investigations to find that out. But I
do know that--whatever the reason--such acts are unacceptable. They are
unconscionable.
Few crimes are as abhorrent as an attack on a church. A church is a
place to worship God. It is the heart of the moral and emotional life
of any community. An attack on a church is a clear statement of
hostility toward an entire community. In a country like ours that
places a very high value on freedom of association, freedom of
religion, and our Nation's diverse ethnic background, it should also be
interpreted as an attack on the ideals and principles of our society.
One such case would be too many. But a single case could be
understood as the isolated action of some sick individual.
Unfortunately, the number of such crimes has grown so great that I
think we can reasonably conclude that these arson attacks are racially
motivated and, to some undetermined extent, organized. Clearly,
African-American churches have been targeted because they represent the
moral and emotional center of these communities. These attacks are
clearly hate crimes directed at African-Americans. These crimes make
clear that our Nation's painful struggle over race relations is far
from over. Moreover, the sheer number of attacks suggests some kind
of conspiracy, as well as a number of copycat free agents.
[[Page H6411]]
At times like these, it is important that Americans spontaneously
rise up and unequivocally condemn these attacks, and that our
government take every possible action to identify, apprehend, and
punish the perpetrators. We must make it unmistakably clear that our
society will not condone, tolerate, or ignore crimes of hate. We must
make it clear that an attack on any member of our society is an attack
on us all. We must make it clear that ours is a nation based on
tolerance, diversity, and compassion--not violence, prejudice, and
hate.
As a result of our racially troubled past and the sad, lingering
legacy of slavery and Jim Crow laws, white Americans have a special
responsibility at times like these to reach out to our African-American
brothers and sisters to let them know that we do not share the racial
hatred that appears to have motivated these attacks. We have a
responsibility to let them know that we share their pain and anger, and
that we want to work with them to heal the wounds created by these
reprehensible attacks.
Sadly, it is clear that our society is still torn over the issue of
race. I believe, however, that we have the potential to grow and
mature. Change can be difficult, and it often takes time. But I believe
that the day is not that far off when this society will fulfill the
ideals of equality, freedom, and harmony to which it has always
aspired.
I believe that we should attempt to turn this tragedy into
opportunity--an opportunity to address the tensions that still linger
below the surface in the daily interactions between Americans of
different races, religions, and ethnic groups. As a first step, let us
rise up as one people to condemn these intolerable attacks. Second, let
us make certain that the Federal Government makes every effort possible
to get to the bottom of these crimes. And finally, let us engage in a
national dialogue to expose and extinguish the misunderstanding and
fear that motivate such hateful acts.
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