[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H11568-H11571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CARL B. STOKES UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for the immediate
consideration in the House of the bill (H.R. 4133) to designate the
United States courthouse to be constructed at the corner of Superior
and Huron Roads, in Cleveland, Ohio, as the ``Carl B. Stokes United
States Courthouse.''
[[Page H11569]]
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Maryland?
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I yield to
the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest], the distinguished chairman
of the subcommittee, to explain the bill.
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4133 is a bill which would designate the United
States Courthouse in Cleveland, Ohio as the Carl B. Stokes United
States Courthouse.
In 1962, Carl Stokes began a life devoted to public service upon his
election to the Ohio General Assembly. Five years later, Carl Stokes
broke new ground when he won Cleveland's mayoral race becoming the
first African-American to be elected the mayor of a major city.
Deciding not to seek reelection in 1971, Carl Stokes entered the
field of journalism with WNBC-TV in New York City. For his work at
WNBC, he received an Emmy Award.
In 1983, Carl Stokes returned to Cleveland where he won election to
Cleveland's municipal court. Within weeks, he was elected both
presiding and administrative judge.
After serving on the bench for 10 years, Carl Stokes assumed the
position of chief statesman when in 1994 President Clinton appointed
him the Ambassador to the African Island Republic of Seychelles. In
this position, he advised emerging African nations on the establishment
of a democratic form of government and lobbied the administration in
support of the African Continent.
Carl Stokes passed away on April 3, 1996. This is a fitting tribute
to a man who dedicate so much of his life to public service. I support
this bill and urge my colleague's support.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I
yield to the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar], the distinguished
ranking member.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I
thank the chairman of the subcommittee for considering this legislation
and bringing it so expeditiously to the floor, and to the gentleman
from Ohio for supporting the legislation for a fellow Ohioan.
Carl Stokes is more than a fellow Ohioan. He is more than an American
citizen. He was a pioneer in his time, one of the very first handful of
African-Americans to be elected mayor, and mayor of a large city. At
the time I think there were only four.
As I recall, Mayor Hatcher was elected the same day, received
somewhat greater public attention than did Carl Stokes, but Mayor
Stokes came in at a time when Cleveland was experiencing severe
economic difficulties, racial strife, social unrest, and he brought
calm and restored economic progress and focus in the community, brought
a great leadership quality to his service as mayor.
Following his leadership, more than 350 African-Americans are now
mayors of American cities. He led the way. He showed them that it could
be done.
He was a journalist, a political commentator, a television anchorman
and Emmy Award winner, a devoted family man. I had the privilege of
meeting him but once. That once, the hour I spent with him and a group
of other mayors, was enough to make a lasting impression of a person
really dedicated to community service, to his fellow human beings, and
to the vision of a greater city, the city being the crossroads of
civilization, and he made his City of Cleveland that very crossroads
and launched the city on a great comeback.
{time} 1900
It is very fitting that we designate the Carl B. Stokes United States
Courthouse. We do his memory great justice and honor, and we expect
that those who enter that courthouse will live up to that memory.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, further reserving my right to object, I
yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr.
LaTourette], an outstanding new Member.
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio, Mr.
Traficant, for yielding me this time, and I want to also thank the
gentleman from Maryland, Chairman Gilchrest, for moving this
legislation so that we can complete it before we complete our work here
in this session of Congress.
Mr. Speaker, in April of this year Ambassador Carl B. Stokes died of
cancer. Those of us in Washington may know Carl Stokes because he was
the younger brother of one of our colleagues, U.S. Representative Louis
R. Stokes. For many other Americans, however, Carl B. Stokes was a
trailblazer who became the first black mayor of a major metropolitan
U.S. city and paved the way for so many other African-Americans to seek
public office.
Carl B. Stokes grew up in the ghetto in Cleveland, but never let his
surroundings hold him back. In fact,he made it his life's devotion to
make a difference in the lives of others and to help others aspire to
the greatness lurking within them. In 1962, Carl B. Stokes became the
first black Democrat to be elected to the Ohio House of
Representatives, winning a seat in Cuyahoga County, which at that time
was only 14 percent black. Three years later, he made a bid for mayor
of his hometown, Cleveland. He ran as an independent in the 1965 race
and narrowly lost to the Democratic incumbent. The loss would have
deterred many, but it served as motivation to Carl B. Stokes.
In 1967, Carl B. Stokes returned to the fray and beat the city's
mayor in the Democratic primary by 20,000 votes. Carl B. Stokes, who
was raised by a single, widowed mother in one of the country's first
public housing complexes for the poor, then faced a member of one of
Ohio's and this country's most notable political families--the Tafts.
That November, Carl B. Stokes, the great-grandson of a slave, defeated
Seth Taft, the grandson of President William Howard Taft.
At that time, less than 40 percent of Cleveland's population was
black. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said of this historic election,
``Once again American voters have successfully hurdled the barrier of
race.'' Meanwhile, at his election-night victory party, Carl B. Stokes
said until that very moment he had never known the full meaning of the
words ``God Bless America.''
Carl B. Stokes served two terms as mayor of Cleveland, and became the
first black to head the National League of Cities in his second term.
He left Cleveland to face other challenges, and wound up in New York
City, where he became that city's first black television anchorman.
Carl B. Stokes returned to his hometown in the 1980's, and later was
elected a Cleveland Municipal Court Judge, serving from 1983 to 1994.
In 1994, President Clinton appointed Carl B. Stokes as ambassador of
the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. He served in that post
until a year ago June when he was diagnosed with cancer of the
esophagus.
At his funeral, Carl B. Stokes was remembered with great fondness and
admiration. The Reverend Jesse Jackson delivered the eulogy, calling
Carl B. Stokes a ``dream maker, an odds buster,'' and noting that he
never internalized ``ghetto limitations.'' President Clinton,
meanwhile, praised Carl B. Stokes' ``legacy of public service that
continues to inspire us all.''
Of course, few were able to capture the essence of magic of Carl B.
Stokes more than his brother, Lou, who described his brother's life
this way:
A life that has been a series of firsts for African-
Americans. A life that opened up doors and opportunities and
raised the aspirations of African-Americans everywhere. He
wrote a different American story. He wrote the poor American
black boy's story. He didn't rise from rags to riches. He
went from poverty to power. And he used that power to help
people.
In Cleveland, OH, Carl B. Stokes is revered. Cleveland will never
forget his contributions as Mayor Stokes, Judge Stokes, and Ambassador
Stokes. He served his city and his country with dignity and purpose. It
is now left up to his very capable brother, Lou, to continue the
Stokes' family legacy of service to others.
It is only fitting that an important piece of the Cleveland
architectural and political landscape be memorialized in his name. It
is for that reason that I have proposed naming the new
[[Page H11570]]
Federal courthouse at Huron and Superior roads in Cleveland the ``Carl
B. Stokes United States Courthouse.''
Carl B. Stokes was a true visionary and one of Cleveland's most
remarkable sons. He forever changed the face of urban governing, and
left an indelible mark on his hometown and his country. Carl B. Stokes
honored his city, and it is appropriate that his city honor him in
return, making permanent his legacy in the ``Carl B. Stokes United
States Courthouse.''
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, further reserving my right to object, I
yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur], one of Ohio's
brightest stars.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time, and I wish to join my colleagues in strong support of this
measure designating the Carl B. Stokes Courthouse in the great city of
Cleveland.
As a young girl growing up in Ohio, it was rather interesting to me
to first learn of Carl Stokes through television from a city 2\1/2\
hours east of Toledo, and to frame a lot of my own views of America
through what we learned from him.
Without a doubt, his successes as an elected official helped shape
the views not just of the Buckeyes of Ohio but, in fact, of all of
America because what he did was, in fact, so precedent setting.
Looking back, for this generation of Americans now growing up, on his
life, it may seem all so simple and it may seem as if all the pieces
just fit into place. But having watched those times and lived through
those times, his ability to retain composure under enormous pressures
from those who probably did not understand what he was trying to
accomplish, and trying to maintain a demeanor that would continue to
build bridges across differences and points of view, and then looking
at where he went with what he had makes him such a renaissance man to
me.
It is interesting to me not just where he went but where he came
from. I know in this Chamber joining us tonight is his very
distinguished brother, also of Cleveland, Congressman Lou Stokes. I
remember once going on a trip with Lou through Cleveland where he
showed us where they grew up. To see that and then to understand the
family, two brothers, a very devoted mother, understanding where they
came form and how far they have gone and how they have influenced the
mindset of a Nation is truly, truly profound.
So in helping to honor the mother and the family and certainly Carl
Stokes in the naming of this courthouse, I lend my support to this
measure to a man who was not just a mayor and not just a judge and not
just an attorney's attorney, and not just an ambassador, but a true
leader for us all.
Those of us from the Buckeye State are very, very proud of Carl B.
Stokes, very proud of the Stokes family and how they helped lead
America into a new day.
I thank the gentleman very much for yielding me the time and again
lend my strong support to this very necessary measure.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, further reserving my right to object, I
yield to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Brown], another fine young
legislator.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio and
add my support for naming the Cleveland courthouse after my friend Carl
Stokes.
When I was, I believe, a teenager either in high school or perhaps
college, I read ``Promises of Power,'' the story of Carl Stokes and how
he overcame adversity and made so much of himself. He was elected to
the State legislature and then moved on to become mayor of one of the
great cities of this country.
I never had the honor of knowing Carl Stokes when he was mayor. I got
to know Carl Stokes after he became a judge and knew him obviously as
Judge Stokes and saw the great kind of public service that he gave to
northeast Ohio, to his city of Cleveland.
Carl was elected mayor before his older brother, Lou, I believe, ever
ran for anything. One of the highlights of this year for me was
actually going to Carl Stokes' funeral, which was not a mournful time;
it was a time of celebration in a lot of ways.
I remember that Lou, and older brother, stood up at Carl's funeral
and he said, and for those who knew Carl Stokes and those who know Lou,
they know that Carl was very outgoing and very colorful and very
outspoken and sometimes got a little carried away, and Lou is much more
reserved. Lou is every bit as smart, but much more reserved and much
quieter and lends his leadership in a different sort of way. I remember
the highlight of the funeral probably was when Lou stood at the podium,
and he looked up and he said Carl never really understood what it was
like to be a younger brother.
Again, one had to know both Lou and Carl to understand that. But
while Carl was great in his way, of the kind of charismatic leadership
that the time demanded, it was Carl, the younger brother, who always
looked to Lou, the older brother, I think in quieter times. I do not
think Carl would ever have admitted that in public, but the leadership
they have both shown and given to this country is remarkable.
I am pleased to lend my name and support to this resolution and to
honor Carl Stokes for the work he did for Cleveland and the work he did
nationally for this country and for our communities.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, further reserving my right to object, I
yield to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Sawyer], a distinguished leader
from our State.
(Mr. SAWYER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. SAWYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise with enormous gratitude to all of our
colleagues who have made it possible for this resolution to come before
us this evening.
There are certain people that a person comes across in their life who
not only effect change in the era in which they live and work but have
touched other people's lives in such a way that their work lives on
long after them. Carl Stokes is precisely such a man.
In the middle of the 1960's, during a time of tension and some
discord in America's cities, Carl Stokes came to a kind of leadership
that not only was a matter of managing a city, of helping to give
direction at a time of disruption but, more than that, gave hope to an
entire generation of young emerging adults.
Nearly 30 years ago I was teaching in a school not far from where Lou
and Carl Stokes grew up. My 7th, 8th, and 9th graders came to school
prepared to learn. Central Junior High School at that time was a place
known as the Harvard of the east side. It was a place where kids had
parental support or grandparental support. But whatever they did, they
knew their parents expected them to learn.
As difficult as the situation may have been, it was an extraordinary
opportunity both to teach, for me, and for them to learn, and perhaps
for me to learn as well. The fact is that Carl Stokes stood as a model
to an entire generation whose example gave them hope, inspiration and
expectation that they could succeed in ways that their predecessors
never had.
That kind of ability to effect leadership stretches far beyond the
business of balancing budgets or producing a police force or making
sure the fire is kept put out or paving the streets and the sidewalks.
It really is a matter of leadership. Carl Stokes was precisely such a
man.
And 25, perhaps not 25, 15 years later, when I was running for mayor
of my city, Carl Stokes appeared at a dinner at which he was a guest,
not a speaker at all. He noticed me from the audience and asked me to
stand and held out a standard of what it means to be a mayor that can
only be offered by someone who has walked the walk and lived the
challenge that that entails.
That is what Carl Stokes was at every point in his life, a man who
confronted the difficult and provided real opportunity and hope for
others.
Far more than those several thousand kids that I taught during the
time when I was at Central, he moved an entire generation. The work
they do not only today in Cleveland, OH, but as they have moved
throughout the Nation, is in some way affected by the quality of
leadership that he gave. That is the kind of life that lives on in
those who he has touched, far more in number than he ever knew but far
more lasting than most of us can ever hope for.
In that sense what we do here today in recognizing him through the
naming
[[Page H11571]]
of this courthouse really represents an opportunity to have that story
told over and over again to people for whom it will continue to have
meaning for generations to come.
I thank the gentleman for this opportunity.
{time} 1915
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I
yield to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Lou Stokes, one of America's
great legislators and leaders, the dean of the Ohio delegation we are
so proud of and the brother of Carl Stokes.
Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished friend and
colleague, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant], for yielding to me.
I will just take a moment or two.
First, I want to thank Mr. Gilchrest, the chairman of the committee,
for bringing this resolution to the floor naming the new Federal
building in Cleveland after my late brother Ambassador Carl B. Stokes.
Second, I want to thank Mr. Traficant, the ranking member of the
committee, for his actions in making this resolution possible today and
for the actions that he has taken to bring it forth to the floor.
I also want to thank my good friend and colleague from Cleveland, OH,
Mr. LaTourette, the sponsor of this legislation, and all of those who
joined as cosponsors of the legislation, along with all of my
colleagues who have taken time out of their busy schedules to eulogize
my brother in the very elegant and eloquent manner in which he has been
eulogized from this floor today.
I shall not endeavor in any respect to add to those eulogies. I think
that the individuals who have spoken here today have certainly been far
more eloquent than I. Suffice it to say that I want to express to each
and every one of you my personal and heartfelt appreciation and for the
honor that you have given not only the memory and legacy of my brother
Carl but also the honor you pay the Stokes family and what we have
tried to represent in terms of our careers.
Carl and I were both fortunate enough to have a mother who believed
fervently in this country, and though she was a woman who was relegated
to poverty and who herself only had an 8th grade education, she had
great faith in this country and she had great faith that given an
education, her two boys could become whoever they wanted to be in this
country. Of course, in her wildest dreams she never anticipated that
either one of us would do more than acquire the dream she had, and that
dream was that we would both acquire high school diplomas.
That was her dream. She knew she could never send these two boys to
college because of her poverty-stricken condition, a mother who was a
domestic worker, one who was also on welfare. But she thought if she
could just get that diploma, that these two boys could be somebody.
Those were the words she preached to us all the time: Be somebody, get
an education, get something in your head so you do not have to work
with your hands the way I worked with my hands all of my life.
Carl, who was a dropout from high school, later came out of the
service and saw that I had gone to college and he, too, followed me
then to take advantage of the GI bill. Of course the rest is history.
Carl loved this country. He loved the opportunity that he was given in
this country, in spite of circumstances of birth, to become the
outstanding person that he was in his lifetime. So I thank you for
recognizing his contributions during the course of his life and express
my heartfelt appreciation to all of you for the honors you have paid
the Stokes family.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, continuing my reservation of objection,
being from Youngstown, OH, some 65 miles away, I remember that race for
mayor. I believe that mayor's race is one of the most significant
political events in our Nation's history.
People in Youngstown, OH went to Cleveland and helped to campaign,
not just black people, white people as well. The Stokes family has been
known for fairness. Color has never had anything to do with it. I once
was on trail for my life, literally, and I was acquitted. I got a
little note in the mail from Carl Stokes. He said, ``Congratulations.
Go to law school.'' That is all he said.
It was evident that he was not only a good politician but he followed
current events and he became one of the strongest political forces in
Ohio history, perhaps only surpassed by his very humble brother here.
But I would just like to say that when he was elected, he was not just
elected. He defeated, as Mr. LaTourette has said, the grandson of a
U.S. President, Seth Taft, and that let all minorities in America know
that the system can work, that you have to work at it. There was
history made in Cleveland, great history that we are all proud of.
As a result, we are all here tonight because we are proud of the
designation of this courthouse being named after our great former Mayor
Carl B. Stokes.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Further reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, I
yield to the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest].
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say to the gentleman from
Ohio [Mr. Stokes], his eloquence is evident as a result of the love and
friendship he has for his brother and his mother.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Thornberry). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from Maryland?
There was no objection.
The Clerk read the bill, as follows:
H.R. 4133
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.
The United States courthouse to be constructed at the
corner of superior and Huron Roads, in Cleveland, Ohio, shall
be known and designated as the ``Carl B. Stokes United States
Courthouse''.
SEC. 2. REFERENCES.
Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper,
or other record of the United States to the United States
courthouse referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a
reference to the ``Carl B. Stokes United States Courthouse''.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read
the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the
table.
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