[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 144 (Thursday, October 23, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11001-S11004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ANN'S CAMPAIGN FOR A SAFER AMERICA
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, my children attend a high school in
Fairfax County. It is a high school that has great diversity, great
hope, great potential. It is a school that you might say is in some
transition. The school has seen a great deal of improvement, has a
great deal of camaraderie, a great spirit at this public high school.
It is Mount Vernon High School. The teachers care, the parents care,
the administrators care. My kids have made terrific friends at this
school, friends that indeed will last a lifetime.
One student, Ann Harris, became one of my daughter's absolute best
friends. They had morning period together. They had one book that they
would share, they would make notes and they would pass it each day with
the thoughts that they had in their heart and they would share it back
and forth.
Ann Harris's father, Coleman, has been PTA president for 3 years. His
wife, Jean, you could not ask for a better booster for that high
school. They want to make sure that that high school is a safe place
for kids, and they have done a terrific job.
March 29 of this year my wife and I were driving when the cell phone
rang. I answered, and it was my daughter. I could tell that something
was very wrong because of the anguish in her voice. She said, ``Dad,
when will you and Mom be home?'' And I said we will be home very soon.
Then my daughter started crying and she said, ``Ann Harris is dead.''
And I said, ``What?'' And she said, ``Ann is dead,'' and she continued
to cry. I tried to ask her what in the world had happened, and she said
she has been shot.
We later learned that she had been shot in a drive-by. So here is
Coleman and Jean Harris, doing all they can as
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parents, all that teachers and administrators can do to make sure that
you have a safe school, a safe environment, and a safe neighborhood.
But here is the irony. That shooting did not take place in our
neighborhood. It took place 3,000 miles away over spring break because
of something going on in that community where some guy, for whatever
reason, got offended and fired into the back of that automobile, ending
the lovely life of a 17-year-old girl.
Ann Harris was a model student and a model citizen. She was an A
student. She was an outstanding athlete, a great tennis player. She had
been accepted to Purdue University. She is gone because somebody--
somebody--just undertook a senseless and pointless act that
extinguished the life of so much potential.
I can tell you that not just my daughter cried but a whole community
has cried in mourning the loss of Ann Harris. I don't think there is a
sweeter smile that I have seen on anybody than on the face of Ann
Harris.
We talk about this today on the floor of the U.S. Senate because how
many times throughout the United States in any of our communities do we
pick up newspapers and find out that a young life has been extinguished
because of some senseless, violent act? We read about it all the time.
In 1994, more than 2,600 juveniles between the ages of 10 and 17 were
murdered. That is a rate of seven per day. One in five of these victims
was killed by another juvenile. The number of juveniles arrested for
violent crimes has increased 60 percent in the last 10 years. During
that same time, murder arrests rose 125 percent. Our young people are
the most frequent victims of violent crime. They are raped, robbed or
assaulted at a rate five times higher than adults. The homicide rate
for youths in the United States is 10 times higher than in Canada, 15
times higher than in Australia, 28 times higher than in France and
Germany. This increase in juvenile crime has been linked to the
increase in youth gang activity. Gangs are now present in all 50
States, in large cities, small cities, and in rural communities.
I think it is appropriate for the U.S. Senate to salute the life of
Ann Harris and all of these young Americans that we have lost who have
been senselessly killed for no reason.
At graduation this past June, they still called Ann's name, and her
brother and sisters came across the stage to accept her diploma.
Waiting on stage to meet each graduate were Coleman and Jean Harris.
They hugged every student, just as they hoped that they would be
hugging Ann on receiving her diploma.
May this tragic event somehow cause all of us to look around our own
communities. With us today are Coleman and Jean Harris; Ann's high
school principal, Calanthia Tucker; Fairfax County school board member,
Kris Amundson; members of the church, the pastor.
All of us today salute and celebrate the life of Ann Harris and the
life of the young people that aren't with us. Let us, as parents and as
adults, redouble our efforts. What have we done lately for our children
and for our community? Have we gotten involved in our children's
schools to make sure they are safe, that they are drug free? Have we
demonstrated with organizations like Parents and Youth Against Drug
Abuse that that is the right thing to be doing? Have you worked with
local law enforcement agencies to develop safer neighborhoods and a
support system?
Ann's parents have continued their efforts to promote safer schools
in safer neighborhoods. They have started with what is called Ann's
Campaign, ``Ann's Campaign For A Safer America.'' The focus of the
campaign is to help youth and adults live the kind of life exemplified
by Ann, a life that radiated kindness, warmth and compassion for
others. That describes Ann Harris.
In just a few months, Ann's Campaign has grown from a simple concept
born of love to a national organization with a web site that offers
encouragement, support, and information to interested persons. Ann's
Campaign provides links to other support groups such as Mothers Against
Violence in America and Students Against Violence Everywhere. Through
this type of networking, the Harris's hope to promote a positive
message to young people that together we really can build a better
America and a safer America.
I send my sincere thoughts and prayers to the Harris family on their
loss, my admiration and support for their effort to make our world a
little bit better place to live. As the model of Ann's Campaign
advocates, we need to encourage each other to smile more, to care more,
to love more, and to be more understanding. If we save just one life,
we have paid the finest tribute in the world to Ann Harris, and we can
do so. This senseless loss of life of our young people must come to an
end.
So while my heart is sad, it also celebrates. My family knew Ann
Harris. All the kids at Mount Vernon High School knew Ann Harris, and
for the rest of their lives they will know the joy that she brought to
them, and through Ann's Campaign it can bring to others throughout the
United States.
Mr. President, I referenced Ann's Campaign and the fact that they
have a Web site. Anybody who wishes to access that, if they simply
access ``annscampaign.org,'' they would have access to that Web site. I
acknowledge that Senator Chuck Robb of Virginia, whose alma mater is
Mount Vernon High School, intends to be speaking on this issue today,
too, as well as Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, who will be coming
down and speaking on this issue.
I mentioned about the parents and all of us getting involved. I am
very proud of my wife, who is now the President of the PTA of Mount
Vernon High School. Now, it is with pleasure that I turn to my
colleague from Idaho, the senior Senator from Idaho, Senator Craig, who
has comments with regard to Ann Harris.
Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I thank my colleague, Senator Kempthorne,
for taking out this time to reference what tragically has become all
too common in America today--the loss of a beautiful person and the
repercussion of that loss on the family of Coleman and Jean Harris. I
must tell you, I did not know Ann, but I do know Coleman and Jean, the
parents of Ann. I watched as the community around where Senator
Kempthorne and I live mourned the loss of this beautiful young girl and
felt the tragedy of it all.
I don't know what we do about crime in America today. The statistics
this morning were, as I drove in from the Mount Vernon area to our
Nation's Capital, that the number of violent crimes is down in America.
That is always positive and it is always good. When Ann left home here
in northern Virginia to go to Tacoma, WA, with her friends to see
friends, she did not expect to be treated violently or to become
involved in a violent episode, because the perpetrator of the incident
that killed Ann Harris broke the law.
So is the answer today adding more laws to the books? It really
doesn't seem to be. What Coleman and Jean Harris are doing today may
well be a piece of an answer that allows citizens of this country not
only to express themselves, but to recognize that this is a people
problem that we are dealing with today, that it is a societal problem
in our country, that stacking laws upon laws that people refuse to live
by, if they decide to constantly be a breaker of the law, doesn't solve
the problem.
Now, when I came to work yesterday morning, I was involved in the
standard traffic gridlock that oftentimes we become involved in in this
immediate metropolitan area. There were times when my temper flared and
I thought, why should this happen? Yet, I calmed myself and relaxed as
much as I could to cope, so that I would not misjudge or cause a bad
action. Certainly that kind of reaction, or whatever may have caused a
reaction that caused the death of Ann Harris, is something that I think
we all need to deal with. Thank goodness, the parents of this beautiful
girl have said, ``We are going to do something about it. In the name of
Ann Harris, Ann's Campaign, we are going to do something about it.''
They have not approached Senator Kempthorne and me and said we want
more laws. What they have said is, ``We want a campaign nationwide that
recognizes that if you smile more and care more and you love more and
you have more understanding and you bring back to the culture of this
society
[[Page S11003]]
some of those underpinnings that kept us whole and kept a human
relationship going for so long that seems to have broken down, that may
have caused the death of Ann Harris, and certainly does cause deaths
around the country in drive-by shootings and those kinds of things that
just seem to be baseless types of crimes, that our society can, by
these actions and by this action of the Harrises, become a better and a
safer place to live. That is what we must all dedicate a part of our
time to.
Dirk Kempthorne and I are lawmakers, and we could probably pass
another law. Certainly, in the passion and emotion of these kinds of
incidents happening, all of us want to reach out and do something about
it and do it quickly. Well, this Senate and this Congress, for the last
decade, has passed a lot of laws that deals with violent actions of our
citizens. Yet, somehow we are told by sociologists today that we must
prepare ourselves for a very violent generation of juveniles. While
adult crime goes down, as I referenced, juvenile crime seems to go up.
I suspect that when society as a whole does what Coleman and Jean
Harris are now doing on behalf of the beautiful daughter they lost, and
more and more citizens speak up and become involved, and our
communities and our churches and all of the institutions of our society
bind together in intolerance of this kind of activity, that we will
once again become a safer place to live.
So let me thank my colleague again for this time and this
recognition. We must continue to use any pulpit we can to speak out,
and certainly the Harrises have. They have every reason to. I applaud
them for their action and want to be a part of it where I can be as I
ask other citizens to in the name of Ann and Ann's Campaign so that we
can all smile a little more in a less violent society.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Idaho for his
very thoughtful comments that he made this morning and for the
sincerity by which I know he has delivered them.
I now, with a great deal of honor, yield to the Senator from
Washington, Senator Murray, for her comments as well.
Mrs. MURRAY addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Mrs. MURRAY. Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. President, I stand with my colleagues from Idaho today out of
anger, sadness, and commitment. A beautiful young woman, Ann Harris,
was murdered in my State of Washington. She was murdered by a young man
in a random act of violence as she rode in a car with her friends
through a Tacoma neighborhood.
Her death is an outrage. We all should be furious. But the saddest
comment is that to so many young people, Ann is simply another
statistic. To too many she's just ``another homicide.'' A 17-year-old
girl is murdered by a young college football player. Our eyes just
glaze at the headline and move on.
This time, her parents, her friends, my colleagues and I, and many
individuals and organizations across America are not going to let her
murder be only a small blip on the television screen. We will not
forget her--or any of the other hundreds of children and young people
murdered each year.
Her parents, Coleman and Jean, have organized ``Ann's Campaign for a
Safer America.'' Even in their tragic loss and profound grief, they
pledged to themselves and their lost daughter that they would work to
stop violence and stop our national indifference to it. Ann's
Campaign's focus will be to encourage, motivate, educate, and help
youth and adults alike to live the life Ann radiated--a life that said
every day and in every way: smile more, care more, love more, and be
more understanding. They will help us all focus on the good and learn
to stop violence.
Mr. President, this is not about guns. This is about an attitude
among too many young people ``on the street'' that violence is an
acceptable alternative. We adults, we Members of Congress, must send
the message to our kids and young adults that when someone is killed it
will not pass by unnoticed. As adults we must let them know killing and
maiming is appalling--and totally unacceptable.
To too many of them it is a quick news piece and it's gone. To too
many of them it is ``just another funeral.'' But to parents and family
and friends it is a light gone out, a hope not realized, a life not
fulfilled.
Mr. President, there is hope that we can make a change in the apathy
of our young people. In addition to Ann's parents, a friend of mine
from Mercer Island, Pam Eakes, formed an organization called Mothers
Against Violence in America.
After hearing about one too many children who lost their lives to
violence, she resolved to make a difference, to make kids think about
their actions, to teach them empathy, to teach them nonviolence.
Mothers Against Violence also supports families of victims. There is
nothing worse than a parent's loss of a child. They feel helpless, and
often guilty, like they somehow are to blame for not giving their child
full protection from all danger. They are innocent victims, too, and
desperately need the support that only others who have suffered their
loss can give.
I want to again offer my sincere condolences to Ann's parents. They
are so brave to wage this war against apathy and indifference and for
love and caring and understanding. Every time they discuss these
issues, their own wounds are opened. I thank them and I thank Pam Eakes
and a member of my staff, Mary Glenn, and all of the mothers and
fathers who have taken their grief and have woven it into a mission to
change the world.
Mr. President, they cannot fight alone. We all must get involved and
teach our children--and each other--that violence is unacceptable. We
can make a difference by joining organizations like Mothers Against
Violence or Ann's Campaign and working with them to teach and support.
And we can start organizations across America to save our children from
violence.
Young people can no longer believe that an angry action of one moment
is only that. It is not just an action. It is murder. It is wrong and
it will be punished. It is time to stop the violence.
I know that I will continue my personal fight against violence in
America. And I urge all of our colleagues to join us in this campaign.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, in listening to the Senator from
Washington, we hear not only an effective Senator speak but we also
hear a mother speak. I know of the beautiful children she has.
I commend all of the Senators who have spoken on this issue this
morning.
Carved in granite behind me are words ``In God We Trust.''
Today, I just say thank God for Ann Harris. I can think of no finer
tribute than for us here on the floor of the U.S. Senate to officially
acknowledge Ann's Campaign as it goes nationwide because this lovely
lady's life is going to continue to do wonderful things for this
country.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. BROWNBACK addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Ann
Harris and her memory.
The Harris family, who I have known for over 20 years, recently
suffered the loss of their 17-year-old daughter, Ann. She was the
innocent victim of a drive-by shooting.
It is a gross understatement to say that that moment changed their
lives forever, but it certainly did exactly that. Confronted with such
an atrocity, many people would have used the occasion to question the
existence of evil in our society and to ask why such a horrible event
could have happened to such an innocent person, and to simply ask the
question of ``Why? Why? Why? Why has our society become so crime-
ridden? Why was such an innocent girl's life taken? Why Ann's life?''
Members have a picture of Ann at their desk. This is Ann's Campaign
which they have launched.
When their daughter was shot, the Harris family had an occasion to
ask just those same questions that I asked, but they did not ask just
those questions. They went further and asked the deeper questions.
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They realized that by turning this extraordinary incident,
extraordinarily terrible incident--and also by us changing our ordinary
incidents--events in our lives into true occasions of loving and of
serving God, our communities, and one another, that we begin to change
society, not to mention ourselves, for the better. And more
importantly, we change them in a way that mitigates against the evil
influences that have come to dominate many aspects of this culture.
The Harris family could have used the horrors of this world as an
excuse to turn away from God, but, you know, they didn't. Instead, they
turned to God and asked quietly, asked humbly, not why--but what?
``What do you want us to do? What can we do to make the world a better
place? What can we do to keep the memory of our daughter alive?''
Out of that question came a wonderful foundation dedicated to
preserving the memory of the daughter the Harris family lost and to
fighting the spread of violent crime in our society.
Ann's Campaign for a Safer America--that is what this card is--was
established by Jean and Coleman Harris following the brutal death of
their daughter. Ann's Campaign for a Safer America seeks to encourage,
motivate, educate, and help youth and adults alike to live the life
radiated like their daughter did--a life that said every day and in
every way: smile more, care more, love more and be more understanding.
The Harris family is combating violence by combating the problems
that often lead to violence. And I believe Ann's Campaign is a unique
opportunity to help contribute to the restoration of our culture by
directly combating the influences that denigrate and ultimately
compromise our moral worth as a nation.
The Harris family has turned a horrible event into an occasion of
enriching the community and the country. We too can turn the events of
our lives, the extraordinary, the terrible, and the good, along with
the ordinary, into occasions of remembering to help others, to serve
and to love, and to ask the question: Not why, but what? What? What
should I be doing? How should I serve?
So I am joined by my colleague, Senator Kempthorne, and several
others, in this privilege of highlighting Ann's Campaign that we note
here today.
I have a tie on as well that has smiling faces of children from
around the world. That was the Ann Harris who I knew. I even knew her
while her mother was pregnant with her. She had just a delightful smile
and was a joy of life that was taken brutally.
I applaud what the Harris family has done, taking that incident and
turning it into something of: What can we say to our culture? How can
we change? Not ``Why?'' But ``What?'' I applaud what they are doing. I
ask and hope and encourage my colleagues to look at this as a campaign
that they can help in as well as other people from around this Nation.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. ROBB. Mr. President, last spring, a bright young Fairfax County
high school senior was murdered while visiting friends in Washington
State.
Ann Harris was an honor student, a student leader, a gifted athlete,
and a member of the Virginia All-State Chorus. Although she didn't live
to graduate from Mount Vernon High School--where I graduated over 40
years ago--she carried a 3.4-grade point average and had been accepted,
early admissions, to Purdue University. Last spring, Ann had a future
filled with unlimited possibilities.
This fall, as I know her family continued to struggle with their
loss, many of her friends in Mount Vernon's Class of 1997 left home to
attend the college of their own choice. But they left home with a
chilling loss of innocence--the innocence of those who don't know what
it's like to lose someone you care about to a senseless act of
violence.
We want our young people to be safe. Safe in our schools. Safe in our
homes. Safe on our streets. We want them to live and learn and
contribute to our country.
Ann's family joins us in the gallery today. Let us take this time to
recommit ourselves to working for a safer America for all our children.
Ann Harris deserved a future limited only by the borders of her dreams.
And her friends deserved the innocence of not knowing someone--when
you're l7 years old--who loses their future to a senseless act of
violence.
I will conclude by commending Ann's family for creating Ann's
Campaign for a Safer America. This campaign encourages all of us to
live life as their daughter would have lived--to ``smile more, care
more, love more and understand more.'' As the father of three daughters
whose smiles have brightened many rooms, I thank you for your efforts.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent I be recognized as
in morning business for 10 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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