[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1027-S1028]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         JAMES FARMER AWARDED THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM

 Mr. ROBB. Mr. President, while this Congress was in recess, 
the President of the United States awarded the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom, our country's highest civilian honor, to James Farmer. The 
Medal was given to Mr. Farmer on January 15, 1998, the birthday of the 
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., in a symbolic gesture that reminded 
us again of the value of freedom, and the debt we owe those who 
sacrificed greatly for racial equality in America.
  Mr. President, James Farmer was one of the six major civil rights 
leaders of the civil rights era, joining A. Philip Randolph, Roy 
Wilkins, Whitney Young, John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr. He 
helped establish, and later led, the Congress of Racial Equality 
(CORE). He was the father of the famous Freedom Rides through the 
South. He organized and inspired. He placed himself in great personal 
danger again and again. Today, he teaches civil rights history to some 
very lucky students at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, 
Virginia.
  Last year, I was pleased to join Congressman John Lewis and others in 
asking that the President award the Medal of Freedom to James Farmer. 
Last month, Lynda and I were privileged to be at the White House when 
President Clinton officially presented the Medal to Mr. Farmer.
  Before the White House ceremony, Congressman Lewis and I prepared a 
tribute to James Farmer, which I ask be printed in the Record following 
my remarks today. In this tribute, we thank James Farmer for a lifetime 
of fighting for racial equality in America. We challenge our nation to 
continue to learn from this great American hero, to continue to reach 
for a truly colorblind society, to finally lay down the burden of race.
  The tribute follows:

                A TRIBUTE TO AN AMERICAN FREEDOM FIGHTER

       As one man who had the privilege to march and demonstrate 
     alongside this dedicated pioneer during the Civil Rights 
     Movement, and another who has long respected his courage and 
     is proud to represent him in the United States Senate, we 
     both have enormous respect and admiration for James Farmer. 
     Now, all Americans are being given the opportunity both to 
     learn more about this man and to appreciate his lifetime of 
     contributions to our nation as a civil rights activist, 
     community leader and teacher.
       Yesterday, on the birth date of the Reverend Martin Luther 
     King, Jr., President Clinton presented the Presidential Medal 
     of Freedom, our country's highest civilian honor, to fifteen 
     distinguished Americans. We are grateful that James Farmer, 
     one of the ``Big Six'' leaders of the Civil Rights Movement 
     and the father of the Freedom Rides, was among them.

[[Page S1028]]

       As the nation prepares to officially celebrate the life and 
     legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is also fitting 
     that we join the President in recognizing one of the great 
     soldiers and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. In the 
     1940's, while still in his early twenties, James Farmer was 
     already leading some of the earliest nonviolent 
     demonstrations and sit-ins in the nation, over a decade 
     before nonviolent tactics became a vehicle for the modern 
     Civil Rights Movement in the South.
       Early in his academic career, James Farmer became 
     interested in the Ghandian principles of civil disobedience, 
     direct action, and nonviolence. In 1942, at the age of 22, he 
     enlisted an interracial group, mostly students, and founded 
     the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), with the goal of 
     using nonviolent protest to fight segregation in America. 
     During these early years, James Farmer and other CORE members 
     staged our nation's first nonviolent sit-in, which 
     successfully desegregated the Jack Spratt Coffee Shop in 
     Chicago.
       Five years later, in what he called the ``Journey of 
     Reconciliation,'' James Farmer led other CORE members to 
     challenge segregated seating on interstate buses.
       In 1961, James Farmer orchestrated and led the famous 
     Freedom Rides through the South, which are renown for forcing 
     Americans to confront segregation in bus terminals and on 
     interstate buses. In the spring of that year, James Farmer 
     trained a small group of freedom riders, teaching them to 
     deal with the hostility they were likely to encounter using 
     nonviolent resistance. This training would serve them well.
       During the journeys, freedom riders were beaten. Buses were 
     burned. When riders and their supporters--including James 
     Farmer and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.--were trapped 
     during a rally in Montgomery's First Baptist Church, Attorney 
     General Robert Kennedy ordered U.S. marshals to come to their 
     aid and protect them from the angry mob that had gathered 
     outside.
       In reflecting on the ride from Montgomery, Alabama to 
     Jackson, Mississippi, James Farmer said, ``I don't think any 
     of us thought we were going to get to Jackson. . . . I was 
     scared and I am sure the kids were scared.'' He later wrote 
     in his autobiography, ``If any man says that he had no fear 
     in the action of the sixties, he is a liar. Or without 
     imagination.''
       James Farmer made it to Jackson and spent forty days in 
     jail after he tried to enter a white restroom at the bus 
     station. On November 1, 1961, six months after the freedom 
     rides began, the Interstate Commerce Commission ordered all 
     interstate buses and terminal facilities to be integrated.
       Six years ago, James Farmer told a reporter that while the 
     fight against racism in the 1960's ``required tough skulls 
     and guts . . . now it requires intellect, training and 
     education.''
       Not surprisingly, James Farmer continues to do his part. 
     Just as he taught his freedom riders how to battle 
     segregation over three decades ago, he has taught civil 
     rights history at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, 
     Virginia, for the past twelve years. He teaches his students 
     how to remember and how to learn from history.
       James Farmer has, in truth, spent a lifetime teaching 
     America the value of equality and opportunity. He has taught 
     America that its most volatile social problems could be 
     solved nonviolently. He has reminded us of the countless acts 
     of courage and conviction needed to bring about great change. 
     He has shown us the idealism needed to act and the pragmatism 
     needed to succeed. His respect for humanity and his belief in 
     justice will forever inspire those of us privileged to call 
     him mentor and friend.
       As we celebrate the Martin Luther King Holiday on Monday, 
     and as we honor James Farmer with the Presidential Medal of 
     Freedom, let us vow to continue to learn. If we truly believe 
     in the idea of the beloved community and an interracial 
     democracy, we cannot give up. As a nation and a people, we 
     must join together and strive towards laying down the burden 
     of race. And we must follow in the footsteps of a courageous 
     leader, to whom, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, we 
     can finally say: thank you, James Farmer.

                          ____________________