[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 21 (Monday, March 4, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1417-S1419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH FEBRUARY 2002

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, every February our Nation celebrates Black 
History Month to recognize the contributions that African Americans 
have made to America. It provides us with a special time to commemorate 
the accomplishments of African Americans and reflect upon their role in 
our country's diversity and growth. I believe it is important to 
acknowledge the vision of leaders such as Frederick Douglass, Martin 
Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall and the efforts of countless 
others who struggled to bring down the barriers of inequality in this 
country. They confronted enormous obstacles to make life better for 
future generations and for all Americans.
  As we reflect upon our Nation's history, we see that America has made 
great strides in improving the status of ethnic and racial minorities. 
Today African Americans are leaders in our communities, the arts and 
sciences, and the business world. We no longer accept legal 
discrimination in any form. We no longer allow the use of poll taxes 
that prohibited African Americans from voting. And we no longer 
tolerate discrimination in public accommodations, such as water 
fountains, lunch counters or movie houses reserved for whites only.
  While taking pride in how far we have come, we must recall the 
painful memories of segregation and intolerance in the not so distant 
past. Up until the 1950's, casinos and hotels in my own State of 
Nevada, like many public accommodations did not welcome blacks. But 
when the Moulin Rouge opened its doors in Las Vegas in 1955, African 
Americans were received warmly. There they could find lodging, enjoy 
the casino and see the best entertainers of the day. The Moulin Rouge 
became one of our Nation's first major interracial hotels and paved the 
way for the integration of all of Nevada's

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casinos. I support efforts to preserve the Moulin Rouge as an important 
part of African American history in Southern Nevada.
  In addition to making political and social gains, blacks are now 
enjoying unprecedented economic success. African-American unemployment 
and poverty levels are at record lows. There continues to be a 
significant rise in African American home ownership and a dramatic 
increase in loans to African American entrepreneurs.
  Despite all of our progress as a society expanding opportunities for 
all, I know we can do better. We still have more work to do and more 
challenges we shall overcome.
  The population of blacks and other minorities continues to increase 
and flourish across America, but African Americans often lack the 
services and resources they need to receive a quality education and in 
turn to achieve a better place in society. Nearly half a century after 
Brown v. Board of Education, most minority students still attend 
schools that are predominantly minority. On average, they are in larger 
classes, use older books, receive less challenging lessons and have 
teachers with less training in the subject being taught.
  Fortunately, Congress passed a bipartisan ``Leave No Child Behind'' 
education reform package, which became law this year to correct these 
inequities by making sure that well-trained teachers are in every 
classroom, setting higher standards for all students and providing 
schools with the resources to meet these new standards. To continue 
improving the quality of education and expanding opportunities for all 
Americans, our next step must be to raise the standards for safety, 
character and discipline in our schools.

  Although our nation has made substantial progress, blacks still lag 
behind financially and are disproportionately represented among 
America's poor. Congress should increase the minimum wage not only to 
help youths and African Americans but all of our Nation's citizens, 
especially working single mothers, better meet the needs of their 
families. In addition, providing unemployment and health care benefits 
for those who have been hindered by the recession, will help dislocated 
workers and their families get back on their feet and continue to 
improve their lives. We also need to find creative, effective ways to 
narrow the earnings gap between whites and African Americans.
  Making these improvements will take the dedication of all Americans. 
Black History Month is an appropriate time to recognize those helping 
America move forward. I would like to pay particular tribute to some 
who are leading the way in northern Nevada:
  Delores Feemster has been a activist in Washoe County for many years 
working for the underdog, organizing voter registration efforts in 
black churches, and inspiring members of younger generations to make a 
difference. In fact, her son Lonnie got involved in social activism 
during his youth and now serves as president of the Reno-Sparks chapter 
of the NAACP.
  Evelyn Mount started a food program many years ago before any social 
services agencies offered this kind of help and has provided thousands 
of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to needy families of every color.
  Bertha Mullins has worked in the community on equal employment and 
housing issues for many years.
  Bernice Martin Mathews has been a leader in improving access to 
quality health care and serves as the assistant minority leader in the 
State Senate.
  I would also like to acknowledge some African American leaders from 
southern Nevada:
  Shirley Barber, who for over 40 years as a teacher, principal and now 
as a Clark County School Board Trustee has served students and 
encouraged greater parental involvement in education;
  Yvonne Atkinson Gates, a Clark County Commissioner who was recently 
elected to chair the Democratic National Committee's Black Caucus;
  Joe Neal, the longest serving African American member of the Nevada 
Senate; and
  Lt. Col. (Ret.) Thomas Leigh, long active in senior issues, who has 
served on various State commissions and led an AARP chapter in West Las 
Vegas.
  I am proud of these Nevadans and others like them across the country 
working to promote equality and diversity.
  They have toiled for a better life for African Americans and indeed 
for all Americans, and their work makes our state and our nation 
better.
  Although Black History Month officially ends when February does, let 
us continue to celebrate the achievements of African Americans each and 
every day. Our efforts to recover from the tribulations of September 11 
remind us that by working together we become a stronger America. We 
must join together and continue fighting to make sure that all 
Americans enjoy equal opportunities for justice, quality education, and 
economic prosperity.
  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, last month we celebrated Black 
History Month in the United States, and I took to the floor each week 
we were in session to speak for a moment or two about the tribulations 
and contributions of Black Oregonians.
  I want to make one more statement, however, since recognition of 
these contributions really cannot, and should not, be confined to any 
single month of the year. We must not spend the next eleven months 
oblivious to the monumental strides and invaluable contributions that 
black Americans have made since the birth of our Nation. The 
individuals who opened the west and helped build my State, people like 
Moses Harris, George Washington Bush, and York, must not remain obscure 
characters in the annals of Oregon history. Countless other men and 
women, who never achieved prominence, are also owed our gratitude for 
helping make Oregon, and America, a better home for all her citizens.
  The efforts of black Americans have helped Oregon shed the days when 
it was marked by racial intolerance and exclusion. When my predecessor, 
former-U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield, was a State senator, he was forced 
to take the great opera singer Marian Anderson to Portland because no 
hotels in Salem would serve a black woman. Thankfully, now Salem not 
only hosts black women in hotels, but in the State senate as well. We 
have come a long way as a State and as a people, and we should be 
grateful.
  In the decades following the passage of the Fair Employment Practices 
Act in 1949 and the State Public Accommodations Act in 1953, Oregon 
began slowly to address some of the other problems still facing black 
Oregonians, such as discrimination in housing and segregation in the 
public schools. Also of note, in 1969, Portland State established a 
Black Studies Program. In 1972 the first black person, William McCoy, 
was elected to the State legislature, and in 1980, Oregon crowned her 
first black Rose Festival Queen, Robin Marks. All along, organizations 
such as the NAACP and Urban League have been helping to guide my 
State's progress.
  Not all difficulties facing black Oregonians have been resolved, 
however. While most students are benefitting from a successful 
statewide battle to reduce school dropout rates, black students are 
still dropping out in large numbers, and at the same rate they have for 
the past three years, 11 percent, compared with a 4.5 percent dropout 
rate for white students. There are economic distinctions as well, a 
black Oregonian is more than twice as likely to be poor than a white 
Oregonian. These and other disparities are not merely coincidences, and 
we have much work ahead of us if we are to change the circumstances 
that contribute to current racial inequalities in Oregon.
  Still, the trend for all Oregonians has been positive over our 
State's history, and I see nothing but progress in our future. Oregon 
has had strong black leaders since the Lewis and Clark expedition, and 
a history of overcoming obstacles much more daunting than what we face 
today. Today, Oregon is home to a diverse and prosperous citizenry made 
up of people from every conceivable background and racial composition. 
While our Constitution used to prevent black Americans from moving to 
our State, Oregon now has a growing minority population that fuels our 
economy, and enriches our local culture. This might never have been 
possible without the efforts of early black pioneers, and the thousands 
of black Americans who came to Oregon in the

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middle of the last century, bringing with them a thirst for equality, 
and the wherewithal to achieve it.
  We should not celebrate the contributions of black Americans for just 
one month. The lives we lead 365 days a year have been shaped by 
individuals and groups who have changed America, and Oregon, forever. 
Our lives are richer and freer because of the contributions of black 
Oregonians, and I, for one, will remember that year round.

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