[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 87 (Wednesday, June 26, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H4032]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         IN MEMORY OF DISABILITY RIGHTS LEADER JUSTIN DART, JR.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kerns). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a fallen 
leadership in the disability and human rights community. Justin Dart, 
Jr., recognized by many as the father of the Americans with 
Disabilities Act, died this past Saturday, June 22. Mr. Dart was known 
by many Members of Congress and by millions of Americans for his 
inspirational leadership and determined efforts to open the doors of 
opportunity wider for all Americans.
  The grandson of the founder of the Walgreen drugstore chain and the 
son of a wealthy businessman, Justin was born in Chicago into a life of 
privilege. At age 18, however, his world view as well as the world's 
view of him was to change. Mr. Dart contracted polio and became a 
wheelchair user.
  His concern for the civil rights of all people first became apparent 
when he founded an organization to end racial segregation as a student 
at the University of Houston. Justin also experienced the 
misunderstanding people have regarding the capabilities of people with 
disabilities when he was denied a teaching certificate upon completing 
college.
  In 1966, Mr. Dart traveled to Vietnam to investigate the conditions 
of its rehabilitation system and had an experience which caused him and 
his wife, Yoshiko, to dedicate the rest of their lives to the 
advancement of human rights for all. Instead of rehabilitation centers 
for children with polio, he found squalid conditions where children had 
been abandoned on concrete floors. He was confronted with a young girl 
who reached out, held his hand and gazed into his eyes as she lay 
dying. ``That scene,'' he would later write, ``is burned forever in my 
soul. For the first time in my life, I understood the reality of evil, 
and that I was a part of that reality.''
  After several years of building a grassroots movement and advocating 
for the rights of people with disabilities in Texas, Justin Dart was 
appointed in 1981 by President Reagan as Vice Chair of the National 
Council on Disability. He and his wife embarked on a nationwide tour at 
their own expense during which he met with activists in all 50 States 
and helped lead the Council in drafting a national policy that called 
for civil rights legislation to end the centuries-old discrimination of 
people with disabilities. This policy laid the foundation for the 
eventual passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
  Mr. Dart held leadership positions in both the Reagan and Bush 
administrations, first as Commissioner of the Department of Education's 
Rehabilitation Services Administration and then as the chairman of the 
President's Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities.
  As Chairman of the President's Committee, he directed a change in 
focus from its traditional stance of urging people to hire the 
handicapped to advocating for full civil rights of people with 
disabilities. Justin is best known for the pivotal role he played in 
ensuring passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
  As Co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on the Rights and 
Empowerment of Americans with Disabilities, he once again toured the 
country at his own expense to build grassroots support for his landmark 
civil rights legislation.
  The sight of Justin in his trademark Stetson hat and cowboy boots was 
a familiar sight to all Members of Congress. He made what he called a 
very difficult decision of conscience in 1996 and campaigned for the 
reelection of President Clinton, telling his followers to get into 
politics as if your life depended upon it, because it does.
  In 1998, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's 
highest civilian award. The revolution of empowerment Mr. Dart talked 
about extended far beyond the rights of people with disabilities to 
making the world a better play for all humanity.
  Please hear, as I close, some of the words that Mr. Dart addressed to 
a group of us in his final public statement a few weeks ago at a rally 
for the passage of the Micassa bill. ``Listen to the heart of this old 
soldier. As with all of us, the time comes when body and mind are 
battered and weary. But I do not go quietly into the night. I do not 
give up struggling to be a responsible contributor to the sacred 
continuum of human life. I do not give up struggling to overcome my 
weakness, to conform my life, and that part of my life called death, to 
the great values of the human dream. Let my final actions thunder of 
love, solidarity, protest, of empowerment. I adamantly protest the 
richest culture in the history of the world which still incarcerates 
millions of humans with and without disabilities in barbaric 
institutions, back rooms and worse, windowless cells of oppressive 
perceptions, for the lack of the most elementary empowerment supports. 
I call for solidarity among all who love justice, all who love life, to 
create a revolution that will empower every single human being to 
govern his or her life, to govern the society and to be fully 
productive. I die in the beautiful belief that the revolution of 
empowerment will go on. I love you so much. I'm with you always. Lead 
on. Lead on.''
  Mr. Speaker, Justin Dart was truly a great American, and I join with 
millions around the country who are interested in the empowerment of 
people with disabilities to extend condolences to his wife and family.

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