[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 139 (Thursday, October 24, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1959-E1960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IN HONOR OF SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK AND THE COMMITMENT OF THE GROUP TO 
  THE PURSUIT OF FULL CONGRESSIONAL VOTING RIGHTS FOR THE DISTRICT OF 
       COLUMBIA AND TO THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AROUND THE WORLD

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 24, 2002

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the 
extraordinary talent and uniquely effective activism of Sweet Honey in 
the Rock, the Grammy Award-winning African American female a cappella 
ensemble with deep roots in gospel, jazz, blues, and the civil rights 
movement. I am particularly pleased to honor the outstanding 
contributions that this ensemble has made in increasing national 
awareness and support for the struggle of the residents of the District 
of Columbia against taxation without representation.
  We are fortunate that Sweet Honey calls the District of Columbia 
home. What better home for a group that specializes in songs about 
democracy and freedom? What better home than the only city in the 
United States still without full civil and political rights? What 
better home than the home of taxation without representation?
  Sweet Honey gave its 29th Anniversary Concert to a packed house at 
the Warner Theatre on October 18, 2002. They sang and the audience 
sang. Among the songs was one that particularly delighted the hometown 
audience--Give the People Their Right To Vote! It is a tour de force of 
lyrics and song that tell the entire history of the denial of democracy 
and representation in the District. Sweet Honey manages this virtuoso 
mission with a song that educates as it makes you tap your feet.
  In response to Congressional insistence that D.C. residents fulfill 
100 percent of their obligations while denying these American citizens 
the vote in Congress, Sweet Honey in the Rock composed and regularly 
sings two songs about the distinctive denial of congressional 
representation in the nation's capital: Give the People Their Right To 
Vote! and We Want the Vote! Like Sweet Honey's other music, these songs 
educate, inspire, enlighten, and entertain all at once. Both songs 
speak to the injustice and exploitation of D.C. residents, who are 
second per capita in federal income taxes and who have fought in every 
American war since the Revolutionary War, incurring disproportionate 
casualties.
  Yet, the songs Sweet Honey has written and the songs they sing tell 
the story of the struggles of people everywhere for freedom. Sweet 
Honey's range of music and style is unique in the musical world and 
appreciated throughout the world.
  Sweet Honey was born in the civil rights movement out of the original 
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Freedom Singers. Just 
as America's great African American jazz musicians and singers spring 
from the black church, Sweet Honey's roots are in African American 
church music, spirituals, movement songs, and folk music.
  Sweet Honey is the brainchild of the group's founder, Bernice Johnson 
Reagon, who created Sweet Honey in the Rock in 1973. Ms.

[[Page E1960]]

Reagon has used her unique talent, keen intellect, and deep commitment 
to create a group that is revered and loved both for its music and for 
its dedication to the struggles of oppressed people everywhere.
  Sweet Honey uses the experience of African Americans with racial 
discrimination to inspire others to struggle against all forms of 
oppression. The group continually reminds us all that the black civil 
rights movement of the 1960s was not about parochial issues but about 
universal principles of human rights. And, as Sweet Honey reminds us in 
songs about the denial of the vote here, human rights must always begin 
at home.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the House to join me in honoring the unwavering 
activism and award-winning talent of this great ensemble, whose 
dedicated and creative approach to encouraging freedom around the world 
should serve as an inspiration to all who work for full democracy and 
complete congressional representation for the people of the District of 
Columbia.

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