[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 150 (Tuesday, November 19, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2109-E2111]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              TRIBUTE TO CONGRESSWOMAN PATSY TAKEMOTO MINK

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NEIL ABERCROMBIE

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 19, 2002

  Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit to the 
appropriate Congressional Record, the following statements on 
Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink.

          On the Passing of the Honorable Patsy Takemoto Mink

     (Statement of Jacqueline Woods, Executive Director, American 
           Association of University Women, October 1, 2002)

       On behalf of the 150,000 members of the American 
     Association of University Women (AAUW), we express our 
     profound sadness at the loss of Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto 
     Mink. Congresswoman Mink was a true pioneer in breaking down 
     barriers in education and the workplace for women and girls, 
     and ensuring that the rights of all Americans are

[[Page E2110]]

     advanced and protected. Mrs. Mink often said that her 
     greatest accomplishments was passage of Title IX of the 
     Education Amendments of 1972. AAUW will continue to ensure 
     that Title IX is protected in order to carry on Congresswoman 
     Mink's legacy so that future generations can enjoy full 
     access to all aspects of education. AAUW's mission is to 
     promote equity for all women and girls, lifelong education, 
     and positive societal change. Congresswoman Mink's lifetime 
     commitment to these issues has made it possible for AAUW's 
     mission to be realized in so many areas that have touched the 
     lives of countless numbers of women and families. AAUW's 
     long-term relationship with Congresswoman Mink included her 
     membership with the Hilo Branch of AAUW of Hawaii and that 
     partnership was maintained throughout her stellar career and 
     lifetime. It was an honor and pleasure to work with 
     Congresswoman Mink to promote educational equity for all 
     women and girls, and we will continue in these efforts in her 
     honor and in her honor and in her memory.
                                  ____


            Irene Natividad of Women Vote Patsy Mink Tribute

       For anyone who still asks ``What difference does a woman 
     make in public office?'' just tell them about Patsy Mink. She 
     was the force behind that one bill that created an earthquake 
     in women's and girls' lives. Whenever I see a little girls 
     soccer team playing on the weekend, or hear about a great 
     woman basketball player, or about another women's team 
     winning Olympic Gold, or the predominance of women students 
     at all levels of higher education, I think of how much we 
     owed to her. She changed American Women and Girls' lives 
     forever.
       I have been to many women sports events, when women 
     athletes invoke with knowing familiarity Title IX (They even 
     know the number) and I came away impressed that they knew 
     their debt to this piece of legislation that the average 
     person does not know. Yet, I regretted that they did not know 
     their debt to an Asian American Women Legislator who crafted 
     the language that made their athletic or educational lives 
     possible. There are women leaders who did not know of Patsy's 
     role in this piece of legislation. There are Asian American 
     who don't know of Patsy's great gift to all Americans, 
     whether female or male.
       But that is not their fault. Patsy Mink was an original. 
     She was extremely effective but not self-promoting. She 
     seemed slight and small, but she possessed a spine of steel, 
     as anyone who ever worked with her on a bill would know. She 
     seemed so polite and self-effacing, but she was full of 
     determination and passion. I told her one time how I loved to 
     watched people's reactions when she speaks. They see this 
     tiny woman and out springs from her mouth this great big 
     voice and this electric presentation. She said ``There's 
     value in being underestimated. We surprise them each time.''
       I was proud to have had Patsy Mink as one of my political 
     mothers, along with Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm. When I 
     first came to Washington many years ago, Bella gave me a 
     piece of advice: ``Honey, just watch Patsy. She'll show you 
     how to get things done.'' And indeed she has. Bella loved 
     Patsy and she thought the world of her and her work.
       In this town full of statutes and buildings to commemorate 
     men's achievements, it is important for us here in the room 
     to remember not to let our heroines leave us without 
     acknowledging their great work while they're still with us.
                                  ____


          [lsqb]Dialogue on Diversity, October 16, 2002[rsqb]

                  Representative Patsy Mink--a Tribute

       (Ma. Cristina Caballero, President, Dialogue on Diversity)

       Dialogue on Diversity counted Patsy Mink a friend, 
     supporter, and inspirer. With our organizational goal of 
     advancing a creative dialogue among women of America's and 
     the world's many diverse ethnic and cultural communities, we 
     found a natural ally and kindred spirit in Rep. Mink, and an 
     energizing source of encouragement and counsel in her ideas 
     and passions as they had evolved over a long and illustrious 
     career in public service.
       It was our great honor to present to Patsy Mink the 
     Diversity Award as part of Dialogue on Diversity's Public 
     Policy/Legislative Forum of 1997. Rep. Xavier Becerra, who 
     presented the award, recalled his own first days in the 
     Congress. He had been brought under heavy pressure to vote 
     against a measure that his good conscience told him was 
     proper public policy. Rep. Mink came to him and asked: Are 
     you going to cave on your first day in Congress? No more 
     needed to be said. Conscience won on that occasion, and it 
     was the powerful moral and political presence of Patsy Mink 
     that ensured it did. We were delighted to welcome Rep. Mink 
     to our conferences and forums on several occasions, She 
     generously give her precious time and attentive counsel, and 
     brought her ever persuasive and heartening message to her 
     hearers.
       Patsy Mink was a person of passionate energies and of great 
     vitality of intellect as she busied herself with the wide 
     range of issues concerning women, minorities, and others 
     among the often forgotten and disadvantaged in every corner 
     of the Republic. To reflect on her career and her friendship 
     is to call forth a great many memories of the battles and 
     achievements in the civic life of America in the last quarter 
     of the twentieth century, and to focus on her figure, the 
     untiring champion of those in American society who most 
     needed her aid. It is therefore hard to realize that she is 
     gone from our arena of action. Her example has its own 
     vitality, of course, which persists in her many colleagues 
     and admirers, and in a nation of friends.
                                  ____


Tribute by Marcia Greenberger and Nancy Duff Campbell, National Women's 
               Law Center, to Congresswomen Patsy T. Mink

       The National Women's Law Center is celebrating its 30th 
     anniversary this year, along with Title IX.
       So, from the Center's very beginning, we have known of and 
     been grateful for the work of Congresswoman Patsy Mink. Title 
     IX has been one of the most important laws ever enacted to 
     expand young women's horizons and transform their lives. In 
     the Center's efforts since its founding to ensure that Title 
     IX is enforced, we have relied on Patsy Mink's ringing words 
     in the floor debates on Title IX's sweeping purposes and its 
     broad reach. Her words have been especially powerful in court 
     cases we have brought to secure strong interpretations of 
     Title IX's reach and effectiveness. The Center has called on 
     her wisdom and leadership to keep Title IX strong in Congress 
     and in the court of public opinion as well--up to the very 
     time she became ill this summer.
       Make no mistake--Title IX is under attack, and her 
     willingness to speak up and speak out was essential. On the 
     occasion of the National Women's Law Center's 30th 
     Anniversary Dinner this November 13, 2002, we will honor 
     Congresswoman Mink for all she did to make and keep Title IX 
     strong, as well as for the battles she waged, in which the 
     Center has joined, to fight poverty and to create real 
     support systems for women and families most in need.
       Of course, her legislative accomplishments and leadership 
     are remarkable, and have enriched our nation and the world. 
     But, she also gave of herself for the National Women's Law 
     Center. She served on the Board of the National Women's Law 
     Center at a key juncture in its history, and even gave the 
     Center its name. She exhorted us as advocates to always 
     persevere, but never set for us a higher standard than the 
     one she followed for herself. She taught us to never give up, 
     and never give in to the status quo of unfairness and 
     inequity. And she supported us and was always there to fight 
     with us and lend us her expertise.
       She has made such a difference, and will into the future. 
     She will live on, we hope, in the work that we do and the 
     work of so many others with whom we join. We are proud to 
     count among our colleagues her daughter Gwendolyn Mink, a 
     professor of Women's Studies at Smith College, whose 
     scholarship and activism--like her mother's public service--
     have focused on ways to improve the lives of the least 
     fortunate women and children in our society. As Patsy Mink 
     well knew, and often said, our children are our future. May 
     we not only hold that thought, but continue to act on it.
                                  ____


   [lsqb]Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, 
                         October 16, 2002[rsqb]

                         Remembering Patsy Mink

                   (Daphne Kwok, Executive Director)

       Thank you so much Congresswoman Millender-McDonald for the 
     invitation to participate today. I would like to begin by 
     saying to Patsy Mink's former and current staff members a 
     very big thank you for all of their work that they did for 
     the national Asian Pacific American community all of these 
     years. We greatly appreciated the commitment you had to all 
     of our needs and for helping to advance the Asian Pacific 
     American agenda.
       How will the Asian Pacific American community remember 
     Congresswoman Patsy Mink? We will remember her as:
       The tireless advocate who always voted her conscience--from 
     fighting for justice for 2000 Asian Pacific American cannery 
     workers of the Wards Cove Packing Co. left out of the Civil 
     Rights Act of 1991 to voting against campaign finance reform 
     because of a provision that would deny legal permanent 
     residents the right to contribute to political campaigns.
       The fighter who was always ready to make a verbal statement 
     or a symbolic statement on the issues that she was so 
     passionate about. How can we ever forget the image a few 
     years ago of the Reverend Jesse Jackson and a mass group of 
     Members and advocates flooding a House Committee mark-up 
     session on an anti-affirmative action bill. The overwhelming 
     support against the bill caused the chairman to cancel the 
     mark-up. The group then marched over to the Senate side. And 
     guess who was standing next to Rev. Jackson and standing just 
     as tall as him? Patsy!
       Or the time that we were at the Lincoln Memorial on a 
     blistery cold winter day for a press conference demanding 
     that Bill Lann Lee receive a Senate vote for his nomination 
     as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Who was there 
     all bundled up in big wool coat, scarf, hat, gloves with her 
     fiery oratory keeping us warm as she ignited the flames 
     within us of this unfairness? Patsy!
       But most especially, we will remember Patsy for the 
     generous time she carved out from her jam packed schedule to 
     always graciously meet with and inspire Asian Pacific 
     American elected officials, Asian Pacific American student 
     interns, Asian Pacific American community leaders, and the 
     Asian

[[Page E2111]]

     Pacific American grassroots community sending them home with 
     pearls of wisdom and a charge to do good for others and to 
     serve this nation.
       This is how the Asian Pacific American community will 
     forever remember the incredibly vibrant Congresswoman from 
     Hawaii--Patsy T. Mink.

     

                          ____________________