[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 055 (Monday, April 7, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H2837-H2838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF THE DAWSON FAMILY COMMUNITY PROTECTION ACT OF 2003

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Miller of Michigan). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak on behalf of brave 
families fighting to take back their neighborhoods from the clutches of 
drug abuse and the violence of the illicit drug trade.
  Throughout the country, communities are losing this fight. The voices 
of families are being silenced, lost through the isolation and 
suppression that comes through the use of verbal threats, physical 
intimidation, and even murder.
  April 16 marks 6 months since Angela and Carnell Dawson and their 
five young children were murdered in apparent retaliation for their 
local action in the fight against the open-air drug markets being 
operated on the streets before them in my district.
  The Dawsons' house was firebombed at 2 a.m. in the morning in an 
attempt to silence their important and powerful voices, and the voices 
of other families committed to our troubled neighborhoods in this 
country.
  We must not allow their voices to be stifled. We must support these 
brave families and protect their loved ones while ensuring that they 
can work freely with police and other law enforcement officials to push 
the drugs out of their communities. We must not fail to support them, 
for if we do, these neighborhoods and these neighborhood residents are 
doomed.
  We need to strengthen the support for these brave families as they 
struggle to maintain their activism in their communities and on their 
blocks. Witness relocation programs are necessary and invaluable in 
protecting witnesses in individual criminal cases, Madam Speaker, but 
they are not sufficient to combat the problem of intimidation of entire 
neighborhoods patrolled by violent drug gangs actively involved in the 
interstate trafficking of illegal drugs.
  In such communities, there are many dealers who will rush to fill the 
space of a single convicted dealer or enforcer. Courageous souls like 
the Dawsons are far less common and impossible to replace. Thus, it is 
vital that we support those families who insist on remaining in their 
neighborhoods and who are committed to working with police to repel 
drug trafficking in their neighborhoods.
  That is why I am introducing today the Dawson Family Community 
Protection Act of 2003. The bill serves both to memorialize the Dawson 
family's commitment and activism, and to remind us all of what may 
result when families in an at-risk neighborhood do not receive adequate 
support.
  Moreover, this bill would ensure that in the future, providing 
support for such communities is a Federal priority within the context 
of our National Drug Control Policy.
  The Dawson Family Community Protection Act would require the director 
of the National Drug Control Policy to direct each year $1 million in 
HIDTA funds to support HIDTA initiatives aimed at increasing safety and 
encouraging cooperation in neighborhoods like the Dawsons', 
neighborhoods that are not fighting one sole drug dealer, but a 
competitive open market of drug trafficking; neighborhoods where 
threats of reprisal for cooperation with police are commonplace, and 
where activist families working with law enforcement officials are in 
the most danger; neighborhoods that are doomed without increased 
support.
  Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials understand the 
importance of ordinary families courageously taking a stand and 
cooperating with the police like the Dawson family did. The cooperation 
of such people is essential to the success of law enforcement efforts 
to disrupt violent drug

[[Page H2838]]

trafficking organizations and shut down markets that fund their illegal 
drug enterprises.
  I am happy that the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder), chairman of 
the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, 
with whom I serve as ranking member, supports me in this effort and is 
an original cosponsor of this legislation. I deeply appreciate his 
support for families like the Dawsons, and urge all of my colleagues to 
support the Dawson Family Community Protection Act, not only to protect 
families, but also to allow their voices to be heard.
  Lastly, I especially thank Tony Haywood, our counsel to the Committee 
on Government Reform and Oversight, for his tireless work on this 
legislation; as well as Michael Christianson, Kimberly Ross, and Asi 
Ofosu on my staff for their assistance.

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