[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 24, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING SARA BERLIN: A YOUNG AND TRULY INSPIRING COMMUNITY LEADER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. KENDRICK B. MEEK

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 24, 2004

  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to one of 
Miami's youngest community leaders, 11-year-old Sara Berlin, a 6th 
grader from Jacobson Sinai Academy Bergman Upper School in Miami. On 
Friday, February 13, 2004, Sara was honored by community leaders and 
organizers of ``Do The Right Thing of Miami, Inc.'', a program under 
the auspices of the City of Miami Police Department.
  Although I have not had the opportunity to meet Sara yet, I feel as 
though I know her after reading her book about the agonizing plight of 
Haitian children. I do reserve the utmost respect for her recent and 
compassionate work.
  It is my understanding that Sara was genuinely inspired to write her 
book after researching the plight of Haitian children and learning 
about my bill which would allow alien children to be transferred from 
the Department of Homeland Security to the Office of Refugee 
Resettlement within 72 hours of apprehension, and to be released from 
custody and placed into the community with a qualified relative or 
caretaker within 15 days of such apprehension. I am delighted to know 
that Sara included me in her book.
  Indeed, Mr. Speaker, our quest for simple justice and fairness for 
newly-arrived Haitians evokes the storied stance of our Nation as the 
defender of due process and human rights, particularly when the 
beneficiaries of our action are helpless children.
  I am so grateful that Ms. Sara Berlin, a magnificent advocate in her 
own right, has added her own brave words to ours. We are strengthened 
yet again by her timely voice to the cause that calls attention to the 
cruel disenfranchisement of Haitians and their children.
  Sarah writes,

       Everyone should help kids. They shouldn't be locked up. 
     Everyone should donate or do something to help out. It is 
     really not fair. Kids should be able to live freely.

  With her book on Haiti and specifically Haitian children, we are 
inspired by a greater appreciation of their struggles. I am moved by 
the inspiring description written about Sara's work of compassion thus: 
``I'm proud that Sara has taken an interest in helping others. The 
feelings she expressed, and the desire to help, are genuine and 
spontaneous.''
  I join our community in honoring Sara and her parents, classmates and 
teachers as they come together at the city of Miami Police Department. 
It is without a doubt that we will long remember this wonderful day as 
Sara inspires those of us who continue to care for the voiceless 
children of the world. We are comforted by her words in articulating 
their struggles to be free and living in a democratic country like 
ours.
  Indeed, I am privileged to have been encouraged and inspired by her 
work, and I thank her for giving me the honor of representing her in 
the U.S. Congress.

                          ____________________