[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 59 (Monday, May 3, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4769-S4770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 348--TO PROTECT, PROMOTE, AND CELEBRATE MOTHERHOOD

  Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself, Mr. Allen, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. 
Crapo, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Lott, Mr. Miller, Mr. 
Roberts, Mr. Specter, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Burns, 
Mr. Byrd, Mr.  Alexander, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Levin, and Mr. Santorum) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary:

                               S. Res. 348

       Whereas the second Sunday of May is observed as Mother's 
     Day;
       Whereas motherhood and childhood are entitled to special 
     assistance;
       Whereas mothers have a unique bond with their children;
       Whereas the work of mothers is of paramount importance, but 
     often undervalued and demeaned;
       Whereas mothers' concerns about their children and their 
     education should be supported by the national agenda;
       Whereas a child's healthy relationship with the mother 
     predicts higher self-esteem and resiliency in dealing with 
     life events;
       Whereas the complementary roles and contributions of 
     fathers and mothers should be recognized and encouraged;
       Whereas mothers have an indispensable role in building and 
     transforming society to build a culture of life; and
       Whereas mothers along with their husbands, form an 
     emotional template for a child's future relationships: Now 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the importance of mothers to a healthy 
     society; and
       (2) calls on the people of the United States to observe 
     Mother's Day by considering how society can better respect 
     and support motherhood.
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SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 102--TO EXPRESS THE SENSE OF THE CONGRESS 
 REGARDING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SUPREME COURT DECISION IN BROWN 
                    V. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA

  Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself and Mr. Roberts) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary:

                            S. Con. Res. 102

       Whereas Oliver L. Brown is the namesake of the landmark 
     United States Supreme Court decision of 1954, Brown v. Board 
     of Education (347 U.S. 483, 1954);
       Whereas Oliver L. Brown is honored as the lead plaintiff in 
     the Topeka, Kansas case which posed a legal challenge to 
     racial segregation in public education;
        Whereas by 1950, African-American parents began to renew 
     their efforts to challenge State laws that only permitted 
     their children to attend certain schools, and as a result, 
     they organized through the National Association for the 
     Advancement of Colored People (the NAACP), an organization 
     founded in 1909 to address the issue of the unequal and 
     discriminatory treatment experienced by African-Americans 
     throughout the country;
       Whereas Oliver L. Brown became part of the NAACP strategy 
     led first by Charles Houston and later by Thurgood Marshall, 
     to file suit against various school boards on behalf of such 
     parents and their children;
       Whereas Oliver L. Brown was a member of a distinguished 
     group of plaintiffs in cases from Kansas (Brown v. Board of 
     Education), Delaware (Gebhart v. Belton), South Carolina 
     (Briggs v. Elliot), and Virginia (Davis v. County School 
     Board of Prince Edward County) that were combined by the 
     United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, 
     and in Washington, D.C. (Bolling v. Sharpe), considered 
     separately by the Supreme Court with respect to the District 
     of Columbia;
       Whereas with respect to cases filed in the State of 
     Kansas--
       (1) there were 11 school integration cases dating from 1881 
     to 1949, prior to Brown v. Board of Education in 1954;
       (2) in many instances, the schools for African-American 
     children were substandard facilities with out-of-date 
     textbooks and often no basic school supplies;
       (3) in the fall of 1950, members of the Topeka, Kansas 
     chapter of the NAACP agreed to again challenge the ``separate 
     but equal'' doctrine governing public education;
       (4) on February 28, 1951, the NAACP filed their case as 
     Oliver L. Brown et al. v. The Board of Education of Topeka 
     Kansas (which represented a group of 13 parents and 20 
     children);
       (5) the district court ruled in favor of the school board 
     and the case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court;
       (6) at the Supreme Court level, the case was combined with 
     other NAACP cases from Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia, 
     and Washington, D.C. (which was later heard separately); and
       (7) the combined cases became known as Oliver L. Brown et 
     al. v. The Board of Education of Topeka, et al.;
       Whereas with respect to the Virginia case of Davis et al. 
     v. Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors--
       (1) one of the few public high schools available to 
     African-Americans in the State of Virginia was Robert Moton 
     High School in Prince Edward County;

[[Page S4770]]

       (2) built in 1943, it was never large enough to accommodate 
     its student population;
       (3) the gross inadequacies of these classrooms sparked a 
     student strike in 1951;
       (4) the NAACP soon joined their struggles and challenged 
     the inferior quality of their school facilities in court; and
       (5) although the United States District Court ordered that 
     the plaintiffs be provided with equal school facilities, they 
     were denied access to the schools for white students in their 
     area;
       Whereas with respect to the South Carolina case of Briggs 
     v. R.W. Elliott--
       (1) in Clarendon County, South Carolina, the State NAACP 
     first attempted, unsuccessfully and with a single plaintiff, 
     to take legal action in 1947 against the inferior conditions 
     that African-American students experienced under South 
     Carolina's racially segregated school system;
       (2) by 1951, community activists convinced African-American 
     parents to join the NAACP efforts to file a class action suit 
     in United States District Court;
       (3) the court found that the schools designated for 
     African-Americans were grossly inadequate in terms of 
     buildings, transportation, and teacher salaries when compared 
     to the schools provided for white students; and
       (4) an order to equalize the facilities was virtually 
     ignored by school officials, and the schools were never made 
     equal;
       Whereas with respect to the Delaware cases of Belton v. 
     Gebhart and Bulah v. Gebhart--
       (1) first petitioned in 1951, these cases challenged the 
     inferior conditions of 2 African-American schools;
       (2) in the suburb of Claymont, Delaware, African-American 
     children were prohibited from attending the area's local high 
     school, and in the rural community of Hockessin, Delaware, 
     African-American students were forced to attend a dilapidated 
     1-room schoolhouse, and were not provided transportation to 
     the school, while white children in the area were provided 
     transportation and a better school facility;
       (3) both plaintiffs were represented by local NAACP 
     attorneys; and
       (4) though the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the 
     plaintiffs, the decision did not apply to all schools in 
     Delaware;
       Whereas with respect to the District of Columbia case of 
     Bolling, et al. v. C. Melvin Sharpe, et al.--
       (1) 11 African-American junior high school students were 
     taken on a field trip to Washington, D.C.'s new John Philip 
     Sousa School for white students only;
       (2) the African-American students were denied admittance to 
     the school and ordered to return to their inadequate school; 
     and
       (3) in 1951, a suit was filed on behalf of the students, 
     and after review with the Brown case in 1954, the United 
     States Supreme Court ruled that segregation in the Nation's 
     capital was unconstitutional;
       Whereas on May 17, 1954, at 12:52 p.m., the United States 
     Supreme Court ruled that the discriminatory nature of racial 
     segregation ``violates the 14th Amendment to the 
     Constitution, which guarantees all citizens equal protection 
     of the laws'';
       Whereas the decision in Brown v. Board of Education set the 
     stage for dismantling racial segregation throughout the 
     country;
       Whereas the quiet courage of Oliver L. Brown and his fellow 
     plaintiffs asserted the right of African-American people to 
     have equal access to social, political, and communal 
     structures;
       Whereas our country is indebted to the work of the NAACP 
     Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Howard University 
     Law School, the NAACP, and the individual plaintiffs in the 
     cases considered by the Supreme Court;
       Whereas Reverend Oliver L. Brown died in 1961, and because 
     the landmark United States Supreme Court decision bears his 
     name, he is remembered as an icon for justice, freedom, and 
     equal rights; and
       Whereas the national importance of the Brown v. Board of 
     Education decision had a profound impact on American culture, 
     affecting families, communities, and governments by outlawing 
     racial segregation in public education, resulting in the 
     abolition of legal discrimination on any basis: Now therefore 
     be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That--
       (1) the Congress recognizes and honors the 50th anniversary 
     of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education 
     of Topeka;
       (2) the Congress encourages all people of the United States 
     to recognize the importance of the Supreme Court decision in 
     Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka; and
       (3) by celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. 
     Board of Education of Topeka, the Nation will be able to 
     refresh and renew the importance of equality in society.

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