[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 69 (Monday, May 17, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5505-S5510]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION
Mr. TALENT. Mr. President, I wish to take a few moments today--at
least a few moments are justified--in offering some words to help the
Nation celebrate the Brown v. Board of Education decision that occurred
50 years ago. It is a good thing we remember and honor that decision.
That case was the culmination of a strategy by the NAACP and others
that attacked racial segregation at its heart and, by the way, also a
decision that redeemed the Supreme Court's record in cases of this kind
because we should not forget the Court had earlier placed its
imprimatur on slavery in 1856 in the Dred Scott decision and had
subsequently placed its imprimatur on the Jim Crow decision in Plessy
v. Ferguson in 1896. It was, indeed, time in 1954 for the Supreme Court
to stand up for the Constitution and live up to the promises of the
Declaration of Independence, specifically the promise that all of us
are created equal, at least in this sense: that we are equal in our
right to enjoy the inalienable rights that Almighty God gives us simply
by virtue of the fact that we are people and have human dignity.
The history of the United States is, in one sense, a history of a
progressive realization of that promise that in fact had been made in
theory in the Declaration and also an understanding by the American
people that unless that promise is realized and enjoyed by everybody,
it is secure for nobody. Brown v. Board of Education was a milestone in
that realization.
I do want to make the point that the Supreme Court's decision in
Brown was not an isolated act of courage by nine Justices, although it
was certainly a
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courageous decision. It was, as I said before, the culmination of a
strategy by the NAACP, but also years of advocacy by that group and
other groups around the country and thousands of Americans on their own
who refused to accept the assumptions underlying racial segregation
and, indeed, refused to let the American people go on year after year
quietly and in an unthinking way accepting those assumptions.
That activity by thousands and thousands of people in protests, in
op-ed pieces, in books they wrote, in appearances on mass media, and
just the way they conducted their day-to-day lives changed public
opinion, by no means entirely in 1954 but enough so that the Brown v.
Board of Education decision became possible, in a way that it would not
have been possible--clearly was not possible in 1934 or even 1944.
The same Supreme Court, staffed by the same nine Justices, would not
and did not issue a decision such as Brown v. Board of Education 20
years earlier or 10 years earlier because those people had not yet done
enough of their work to move enough of the American people toward the
right conclusion that that decision became possible.
In that sense, I suggest that people such as Jackie Robinson and
others around the country probably did more to desegregate the schools
than the Supreme Court did in Brown v. Board of Education, and
certainly people such as Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King did more
to ensure the implementation in practice of the Brown v. Board of
Education than the Federal courts did.
I want to dedicate this day on which we justly celebrate the decision
to the thousands of people, some who are recorded in history and some
who have remained anonymous, who made that decision possible and helped
correct a tremendous injustice and redeem America's honor before the
bar of history.
The Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education, changed laws, and
that is hard, as we know in the Senate.
Those other folks, in standing up for the rights of their fellow
citizens, changed hearts, and that is even more difficult.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today I rise to commemorate the 50th
Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. Today, we celebrate the
historic and unanimous Supreme Court decision that called for an end to
racial segregation in schools throughout the nation. And as we honor
those individuals who risked so much to challenge discrimination and
establish a constitutional right to an equal education, I am filled
with both hope and promise. Hope that the legacy of Brown will endure.
Hope that equality and opportunity will soon be the reality for
millions of school children who today still face segregation and
inequality in their schools. And the promise that today we will renew
our commitment to achieving the goal of equality that began 50 years
ago with the Brown decision.
I am so proud to honor today the important role that the great state
of Maryland played in this history of Brown. Maryland is the birthplace
of Thurgood Marshall, the architect of the blueprint to end racial
segregation in education. Thurgood Marshall grew up and attended
racially segregated schools in Baltimore, he knew the impact of
segregation first hand, and he took the fight for racial justice all
the way to the Supreme Court. His thoughtful and strategic legal
arguments were instrumental in knocking down racial segregation in our
country. Maryland is also the home of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. Founded in 1909, the NAACP successfully
fought to integrate the University of Maryland in 1935 and its leaders
painstakingly planned and organized the challenge to racial segregation
in public schools.
Brown marks a momentous beginning in American history. For the first
time, the Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to an equal
public education for all students. And for the first time, the Supreme
Court recognized that separate can never be equal. Brown is the
foundation on the road to dismantling segregation in our society. The
fight for equality started with the schools and progressed through the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Fair
Housing Act of 1968--all critical steps to rid the nation of
segregation and disparities it fostered. Yet 50 years later we're still
a long way from the promise of Brown v. Board of Education--equality in
public education and opportunity for all students.
Why was the Brown decision so important? Because the Supreme Court
said that regardless of race, color, creed or ethnicity education ``is
a right which must be made available to all students.'' The Brown Court
took the unprecedented step of examining how African-American children
were being educated and the environments that they were learning in.
And for the first time the Court used social science research to show
that learning is compromised by segregation--and as a result Black
students were receiving inferior educations. It was clear that poor
schools, which invariably lacked resources, resulted in a lower quality
of education for Black students than their white counterparts. Most
importantly, the Brown decision, with a mighty hand, challenged
Americans to confront the discrimination, segregation and inequality
that existed in schools and in their communities.
Today, I urge Americans to renew that challenge. We must address the
growing disparities in our schools and the re-segregation of students
of color in our classrooms. Even a quick glance at our Nation's
schools, including schools in Maryland, shows that the promise of Brown
has not been realized. We know that students are still segregated--and
that schools still are not equal. Students of color and poor students
are more likely to be in overcrowded schools, without enough books and
computers, in buildings that are often literally falling apart. They
are often sidelined into special education classes--when what they
really need is special attention.
I don't want the quality of education to depend on a family's income
or the location they live in. As the Brown Court understood, having
adequate resources and decent facilities matters. We need to make sure
we have a public school system that works. That means smaller classes,
a good teacher in every classroom, and making sure schools have
resources to meet special needs--like bilingual education and special
education. We need to keep fighting against the soft bigotry of low
expectation.
Today, as we commemorate the Brown decision and the progress that has
been made in the past 50 years, we renew our commitment to increase
diversity and provide educational opportunities for all children
regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status. We must stand up
for what America stands for: opportunity, equality, and empowerment. We
must make sure there is no discrimination of any kind, anywhere in the
United States of America--whether it is the old fashioned kind or the
new fashioned kind. That means saying no to continued racial
discrimination in education, and saying no to racial sidelining:
pushing children of color into special education. Brown established
education as a right to all students. We must continue to fight to
protect that right, to make sure that the promise of an equal education
is, in fact, a reality for all school children.
Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, 50 years ago, a third grade girl named
Linda walked a full mile each way to school, crossing through a
dangerous railroad switchyard to do it. Only five blocks from her home
was a very nice local school, but when her father petitioned for her
admission, he was denied.
Why?
Because she was not white.
Fortunately, her father would not give up, and because of his
tenacity, 50 years later, we can celebrate the landmark decision of
Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education.
Since Thurgood Marshall argued his most important case involving over
200 plaintiffs in front of the same bench that he would later sit on,
we have made great strides.
We have done away with the ridiculous idea that separate could ever
be equal. We have legalized desegregation. Colleges and universities
are becoming increasingly more diverse as parents who did not attend
college are now able to send their children to institutions of higher
education.
But there is so much more still to do. Until children of all
backgrounds receive the same quality of teaching, have access to the
same quality of
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learning resources, and graduate from high school and secondary
education at the same rate, our work is not finished.
Despite the Supreme Court's declaration in that landmark decision
that education ``is a right which must be made available to all on
equal terms,'' our country still remains far from providing an equal
education to all.
Fortunately, I know we have the ability to change this and to ensure
all children a first-rate education. We are the greatest and richest
country in the world. We have the ability to make sure that our
elementary and secondary schools are the best in the world.
We also need to make sure the doors to higher education remain open
for all. We have the best universities and colleges in the world, and
students from all over the globe dream about attending college in the
U.S.
The result of the University of Michigan case went a long way towards
keeping the hope of higher education open to all Americans. While the
Brown case defined our parents' era, the current generation's battle is
to move beyond the legalization of desegregation and make sure it
actually happens, with the help of affirmative action.
I am pleased the Supreme Court upheld the efforts of the University
of Michigan to promote diversity in university admissions. Education is
the most effective tool and the critical first step to empowerment.
Education is the tool that allows students to comprehend the world
around them, and provides them the know-how to provide themselves with
a superior quality of life.
We need to keep it going. Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the
Children's Defense Fund and the first woman admitted to the Mississippi
bar, once remarked, ``A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther
King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back--but they are gone. We are it. It
is up to us. It is up to you.''
She is right. It is up to us to continue Dr. King's, Mr. Brown's, and
everyone's journey for full equality.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, today marks the anniversary of one of the
most important milestones in American history. Fifty years ago today,
on May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in
Brown v. Board of Education that separate was not equal in our schools.
This landmark ruling established the principle of equality in our
laws and launched a national wave of racial integration and progress
toward racial equality. We are all familiar with the laws that have
been erased from the books, mandating separate and inferior facilities,
services and treatment for African Americans. Americans can be proud
that we have made progress against the evils of segregation. Today
African Americans can live in any neighborhood they want, send their
children to integrated schools, eat, drink, read, sleep, travel and
enjoy recreation and entertainment in all the places every other
American can.
These changes mark major progress, but the road to equality has never
been quick or easy. James McClinton, the new African American mayor of
Topeka, KS where the Brown case originated, was quoted recently in the
Washington Post noting that the legacy of the decision is both fragile
and incomplete. Just a year after the Brown decision, the Supreme Court
issued another case known as Brown II, which led many school districts
to drag their feet for years before integrating. We all remember when
President Eisenhower had to send the military to Central High School to
protect its first African American students, and the sacrifices African
American students made to attend formerly all-white colleges and
universities. The truth is, we still have a long way to go. Today is a
day to celebrate the progress we have made, and the breakthrough Brown
v. Board represented for racial and educational equality in America.
But we cannot afford to just rest on our accomplishments since 1954. We
must also look forward to 2054, and ask ourselves what opportunities we
want our children and grandchildren to have then, and what they need us
to do now to achieve those goals.
In 2004, African American students--as well as their counterparts in
the Hispanic and Native American communities--are not performing as
well as white students in our schools. I want to cite some statistics
to paint a clear picture of what is going on in our schools. We first
must wake up to the established, continuing and disturbing trend of
resegregation. Studies have found that our schools have reached their
peak of integration and now may be moving back to becoming
resegregated. As we commemorate the Brown decision, we cannot afford to
ignore this continued segregation. The National Assessment of
Educational Progress found that while 74 percent of white fourth-grade
students were good readers, barely half that many--39 percent of black
fourth-graders earned the same designation. We have school buildings in
disrepair and overcrowded classrooms, which not only makes teaching
difficult, but sends minority and low-income students a powerful
message that we do not value them or their education. Minority students
are also much more likely to be in special or remedial education. In
1994, 31 percent of African American, 24 percent of Hispanic and 35
percent of Native American high school graduates took remedial classes,
while only 15 percent of white and Asian American high school graduates
did. Minority students make up 40 percent of our school-age population
but just 14 percent of their teachers are minorities. According to the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, white students are significantly
more likely to have access to advanced academic programs than minority
children and children with disabilities in the same school district,
regardless of how wealthy or poor the district is. Our national high
school graduation rate is an inadequate 69 percent, but when you dig
deeper you learn that we are graduating barely half our minority
students in this country--just 53 percent of Hispanic students, 51
percent of Native American students, and 50 percent of African American
students.
It should surprise no one that if minority students don't perform
well in high school, they will perform less well in college. As of
1999, white students were literally twice as likely as Hispanic and
African American students to earn a Bachelor's degree. Both minority
groups are underrepresented on America's college campuses. Not only is
there a racial achievement gap, but that gap has actually widened in
the last generation. In the 28 years from 1971 to 1999, the proportion
of white high school students who earned at least a Bachelor's degree
increased 13 points, to 36 percent. The proportion for African American
students increased 5 points to 17 percent, and the share of Hispanic
students rose 4 points to 14 percent. Imagine the larger social and
economic consequences of these populations not going to or graduating
from college, especially when our racial diversity is growing rapidly.
We all know that you will earn a lot more money if you have a
Bachelor's degree, and that American economic competitiveness in a
globalizing economy depends on high-skill, high-wage jobs. We need to
keep up our efforts to make sure that the color of someone's skin does
not determine their opportunity to succeed.
If we are to ensure that children of color have an equal opportunity
to go to college, get their degree and achieve the American dream, we
must address the academic deficiencies in our high schools. Roughly
half our minority students are graduating from high school, which means
that nearly half are also dropping out. The No Child Left Behind Act,
which I supported, requires for the first time that much of the
academic achievement data we collect on our schools be separated,
disaggregated, by race, students with disabilities, limited English
proficiency, and students from low-income families. This step forward
is critical to track achievement gaps and their trends over time.
Disaggregated data is an important tool we need to target assistance
and resources to reduce and eliminate racial achievement gaps. Yet
currently the Department of Education is not requiring disaggregation
of data on dropouts. This information is critical if we really want to
reduce dropout rates and improve graduation rates for all students. I
strongly urge Secretary Paige and the Department of Education to report
disaggregation of dropout data.
We also know from numerous studies that the gaps between test scores
of
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low-income and middle-income students could be eliminated if all
students had highly qualified teachers. If fully funded, the No Child
Left Behind Act would put highly qualified teachers in all our
classrooms, but, unfortunately, an amendment I offered on the budget
resolution earlier this year to fully fund the Act, failed on a party-
line vote. But even when No Child Left Behind is fully funded, as I
hope it is next year, our work will still not be done with regards to
our high schools.
That is why last summer I introduced S.1554, the Pathways for All
Students to Succeed--PASS, Act. The PASS Act seeks to eliminate
dropout, achievement and graduation gaps among our high school
students. The PASS Act does three things. First, it will help students
learn to read and write by providing $1 billion to help schools hire
literacy coaches. Second, my bill ensures students are taking the
classes and getting the support they need to finish school. It provides
$2 billion for academic and career counselors to ensure students have a
personalized plan for completing high school and going on to college.
Finally, my bill provides extra help to schools that need it most. It
provides $500 million in grants to help improve low-performing schools
improve. I hope that the Senate will pass this bill this year.
The Brown v. Board decision was a momentous achievement for our
Nation, and I am honored to mark its 50th anniversary today. At the
same time, we must take the momentum of this celebration to fulfill the
promise of Brown by ensuring that all our children have access to the
highest quality education worthy of our great Nation.
Mr. GRAHAM of South Carolina. Mr. President, I rise today in honor of
the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision of Brown v.
Board of Education which declared separate but equal unconstitutional.
I believe that ensuring that our public schools are open to everyone is
a great equalizer in America.
I will soon be turning 49, and I know that having an integrated
school system has enriched my generation by allowing all of us in South
Carolina to learn, socialize, and compete together in a public school
setting.
The brave men and women who fought to end the segregation of public
schools have done a great service to South Carolina and our nation. It
is appropriate they be honored accordingly and all of us should commit
ourselves to build upon their legacy.
I join you and my colleagues in the U.S. Senate in commemorating this
historic decision.
Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, today marks the 50th anniversary of Brown
vs. Board of Education, a U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision that
sent shockwaves through the educational establishment. For the first
time, the highest court in the country decided that ``separate
educational facilities are inherently unequal'' and a violation of the
14th Amendment.
Before Brown vs. Board of Education, Indianapolis Public Schools had
been forced by State law to scrap separate black and white schools.
That change, however, did not necessarily result in integrated
classrooms. Segregated communities left most of our schools racially
homogeneous.
It was in this environment that I was elected to the Indianapolis
Public School Board in 1964. Like much of the country, Indianapolis was
experiencing the civil rights movement, and the Indianapolis Public
Schools were in the middle of it all.
Our meetings were picketed and protested, and citizens staged ``sit-
ins'' at the downtown headquarters. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled on
May 17, 1954, that separate but equal could not stand; yet in the 10
years that followed, IPS had not done much to integrate its schools.
To further the discussion, and to seek input on what would later
become known as the Shortridge Plan; I held neighborhood meetings in
school buildings around Indianapolis to discuss ideas for peacefully
integrating the city schools. At one such meeting on the near Westside,
participants literally picked up the furniture and threw it at each
other. The police had to be called to restore order.
Later, the Shortridge Plan was adopted by the board, but not
enthusiastically. Under the Shortridge Plan, IPS was to establish a
college preparatory high school that would voluntarily draw the best
and the brightest from all over Indianapolis, regardless of race. Some
board members, and the community at large, saw this step as far too
disruptive. Those individuals felt that the school board should not be
involved in matters of race and sociology.
The plan worked because young Hoosiers responded. Before the plan was
implemented, Shortridge was 90 percent African American, 10 percent
Caucasian. The racial makeup of the applicants to the first entering
class under the new plan was astounding: 53 percent Caucasian, 47
percent African American. In a year, the school became a national
example of how young African American and Caucasian students could
through their own individual choices come together to learn and study.
Unfortunately, in my second year of service on the board,
polarization set in. A majority of the Board no longer felt that we
should be involved in questions of race. In an election for president
of the board, I lost 4-3. The issue of race, however, could not be
avoided. Years later, the Federal courts implemented an involuntary
busing system that forced our schools to seek some racial balance.
Brown vs. Board of Education set us, and the rest of the Nation, on
an important path. While the Court opinion outlawed the notion of
``separate but equal,'' it persuaded us to address the larger issue of
living together as one society. Brown v. Board of Education helped us
to become a better Nation. But we still have much work to do.
Today, we face a different type of segregation; namely, the gap
between those who receive a quality education and those who do not. The
gap in reading achievement between blacks and whites is staggering
nationally. It is 28 percentage points at the 4th-grade level. The gap
in reading achievement between Hispanics and whites is also alarming
nationally, 29 percentage points at the 4th-grade level. We are
experiencing two education systems--separate and unequal. This is
unacceptable.
The Federal Government's first major entry into public education was
in 1965 when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed to
provide Federal aid to school districts with large percentages of
children in poverty. The intent was to help level the playing field--to
give extra aid to those children most in need. Despite a discretionary
funding amount of $55.6 billion in fiscal year 2004, increased from
$35.6 billion in 2000, achievement gaps have remained wide.
To help close these gaps and to help ensure that all children have an
equal opportunity to learn, Congress and the Administration worked
together to pass the No Child Left Behind education reform act in 2002.
Under No Child Left Behind, States must describe how they will close
the achievement gap and make sure that all students, including those
who are physically disadvantaged, achieve academic proficiency. In
addition, they must produce annual State and school district report
cards that inform parents and communities about State and school
progress. Schools that do not make progress must provide supplemental
services, such as free tutoring or after-school assistance. If
corrective actions do not yield adequate progress after 5 years,
schools must make dramatic changes in the management.
The idea is not to establish Federal control over the schools, but
simply to push States and local school districts to take a hard look at
each school's strong and weak points.
In many schools, an overall high performance has often hidden a weak
performance by some student sub-groups. Because of this dynamic, the
act requires that each sub-group be reported separately. Overlooking
the fact that only one in six African Americans graduate with
proficient reading skills is simply not acceptable.
Some have complained about the increased focus on school testing. But
if we want each child to earn a meaningful high school degree, testing
in lower grades is an important tool to reveal the strengths and
weaknesses of each school. Testing allows schools to learn which
students need help and what subjects must be taught better.
We all have the same goal--to improve our schools. All students must
have the opportunity to get ahead, regardless of race or residence. On
May
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17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously declared that separate but
equal could not stand as the law of the land. It is our job--50 years
later--to make sure that we are faithful to this principle of equal
opportunity. The success of all of our children and the economic future
of our country depend on our determination.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I speak today on the 50th anniversary of
the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision, Brown v. Board of
Education. I join with all Americans in celebrating this decision,
which, in many ways, inspired the modern civil rights movement.
In Brown, the Supreme Court upheld the right of all children to an
equal education in our public schools. In its unanimous opinion, the
Court stated ``[w]e conclude that in the field of public education the
doctrine of `separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal.'' With these historic words, the
doors of public schools were required to be opened to all children,
regardless of their race, and efforts to end segregation in other
aspects of American society gained momentum.
The slow integration of our public schools has been a difficult and
sometimes painful process, with some clinging to any mechanism by which
this process could be slowed or circumvented. The promise of children
of all races and backgrounds coming together to study and to prepare
for their futures has too often been clouded by the prejudices of
adults. And while great strides have been made in the last 50 years,
much work remains to be done to ensure that the phrase ``separate but
equal'' is at long last relegated to the history books.
One of the most serious challenges facing public schools today is the
No Child Left Behind, NCLB, Act, which includes a Federal testing
mandate that has become an added burden for students and school
districts.
Wisconsinites are concerned about this additional layer of testing
for many reasons, including the cost of developing and implementing
these tests, the loss of teaching time every year to prepare for and
take the tests, and the extra pressure that the tests will place on
students, teachers, schools, and school districts.
Instead of piling more tests on public school students, concerned
parents, teachers and school administrators want to know when the
Federal Government is going to provide the funding it promised for
education programs. While I have worked with many of my colleagues in
the Senate to provide more of this funding, Congress still falls far
short of providing the resources that students need. And schools are
left to face mandate after mandate without the funding that they need
to carry those mandates out.
No Child Left Behind not only adds to that list of Federal mandates,
it also can impose harsh sanctions on schools that do not meet yearly
goals, even though the programs that would help students and schools to
meet those goals are not fully funded. Lagging test scores at a given
school may mean that the school is labeled as ``failing,'' which can
have serious, negative consequences for a school that may already be
struggling.
I support a bill introduced by my colleague Senator Durbin, which
takes a different approach to the issue. This legislation seeks to
ensure that schools get the funding they need to implement the mounting
Federal mandates they face. The bill sets a minimum amount of funding
that the Federal Government must provide for the Title I program, which
supports programs for low-income and disadvantaged students. If a
school doesn't get the minimum funding, it shouldn't be subject to the
penalties that schools can receive under the NCLB law, and the Durbin
bill would exempt schools from sanctions in any year that Title I is
not funded at this minimum level.
As we saw when nationwide test results came in last fall, the legacy
of Brown will not be fulfilled until we can close the gap on the racial
disparities that persist in test results and also in graduation rates.
Nor will education truly be equal for all students as long as we
underfund special education programs and other programs critical to
supporting students who are struggling to succeed in the classroom.
If lagging test scores prove that too many children are being left
behind, the answer isn't to label them as failures. We must give those
students the resources they need to succeed in school. Congress and the
administration must do more to ensure that schools have the resources
to help these students catch up with their peers before students are
required to take additional annual tests required under the No Child
Left Behind Act--tests that will have serious consequences for their
schools. The legacy of the Brown decision is an education for all
children on ``equal terms.'' Either we ensure that great legacy, or we
fail the children who need our support the most.
The decision in Brown was one step in the continuing journey to
America that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., dreamed would be ``a nation
where [his children] will not be judged by the color of their skin but
by the content of their character.'' A few years after the Brown
decision, Congress began to do its part to combat inequality. It passed
civil rights laws ensuring the right to vote to all Americans, banning
discrimination in employment based on race, ethnicity, religion,
national origin or gender, and prohibiting discrimination in public and
private housing.
Our Nation has come a long way since 1954, but we still have work to
do. Congress and the administration have a particular responsibility to
advance the cause of freedom, justice, and equality for all Americans.
Congress and the President can demonstrate their support for freedom
and justice by supporting civil rights initiatives that have been
ignored for far too long.
Perhaps no issue on this agenda is more urgent than racial profiling.
Racial profiling is the insidious practice by which some law
enforcement agents stop African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans,
Arab Americans and others simply because of their race, ethnicity, or
national origin. Reports in states from New Jersey to Florida, and
Maryland to Texas all show that African Americans, Hispanics, and
members of other minority groups are being stopped by some police at
rates far in excess of their share of the population and the rate at
which they engage in criminal conduct.
I might add that the urgency for banning racial profiling is
compounded by concerns post-September 11 that racial profiling--instead
of good police work and following up on legitimate leads--is being used
more frequently against Arabs, Muslims, or Americans perceived to be
Arab or Muslim.
President Bush pledged to end racial profiling over 3 years ago
during his first address to a joint session of Congress. Attorney
General John Ashcroft also has acknowledged the damage caused by racial
profiling and called for an end to the practice. It is time for the
administration to move this effort forward.
Representative John Conyers, the distinguished ranking member of the
House Judiciary Committee, and I have reintroduced our bill, the End
Racial Profiling Act. Our bill bans racial profiling and requires
Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to take steps to
prevent the practice. This bill should be one of the top agenda items
this Congress and the Administration should follow through on its
promise to address this issue.
The vast majority of law enforcement agents fulfill their duties
professionally and without bias and we are all indebted to them for
their courage and dedication. Racial profiling is ineffective and
undermines their efforts to serve and protect all Americans.
In addition to passing the End Racial Profiling Act, Congress and the
President should also address a range of civil rights-related issues in
this Congress--from education, to welfare, to a fair wage for an honest
day's work, to improving our criminal justice system.
Congress should do more to ensure that federally funded programs
comply with civil rights and other laws. In particular, we must improve
the Federal welfare law to require that each State's program treats all
applicants and clients fairly. While Congress rightly encouraged state-
level innovation with the 1996 welfare law, we should use the pending
reauthorization of that law as an opportunity to ensure that all State
plans conform to uniform Federal fair treatment and due process
protections for all applicants and clients.
[[Page S5510]]
Congress should ensure that all Americans get a fair wage for an
honest day's work. Too often, parents work double shifts or more than
one job for low wages in order to make ends meet and to provide the
basic necessities for their families. We must at last increase the
Federal minimum wage. We must work to close the wage gap between women
and men.
Congress should also take action to ensure fairness and justice in
the administration of the death penalty. We know that the
administration of the death penalty at the Federal and State levels is
flawed. With over 100 innocent people on death row later exonerated in
the modern death penalty era, any reasonable person can see that the
current system risks executing the innocent. That is why Congress
should pass the National Death Penalty Moratorium Act. Congress and the
President should support a moratorium on executions while a national,
blue ribbon commission reviews the fairness of the administration of
the death penalty.
Congress can also do more to protect hardworking Americans from
discrimination in the workplace. We should pass the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act. I have been pleased to join my colleague Senator
Kennedy in sponsoring this important bill that will ensure that
Americans are not discriminated against by employers based on their
sexual orientation. It is time that we take this step on behalf of
equal opportunity and equal rights.
Congress should also take another step to ensure that all Americans
have the right to vote and to be represented in their Congress. We meet
today in a jurisdiction where over a half a million people are denied
the right to fully participate in their Government. The majority of the
people in this jurisdiction, the District of Columbia, are African
American. Shutting them out of our Government is a continuing moral
stain on our nation that must be addressed. We should take action on
legislation sponsored by Senator Lieberman and myself, under DC
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's leadership, to grant full
congressional representation for the District of Columbia.
Congress and the administration must take concrete steps to protect
Americans' civil rights.
As Dr. King said, ``This is no time to engage in the luxury of
cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the
time to make real the promises of democracy.''
Mr. President, let us make real the promises of democracy and of
Brown--a nation with liberty, justice, and equality for all. Let's
begin that work in this Congress, in this body, and let's begin now.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be
allowed to speak for up to 20 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Thank you, Mr. President.
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