[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 8 (Tuesday, February 1, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E125-E126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING SHIRLEY CHISHOLM AND JAMES FORMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 1, 2005

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, as we begin the country's annual celebration 
of Black History Month, I find it appropriate to reflect on the lives 
of Shirley Chisholm and James Forman, who both passed away in the last 
month. Both of them were critical figures in the ongoing endeavor to 
ensure equal rights and opportunity for all Americans. On a personal 
level, their life stories are case studies in the power of courage to 
overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
  In recollecting the life of Shirley Chisholm, the words fighter and 
pioneer come to mind. The child of Caribbean immigrants, she would 
challenge the Democratic machine in Brooklyn, and an all-male field of 
candidates, to become the first African American woman elected to 
Congress. Along the way, she used the slogan ``unbought and unbossed'' 
to affirm her determination to steer clear of party and gender nonns, 
and fight for what she believed.
  During her seven terms in Congress, she would champion the rights and 
interests of

[[Page E126]]

women, minorities, children, and the poor. Initially relegated to the 
Agriculture Committee, which had almost no relevance to her urban New 
York district, she would fight to get relevant committee assignments 
for both her and her Black Congressional colleagues. On the Education 
and Labor Committee she would support improved employment and education 
programs, expansion of day care, income support, and other programs to 
improve America's inner cities.
  In 1972 she would challenge the status quo again, when she launched a 
bid to become the Democratic nominee for President. Though the party 
initially marginalized her, she persevered to the end, constantly 
reiterating her message of government's accountability to all 
Americans.
  Her underdog effort inspired both Blacks and Whites around the 
country, and earned her the respect of her early critics. Shirley would 
go on to outlast better-known and better-funded primary contenders. At 
the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami, she would receive 151 
delegate votes--far more than anyone could have imagined.

  Though a fighter, even her opponents where astounded by her innate 
compassion and empathy. During her presidential bid, Chisholm went to 
the hospital to visit George Wallace, a political rival and ardent 
racial segregationist, after he had been shot in a failed assignation 
attempt.
  Wallace was shocked by the Chisholm's gesture--one that was 
politically risky at best. It is said that Chisholm told Wallace, ``'I 
know what they're going to say. But I wouldn't want what happened to 
you to happen to anyone''. Her words moved him to tears. Two years 
later when she needed support on legislation to extend the minimum wage 
to domestic workers, George Wallace would gather the Southern support 
it required.
  In addition to Shirley Chisholm, the recent passing of James Forman 
represents a great loss to our country. Forman joined the Student 
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1961, and was elected its 
executive secretary one week later. He would soon play a central role 
in developing SNCC from a loose coalition of student protest groups, to 
one of the most prominent and effective organizations of the Civil 
Rights Movement.
  Utilizing the discipline and organizational skills he acquired as an 
Air Force and Korean War veteran, James Forman managed and directed the 
legions of brave SNCC volunteers, who in the 1960's, descended upon the 
southern United States to combat the racial injustice that had long 
festered there.
  Today, thousands get academic degrees in public administration and 
management. I wonder how they might have benefited from talking to 
James. As a manager and organizer he may have been the best that the 
civil rights movement ever had. While the movement had many great 
orators and diplomats, James was a master of the nuts and bolts that 
make organizations run.
  He was also known as something of a field general, willing to endure 
the same that he asked of his subordinates. James was often harassed, 
beaten and jailed during his many trips to register voters and organize 
protests in areas where violence and intimidation ruled. He would see 
many of his brethren pay the ultimate sacrifice for liberty and 
justice. This only strengthened his resolve to press on.
  Though he left the SNCC in 1966, he would remain a prominent figure 
throughout the Civil Rights Movement. In subsequent years he would be 
an outspoken advocate for the socio-economic empowerment of African 
Americans in the post civil rights era, founding the Unemployment and 
Poverty Action Committee.
  He would also be one of the first African Americans to explicitly 
call for reparations for the oppressive treatment inflicted on African 
Americans during their history in this country. Many institutions 
responded by setting up programs aimed at improving Black communities.
  Indeed America has lost much by the passing of Shirley Chisholm and 
James Forman. But we have gained much by the fact that they lived. They 
now enter the Pantheon of American patriots whose fearless and 
unrelenting quest for justice and liberty irrevocably changed this 
nation for the better.
  Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, ``What lies behind us, and what lies 
before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us''. Shirley 
Chisholm and James Forman showed the world what lay within them, and 
now their memories will lie within us forever.

                          ____________________