[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 8, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1139-S1140]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 44--CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Mr. ALEXANDER (for himself and Mr. Coleman) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:
S. Res. 44
Whereas the first African Americans were brought forcibly
to these shores as early as the 17th century;
Whereas African Americans were enslaved in the United
States and subsequently faced the injustices of lynch mobs,
segregation, and denial of basic, fundamental rights;
Whereas in spite of these injustices, African Americans
have made significant contributions to the economic,
educational, political, artistic, literary, scientific, and
technological advancement of the United States;
Whereas in the face of these injustices Americans of all
races distinguished themselves in their commitment to the
ideals on which the United States was founded, and fought for
the rights of African Americans;
Whereas the greatness of America is reflected in the
contributions of African Americans in all walks of life
throughout the history of the United States: in the writings
of W.E.B. DuBois, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, and Alex
Haley; in the music of Mahalia Jackson, Billie Holiday, and
Duke Ellington; in the resolve of athletes such as Jackie
Robinson and Muhammed Ali; in the vision of leaders such as
Frederick Douglass, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther
King, Jr.; and in the bravery of those who stood on the front
lines in the battle against oppression such as Harriet Tubman
and Rosa Parks;
Whereas the United States of America was conceived, as
stated in the Declaration of Independence, as a new nation
dedicated to the proposition that ``all Men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the Pursuit of Happiness'';
Whereas the actions of Americans of all races demonstrate
their commitment to that proposition: actions such as those
of Allan Pinkerton, Thomas Garrett, and the Rev. John Rankin
who served as conductors on the Underground Railroad; actions
such as those of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who shined a light on
the injustices of slavery; actions such as those of President
Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation,
and Senator Lyman Trumbull, who introduced the 13th Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States; actions such as
those of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Chief Justice Earl
Warren, Senator Mike Mansfield, and Senator Hubert Humphrey,
who fought to end segregation and the denial of civil rights
to African Americans; and the thousands of Americans of all
races who marched side-by-side with African Americans during
the civil rights movement;
Whereas since its founding the United States has been an
imperfect work in progress towards these noble goals;
Whereas American History is the story of a people regularly
affirming high ideals, striving to reach them but often
failing, and then struggling to come to terms with the
disappointment of that failure before recommitting themselves
to trying again;
Whereas from the beginning of our Nation the most
conspicuous and persistent failure of Americans to reach our
noble goals has been the enslavement of African Americans and
the resulting racism;
Whereas the crime of lynching succeeded slavery as the
ultimate expression of racism in the United States following
Reconstruction;
Whereas the Federal Government failed to put an end to
slavery until the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865,
repeatedly failed to enact a federal anti-lynching law, and
still struggles to deal with the evils of racism; and
Whereas the fact that 61 percent of African American 4th
graders read at a below basic level and only 16 percent of
native born African Americans have earned a Bachelor's
degree; 50 percent of all new HIV cases are reported in
African Americans; and the leading cause of death for African
American males ages 15 to 34 is homicide demonstrates that
the United States continues to struggle to reach the high
ideal of equal opportunity for all Americans: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) acknowledges the tragedies of slavery, lynching,
segregation, and condemns them as an infringement on human
liberty and equal opportunity so that they will stand forever
as a reminder of what can happen when Americans fail to live
up to their noble goals;
(2) honors those Americans who during the time of slavery,
lynching, and segregation risked their lives in the
underground railway and in other efforts to assist fugitive
slaves and other African Americans who might have been
targets and victims of lynch mobs and those who have stood
beside African Americans in the fight for equal opportunity
that continues to this day;
(3) reaffirms its commitment to the founding principles of
the United States of America that ``all Men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and
the Pursuit of Happiness''; and
(4) commits itself to addressing those situations in which
the African American community struggles with disparities in
education, health care, and other areas where the Federal
Government can play a role in improving conditions for all
Americans.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, this is Black History Month.
I look forward to Black History Month each year because it reminds me
of my late friend, Alex Haley. Alex Haley died 13 years ago this month.
I can still remember his funeral in Memphis and the big crowd there--
people from all over America, leaders like Jesse Jackson. I spoke too;
lots of us did.
There must have been 300 people in the room who thought they were his
best friend. There were thousands of people around America and around
the world who thought they were Alex Haley's best friend. He was a
remarkable individual.
I remember saying that Alex Haley was God's storyteller, because he
could tell a story. I remember saying, too, that I think we just used
him up because he was such a generous man with his time.
After the funeral in Memphis, a procession drove to Henning, TN--not
so far from Memphis--50 or 60 miles. We were there at the home where
Alex Haley stayed in the summers with his grandparents.
This was a Friday. The African flute played a beautiful melody. It
was cold. It was cold in February.
After the casket was laid in the grave, the stone was put there. On
that stone were the words that Alex Haley lived his life by: ``Find the
good and praise it.''
I remember that afternoon as if it were yesterday, even though it was
13 years ago. I remember Alex Haley as if he were perched here in this
room looking us over.
I remember Alex Haley not just because of his death during Black
History Month 13 years ago, but because of how he lived his life during
Black History Month in the Februaries before 1992. Almost every
February would find Alex
[[Page S1140]]
Haley on an all-night red-eye flight to Tennessee from a speaking
engagement in some distant place so he could drive to some small
Tennessee town and fulfill a commitment he made months earlier to a 4th
grade teacher to help her students celebrate Black History Month.
Teachers loved Alex Haley's visits because he had wonderful stories
to tell, stories of Frederick Douglass, of Thurgood Marshall, of Martin
Luther King. Of the heroes and heroines, both black and white of the
underground railroad, of Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, W.E.B. Dubois,
James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison.
But the most riveting of all the stories that Alex Haley told those
children were the ones Alex learned sitting on the porch steps in
Henning, TN, in the summertime, listening to his great-aunts and his
grandmother tell stories of his ancestor Kunta Kinte. He used to say
his Great-Aunt Plus, rocking on the porch, telling those stories, could
knock a firefly out of the air at 15 feet with an accurate stream of
tobacco juice.
Once Alex Haley rode across the Atlantic Ocean for 3 weeks in the
belly of a freighter to try to imagine what it must have been like for
Kunta Kinte to be captured in the Gambia, Africa, and brought to
Annapolis and sold as a slave. Alex spent 13 years tracing what had
happened between the arrival of Kunta Kinte, his seventh generation
grandfather, and Alex's own birth.
Alex Haley discovered one important piece of that puzzle when
speaking in Simpson College in Iowa in the early 1970s. He told
students and faculty there that he had found the name of the man who
had bought Kunta Kinte on the Annapolis dock, but Alex could not trace
what had happened after that.
A faculty member arose and said, Mr. Haley, my seventh generation
grandfather purchased your seventh generation grandfather. Alex stayed
with that faculty member for several weeks and because of that
encounter was finally able to weave together the rest of the story of
the struggle for freedom which became America's best-watched television
miniseries, the story of ``Roots.''
It is in the spirit of Alex Haley that I offer this resolution
celebrating Black History Month. This resolution honors the
contributions of African Americans throughout the history of our
country. It recommits the Senate to the goals of liberty and equal
opportunity for every American. It condemns the horrors of slavery, of
lynching, of segregation, and other instances in which our country has
failed to measure up to its noble goals, and it pledges to work harder
to improve educational, health, and job opportunities for African
Americans and for all Americans.
African Americans were brought forcibly to these shores in the 17th
century. From that dark beginning, however, they have overcome great
obstacles and continue to do so, to take a prominent place among the
many people of diverse backgrounds who have come together here to form
a single nation. African Americans have made and continue to make
significant contributions to the economic, educational, political,
artistic, literary, scientific, and technical advancement of the United
States of America.
I have repeatedly emphasized the importance of the study of American
history. One of our national tragedies and embarrassments is that our
twelfth graders score lower on the national assessment of educational
progress on U.S. history than on any other subject. We should be
ashamed of that. Senator Reid, the Democratic leader, Senator Kennedy,
other Senators on this side, and I have worked together to try to
change that.
This is our opportunity--in a month devoted to black history--to
especially recognize the history of African Americans in this country
and to recognize that it is one of the greatest examples of our
national quest to reach the high ideals set for us by our Founding
Fathers. The Declaration of Independence dedicated us to the
proposition that ``all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.''
Our history is one of striving to reach this lofty ideal. The
treatment of African Americans is our most egregious failure. Slavery,
lynching, and segregation are all examples of times when this Nation
failed African Americans. We failed to live up to our own promise of
that fundamental truth that all men are created equal.
However, for every time we have failed, we have struggled to come to
terms with that disappointment and we have recommitted ourselves to try
again. Where there once was slavery, we passed the thirteenth and
fourteenth amendments abolishing slavery and declaring equal protection
under the law for all races. Where there was segregation, came Brown v.
Board of Education and the Voting Rights Act. There are so many moments
like these in our history and it is these moments we also celebrate
with this resolution.
In addition, I do not believe we should simply rest on the
accomplishments of our past. We celebrate and remember our history so
we can learn its lessons and apply them today. Today's wrongs are
begging for attention. African Americans in this country face
significant and often crippling disparities in education, in health
care, in quality of life, and in other areas where the Federal
Government can play a role. The best way for each one of us, and for
the United States Senate, to commemorate Black History Month is to get
to work on legislation that would offer African Americans and other
Americans better access to good schools, better access to quality
health care, better access to decent jobs.
There is no resolution we can pass today that will teach one more
child to read, prevent one more case of AIDS, or stop one more violent
crime. However, I hope by joining me and supporting this resolution,
the Members of this Senate will also join me in finding ways to look to
the future and continue to contribute to this work in progress that is
the United States of America.
I don't know what my friend Alex Haley would say about this Senate
resolution, the one I am about to introduce, or that Senate resolution.
But I do know how he lived his life. I do know how he celebrated Black
History Month. He told wonderful stories about African Americans and
other Americans who believed in the struggle for freedom and the
struggle for equality. He minced no words in describing the terrible
injustices they overcame. He said to those children he had flown all
night to see that they were living in a wonderful country of great
goals, and while many in the past had often failed to reach those
goals, that we Americans always recommit ourselves to keep trying.
So, Mr. President, today I introduce a Senate resolution celebrating
Black History Month, and it is in the spirit of Alex Haley that I offer
it.
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