[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 25 (Thursday, March 2, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONGRATULATIONS ON SENATE PASSAGE OF LEGISLATION CREATING CARIBBEAN-
                        AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 2, 2006

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my congratulations 
to Rep. Barbara Lee of California for her leadership in championing 
legislation that would designate a national Caribbean-American Heritage 
month.
  I am looking forward to the signing of this legislation by the 
President and to having the first celebration of Caribbean-American 
Heritage Month later this year. We as a nation will enthusiastically 
participate in this celebration in recognition and gratitude for the 
contributions made by our Caribbean-American communities. We have been 
richly blessed by this immigrant community who have followed and 
achieved their American dream through hard work and devotion to self-
improvement.
  As you know Mr. Speaker, the United States Senate earlier this month 
unanimously approved the legislation, H. Con. Res. 51, introduced by 
Rep. Lee last year. Last summer, the bill was approved by the House of 
Representatives and had 81 co-sponsors and support from more than 40 
non-governmental organizations working on Caribbean-American issues. As 
the most senior Democratic woman on the House International Relations 
Committee, and a member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, Rep. 
Lee has worked to strengthen U.S.-Caribbean relations and wanted to 
raise awareness about the role that Caribbean people and their 
descendants have played in the United States by introducing the bill.
  As an original co-sponsor of H. Con. Res. 51, I am ecstatic that the 
lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in the House and the Senate lent 
their support to such a worthy bill. The Caribbean people have been a 
blessing both to the 15th Congressional District of New York and the 
country. There have been many influential Caribbean-Americans in U.S. 
history who have changed the fabric of this fine nation. Shirley 
Chisolm, the first African-American Congresswoman and first African-
American woman candidate for President, had familial roots in Barbados. 
The parents of Colin Powell, the first African-American Secretary of 
State, were Jamaican. In the area of the arts, Celia Cruz, the world-
renowned queen of Salsa music, was Cuban, while the parents of Sidney 
Poitier, the first African-American actor to receive the Academy Award 
for best actor in a leading role, hailed from the Bahamas.
  It is undeniable that great patriots of the United States have 
cultural roots in the beautiful countries of the Caribbean. Mr. 
Speaker, please join me again in congratulating Rep. Lee on her hard 
work to advance this legislation and lawmakers in both the House of 
Representatives and the Senate on passing H. Con. Res. 51. I also hope 
you will join me in urging the President to designate the month of June 
for annual national recognition of Caribbean-American Heritage Month.

                          ____________________