[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 11 (Friday, January 19, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           OBSERVING THE BIRTHDAY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 16, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to enter into the Record my 
strong support for H.R. 61, in observation and celebration of the 
birthday, life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; his life of 
service in promoting peace and justice for all people of every nation, 
and the preservation of his legacy in our continued efforts to ensure 
peace and justice to every man, woman, and child.
  In celebrating the birthday of Dr. King, we are reminded of his 
sacrifice and leadership in ensuring that this great nation live up to 
its highest potential by acknowledging and practicing the self-evident 
truth ``that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their 
Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, 
Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.''
  As we are engaged in a war that has taken the lives of thousands of 
American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, we must 
revisit Dr. King's stance of nonviolence and his opposition to the 
Vietnam war; a war that oppressed the poor and voiceless, a war that 
obstructed the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
  Dr. King would have us on the frontlines of the anti-war movement, 
questioning whether our actions in Iraq and around the world are doing 
more than just creating more chaos and violence. He would ask us to 
attack the root causes of poverty, building bridges between the private 
sector and non-profits to provide educational and work opportunities to 
everyone. He would challenge us to put the fate of our brothers and 
sisters ahead of property and profit, to invest in people and ideas, 
not guns and violence.
  On April 4, 1967, a year to the date of his death, Dr. King addressed 
the Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City, 
condemning the Vietnam war and urging his fellow citizens to break 
their silence. His message echoes the plight that we face today in 
Iraq; his words, etched in history, serve as a guide that we must heed.
  Dr. King stated that ``. . . Somehow this madness must cease. We must 
stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor 
of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose 
homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak 
for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed 
hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen 
of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have 
taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The 
great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be 
ours.''
  One need only substitute the word Vietnam with Iraq to recognize the 
analogous gravity that our Nation is engaged in. We must embrace Dr. 
King's legacy to achieve equality for the poor and to promote peace.
  The invasion of Iraq has led the poor in our country to bear the 
brunt of military responsibility, while the children of government 
officials and the wealthy make no sacrifice. Dr. King's remarks serve 
as a mirror to this country's unwillingness for all to make a sacrifice 
in engaging in war. He said ``perhaps the more tragic recognition of 
reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing 
far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending 
their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in 
extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the 
population. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by 
our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee 
liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest 
Georgia and East Harlem.''
  We must take this day to get our national priorities back in order. 
We must recognize our obligation to the citizens of this country, and 
our responsibility to promote peace around the world.
  Now is the time to grab a comfortable pair of shoes for a new journey 
of activism. If we truly want to honor our king, we must renew our 
commitment to the world congregation that he loved. To follow footsteps 
as large as his is definitely difficult, but not beyond our hearts and 
minds. The task may well prove to be easier if more of us can take them 
together.
  I want to especially thank the Baptist Ministers Conference, the 
National Action Network, and the 16th Council District's Annual MLK 
Memorial for allowing me to honor the life of Dr. King with them, and 
to follow in his footsteps.

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