[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 24 (Thursday, February 8, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H1400-H1401]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              A LONG WAY TRAVELED AND A LONG WAY YET TO GO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Madam Speaker, February is Black History Month, a time 
that we have set aside to honor the contributions that African 
Americans have made to this Nation. Some question the continuing need 
for a month-long celebration; others see it as a poor substitute for 
concerted national action to address the needs of African Americans. 
But Black History Month remains a time for reflection on the progress 
of our national journey towards a truly equal and just society.
  America has traveled a long way in the last few decades, but we have 
a

[[Page H1401]]

long way yet to go. We have seen the promise of Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr.'s vision of a colorblind America, but its reality lies in too many 
ways still beyond our grasps.
  In some respects, this is a historic moment for this country, and 
historians may look back on this period as the true beginning of a 
post-civil rights era, a time in which the statutory gains made by an 
earlier generation are bearing fruit as a new generation fully realizes 
its dream for themselves and their children.
  The current Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and her 
predecessor, Colin Powell, are black. One of the front-runners in the 
Democratic Party's 2008 Presidential contest, Barack Obama, is African 
American.
  In 1974, Boston was the scene of protracted racial violence as the 
result of a court-ordered busing to integrate the city's schools. Last 
month, Massachusetts inaugurated its first black Governor, Deval 
Patrick.
  Here in the House of Representatives, the Chair of the Democratic 
Caucus is African American, and five committees are chaired by black 
Members: Homeland Security, Judiciary, Ways and Means, Government 
Administration, and the Ethics Committee. Last Sunday for the first 
time two black head coaches faced each other in the Super Bowl.
  It would be easy to look at these examples of African Americans who 
have made it to the summit of our national life and conclude that the 
shackles of oppression and prejudice have finally been released, but 
that is not the case. And even as we honor those who have risen, we 
cannot neglect the millions more who are still trying, including many 
whose lives were shattered by Hurricane Katrina only a year and a half 
ago. As Senator Obama has said, things are better, but better is not 
good enough.
  It would be easy to look at the achievements of Dr. David Satcher, 
who served as Surgeon General of the United States from 1998 to 2002, 
or Dr. Keith Black, the chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at 
Cedars-Sinai in L.A., and conclude that African Americans are well 
represented among the Nation's physicians. Unfortunately, while blacks 
make up 12 percent of the population, they comprise only 3.6 percent of 
the Nation's doctors. This paucity of African American doctors is one 
reason why blacks lag behind whites in a host of crucial medical 
indicators.
  White women in the United States can expect to live more than 4 years 
longer than black women, and white men have a life expectancy that is 
over 6 years longer than African American men.

                              {time}  1815

  African Americans in the U.S. also have higher mortality rates than 
Caucasians for many diseases, including heart disease, stroke, 
diabetes, prostate cancer, breast cancer and AIDS. Nationwide, the 
infant mortality rate for blacks is double that, double that of the 
white population.
  Or we could look with optimism on the achievements of black business 
professionals, who are increasingly found in the upper management of 
American corporations and who are starting their own businesses at an 
ever-increasing rate. African Americans who own businesses increased by 
nearly a third in the 5 years from 1997 to 2002 and now number more 
than half a million nationwide. But these numbers cannot compensate for 
the fact that only four of the Nation's Fortune 500 companies are led 
by African Americans.
  More generally, the median income for white households is $48,000, 
while that of black households is only $31,000. More telling, nearly 
one in four African Americans live in poverty, while fewer than one in 
ten whites do.
  It would be easy to look at the achievements of Neil de Grasse Tyson, 
the astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium, and Dr. 
Stephen Mayo, an associate professor of biology and chemistry at 
CalTech and think that the burden of inferior schools has been lifted 
from the shoulders of African Americans. Sadly, that is not the case.
  At every level of education, blacks are disadvantaged in the 
classroom. According to the NAACP, far less money is spent on black 
pupils than on white pupils, more than $1,400 less per student in most 
impoverished areas. This inequality means that black children do not 
get access to the technology and other resources that white kids have.
  More importantly, the quality of teachers in predominantly African 
American schools is not equal to that of teachers in white schools. 
These schools have the least experienced teachers, the highest 
percentage of out-of-field teachers, the highest teacher mobility 
rates, the greatest incidence of teachers who leave the profession. The 
consequences are predictable: profound gaps in reading and math that 
emerge in early elementary school and persist through high school, and 
much lower high school graduation rates.
  So, Madam Speaker, even as we celebrate the many and profound gifts 
that African Americans have made to our country, we cannot lose sight 
of the urgent need for all of us to do more to rededicate ourselves to 
achieving the equality that is the cornerstone of American democracy. 
Things are better, but better is not good enough.

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