[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 134 (Tuesday, September 11, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11459-S11460]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   PERCY SUTTON POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee be discharged from further 
consideration of H.R. 954 and that the Senate proceed to its 
consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 954) to designate the facility of the United 
     States Postal Service located at 365 West 125th Street in New 
     York, New York, as the ``Percy Sutton Post Office Building.''

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for 
H.R. 954, a bill to designate the post office located at 365 West 125th 
Street in Harlem as the Percy Sutton Post Office Building. Percy Sutton 
is a giant of the New York community. He is a patriot, a veteran 
Tuskegee Airman, and a pioneering leader in multiple fields--
politician, civil rights activist, lawyer and entrepreneur. And, 
through a lifetime of extraordinary work in the public and

[[Page S11460]]

private sectors, he has been the driving force behind the exemplary 
renaissance of Harlem.
  Simply put, Percy Sutton is a commendable American, who never stopped 
believing in the promise of our Nation, that all men are created equal 
and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, even when 
legally sanctioned discrimination held him down. By dint of his talent, 
hard work, optimism and faith in the possibility of America, he became 
the perfect embodiment of the transformation of America from a separate 
and unequal place to a more perfect union.
  Percy is an intellectual of the first order who worked at a New York 
post office to put himself through law school. Therefore, naming the 
post office in his honor, in his beloved Harlem--a community he has 
done so much for--is a perfect tribute to this prominent American.
  The youngest of 15 children, Percy Sutton was born on November 24, 
1920, in San Antonio, TX. His parents were both educators, and his 
father went on to become one of the first African American principals 
in the Nation. All of his siblings graduated from college, and his 
brothers include the first black elected official in San Antonio and a 
judge on the New York Supreme Court.
  Percy Sutton attended Prairie View A&M University, Tuskegee 
Institute, and the Hampton Institute. His public service career began 
when Sutton served with the now legendary Tuskegee Airmen in World War 
II, winning combat stars as an intelligence officer. Despite being 
barred from flying fighter planes for the Army Air Corps because of his 
race, he remained committed to serving his country. After an honorable 
discharge from the Army, he enrolled in Brooklyn Law School. During 
this time, he worked for the U.S. Post Office in New York as a clerk 
during the evening shift and later as a conductor in the New York City 
subway system to put himself through school.
  Motivated to fight racial discrimination, upon finishing law school 
Sutton become an important civil rights advocate. His commitment to 
fight for justice and equality lead him to become a well-known 
attorney, representing Malcolm X and other activists during the civil 
rights era. Sutton also served as president of the New York chapter of 
the NAACP.
  Percy has also been a pillar in Harlem and New York politics. A 
leader of the Harlem political scene, he worked with Mayor David 
Dinkins, Congressman Charles Rangel, and former New York Secretary of 
State Basil Paterson to create a lasting force for effective community 
representation at the local, State and national levels. In 1964, Sutton 
was elected to the New York State Assembly, where he served for 2 years 
before becoming the president for the Borough of Manhattan for 10 
years, when that office was at the center of gravity of New York City's 
policymaking apparatus.
  His strong ties to Harlem can be further seen in the historic Apollo 
Theatre, which he purchased and completely revitalized in 1980. Sutton 
also produced ``It's Showtime at the Apollo.'' Today, as Harlem 
thrives, the Apollo Theatre remains a cornerstone of the community. 
Sutton also started the Inner City Broadcasting Company, home of the 
first African American owned radio station in New York. Through it all, 
Percy was a trail blazer in the extraordinary transformation of Harlem. 
While victory has many fathers and mothers, no one person has done 
more, for more time, or more effectively to realize this vision, than 
Percy Sutton.
  Percy Sutton's impact on his community and his country is 
immeasurable. Renaming the post office building in Harlem, the 
neighborhood for which he has done so much, the Percy Sutton Post 
Office is a perfect tribute to this special man.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 954) was ordered to a third reading, was read the 
third time, and passed.

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