[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 160 (Thursday, October 2, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2211-E2212]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ALABAMA CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY J.L. CHESTNUT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ARTUR DAVIS

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 2, 2008

  Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the legacy of an 
outstanding Alabamian who died this week, J.L. Chestnut. Thousands will 
gather next Wednesday in Selma to lay him to rest, and to recall the 
way his extraordinary life shaped my state.
  J.L. Chestnut was born in 1930 in Selma. The Depression-era South 
suffocated the aspirations of most young black men, but J.L. managed to 
escape, first to Dillard University, then to Howard Law School. It 
would have been understandable if he had joined the ranks of educated 
blacks who never returned to the South, shunning the region that 
lynched Emmett Till and that spawned the most virulent resistance to 
integration. J.L., however, was the kind of intrepid soul who sought 
out the South as the likeliest frontline in the fledging civil rights 
movement.
  When he came home, he started his life's work of defending powerless 
people. I've

[[Page E2212]]

heard older lawyers in Selma describe even the youthful J.L. Chestnut's 
brilliance in the courtroom and the cool, relentless way he navigated 
through a segregated justice system in those early years. Not 
surprisingly, the organizers of the Selma marches in 1965 turned to him 
when they needed a legal strategy to spring demonstrators out of jail 
before they could be mauled or before they lost hope. It goes without 
saying that his visibility made him a marked man in a county where 
civil rights demonstrators occasionally wound up dead.
  When the drama of the voting rights campaign ended, Chestnut's 
prestige as black Selma's attorney of record continued to rise. 
Chestnut litigated dozens of cases in federal court that reminded 
Alabama and Dallas County that the Constitution applied there--his work 
integrated juries, and the administrative ranks of the school system, 
as well as every sector of the workplace. Over the last decades of his 
life, he was the principal voting rights litigator in Alabama. The 
lawyer who was renowned for keeping innocent young men out of jail 
emerged as the lawyer to call if some municipality or county was 
scheming to dilute the black voter share, or to put some new 
encumbrance on black voter registration. The testament to his 
craftsmanship: I heard a federal judge say once that he looked more 
skeptically at voting rights cases in Alabama that didn't have 
Chestnut's names on the pleadings.
  Chestnut, to my knowledge, never entertained the idea of running for 
office. He memorably told an audience once that you could lean on 
politicians more effectively if you weren't one of them. Thankfully, he 
leaned on more than a few and helped prop up a good number of others. 
He helped found the Alabama New South Coalition to support progressive 
candidates. One of the last ones he backed was Barack Obama, and J.L. 
went to his grave heartened that this miracle might be coming true.
  Since I have entered office, I have seen Rosa Parks, Coretta King, 
John Hulett, Johnnie Carr, and now J.L. Chestnut called back home. Like 
them, Chestnut's contribution was moral authority at a time when both 
were in short supply. Chestnut and his class of heroes reminded us that 
we have obligations to each other--white and black people owe each 
other civility; talented people owe their community the service of 
their abilities; a decent society owes legal protections to every 
citizen; a privileged people owe the marginal among us security against 
the worst economic storms.
  Finally, J.L. Chestnut reminded me that this new generation of 
leaders must challenge ourselves even more to forge lasting change--if 
J.L. could do it in a more hateful, more oppressive time, how dare we 
settle for a lesser standard of courage, and wit, and perseverance.
  Madam Speaker, may God bless the family of J.L. Chestnut.

                          ____________________