[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 24, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H791-H794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RECOGNIZING THE DIFFICULT CHALLENGES AND HEROISM OF BLACK VETERANS

  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 238) recognizing the difficult 
challenges Black veterans faced when returning home after serving in 
the Armed Forces, their heroic military sacrifices, and their 
patriotism in fighting for equal rights and for the dignity of a people 
and a Nation.
  The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
  The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 238

       Whereas there has been no war fought by or within the 
     United States in which Blacks did not participate, including 
     the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the War of 1812, the 
     Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, 
     the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, 
     and Operation Iraqi Freedom;
       Whereas Frederick Douglass voiced his opinion in one of his 
     autobiographies, ``Life and Times of Frederick Douglass'', 
     writing, ``I . . . urged every man who could, to enlist; to 
     get an eagle on his button, a musket on his shoulder, the 
     star-spangled banner over his head,'' later remarking that 
     ``there is no power on Earth which can deny that he has 
     earned the right to citizenship in the United States.'';
       Whereas during the Civil War, Black soldiers, commonly 
     referred to as the United States Colored Troops, were treated 
     as second-class citizens, the health care and hospitals 
     available to them were substandard, and they often died from 
     neglect of services that was supposed to be administered by 
     medical personnel;
       Whereas Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and William Monroe Trotter, 
     members of the first generation of freedom's children, 
     founded the Niagara Movement in 1905;

[[Page H792]]

       Whereas in his book, ``Black Reconstruction in America'', 
     published in 1935, DuBois wrote that ``[n]othing else made 
     Negro citizenship conceivable, but the record of the Negro 
     soldier as a fighter.'';
       Whereas the 369th Infantry, known as the Harlem Hell-
     fighters, fought the Germans during World War I as part of 
     the French Army and served the longest stretch in combat--191 
     days without replacement--without losing a foot of ground or 
     a man as prisoner;
       Whereas at the end of the service of the 369th Infantry, 
     the entire regiment received the Croix de Guerre, which was 
     France's highest military honor, from a grateful French 
     nation;
       Whereas Alain Locke, the first black Rhodes Scholar, wrote 
     in 1925 about a ``New Negro'' who had returned from battle 
     with a bold new spirit that helped spark a new mood in the 
     Black community;
       Whereas in 1917, Charles Hamilton Houston encountered 
     racism after entering World War I as a commissioned first 
     lieutenant in the segregated 17th Provisional Training 
     Regiment, later writing that ``I made up my mind that if I 
     got through this war I would study law and use my time 
     fighting for men who could not strike back.'';
       Whereas Dorie Miller, a messman attendant in the Navy, was 
     catapulted to national hero status and an icon to 
     generations, after displaying heroism on board the USS West 
     Virginia during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 
     December 7, 1941;
       Whereas before becoming a famous baseball player, Jackie 
     Robinson was court-martialed in the Army for refusing to sit 
     in the back of the bus in 1944, and when he was later 
     acquitted, he wrote that ``[i]t was a small victory, for I 
     had learned that I was in two wars, one against the foreign 
     enemy, the other against prejudice at home.'';
       Whereas the famed Tuskegee Airmen, a group of Black pilots, 
     flew with distinction during World War II under the command 
     of Captain Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., the highly decorated 
     officer who served for more than 35 years and became the 
     first Black general in the Air Force;
       Whereas during World War II, the 6888 (known as the ``Six 
     Triple Eights''), the first all-woman Black Postal Battalion 
     who served in England and then France, were given the 
     daunting task of clearing out a two-year backlog of over 
     90,000 pieces of mail, succeeded in their mission, completed 
     it in three months, and went on to make a positive impact on 
     racial integration in the military;
       Whereas during World War II, the Army's 92nd Infantry 
     Division, better known as the ``Buffalo Soldiers'', which 
     traces its direct lineage back to the 9th and 10th Cavalry 
     units from 1866 to the early 1890s, was the only Black 
     segregated unit to experience combat during the Italian 
     campaign of 1944-45 with several members later earning Medals 
     of Honor for bravery;
       Whereas Reverend Benjamin Hooks, who served in the 92nd 
     Division, found himself in the humiliating position of 
     guarding Italian prisoners of war who were allowed to eat in 
     restaurants that were off-limits to him;
       Whereas even after President Truman issued Executive Order 
     9981 desegregating the military on July 26, 1948, 
     discrimination continued;
       Whereas in 1946, when Charles and Medgar Evers tried to 
     register to vote, they were turned away at the polling 
     station;
       Whereas after serving overseas in the Army, Charles and 
     Medgar Evers returned home to Mississippi where, in 1952, 
     they began to organize voter registration drives for the 
     National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 
     (NAACP);
       Whereas Oliver L. Brown, a World War II Army veteran from 
     Kansas, and Harry Briggs, a World War II sailor from South 
     Carolina, were the fathers of two of the five named 
     plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka and 
     Briggs v. Elliott, the historic school desegregation cases of 
     1954;
       Whereas the Black heroes and heroines of World War II and 
     the Korean War, such as Private Sarah Keys and Women's Army 
     Corps (WAC) officer Dovey Roundtree, won significant 
     victories against discrimination in interstate transportation 
     in landmark civil rights cases, including Keys v. Carolina 
     Coach Company, which was decided in 1955, six days before 
     Rosa Parks' historic protest of Alabama's Jim Crow laws in 
     Montgomery;
       Whereas in his address at Riverside Church on April 4, 
     1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., commented on the irony of 
     Blacks fighting in Vietnam to guarantee liberties in 
     Southeast Asia while not enjoying the same rights at home;
       Whereas Black veterans who were in the forefront of the 
     leadership of the Civil Rights Movement, with their strong 
     resolve to address the paradox of military service abroad and 
     the denial of basic rights at home, brought deeper meaning to 
     the word ``democracy'', and through their example, 
     transformed the face of the United States;
       Whereas the Black veterans of the Nation's wars sowed the 
     seeds for today's bountiful harvest through the Niagara 
     Movement, the NAACP, and the latter-day Civil Rights 
     Movement, all of which share a common ancestry in the Civil 
     War, without which there would be no Civil Rights Movement 
     and no equal rights for all Americans; and
       Whereas today, Black veterans suffer at a disproportionate 
     rate from chronic illnesses and homelessness and are plagued 
     by health disparities: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That Congress recognizes--
       (1) the difficult challenges Black veterans faced when 
     returning home after serving in the Armed Forces, their 
     heroic military sacrifices, and their patriotism in fighting 
     for equal rights and for the dignity of a people and a 
     Nation; and
       (2) the need for the Department of Veterans Affairs to 
     continue to work to eliminate any health and benefit 
     disparities for our Nation's minority veterans.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Filner) and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Cao) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 238, the critical 
and essential role of black veterans in the civil rights movement, 
sponsored by the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Kissell). I want to 
thank my colleagues in the House and especially on the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs, Ms. Corrine Brown from Florida particularly, for 
being original cosponsors and bringing this to the House floor as 
quickly as we did. I want to also recognize the National Association 
for Black Veterans, the NAACP, and other civil rights organizations for 
their continued hard work to ensure equality of rights for all persons.
  The proposed resolution honors the heroic sacrifices of black 
veterans and recognizes the fundamental role that those veterans played 
in the evolution of the civil rights movement. It recognizes, also, the 
difficult challenges that black veterans face when returning home after 
serving in the Armed Forces and encourages the Department of Veterans 
Affairs to continue working to eliminate any health and benefit 
disparities for minority veterans. I note that this resolution derived 
from a similar unabridged resolution approved by the NAACP during its 
centennial convention in July of 2009, which I had the privilege to 
attend and participate.
  This resolution represents a small token of gratitude that Congress 
can provide for these veterans who have sacrificed so much for our 
country, often in the face of tremendous challenges, and serves also as 
a reminder that we have a long way to go.
  I will yield for as much time as he may consume to Mr. Kissell of 
North Carolina.
  Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, I also rise in full support of House Concurrent 
Resolution 238. I would like to thank Chairman Filner and 
Representative Brown and others that made this bill possible.
  As a son of a World War II veteran and coming from a part of North 
Carolina that has a high proportion of veterans and as a student of 
history, we take full honor and pride in any opportunity to talk about 
our veterans and what they've done for our Nation throughout history. 
It is with great pride that, during this Black History Month, we have 
the opportunity to recognize the contributions of African American 
veterans and what they have done for our Nation.
  Throughout history, they have answered the call, from the 
Revolutionary War on. African Americans have fought for this Nation 
often as second-class citizens and often coming home as veterans and 
not enjoying the full benefits and the rights of our Nation. Throughout 
the years, African Americans have answered the call of Frederick 
Douglass, who said, every man that could to enlist, to get an eagle on 
their button, a musket on their shoulder, and a star-spangled banner 
over their head.
  Throughout the years, we have seen great heroic acts from African 
Americans, whether individually or as part of a unit. And to recognize 
some of these today, I would like to bring forth the 369th Infantry, 
the Harlem Hellfighters, who, during World War I, went to Europe and 
were loaned to the French to fight with them. They fought for 191 
straight days without replacements, without giving up any grounds, and 
without losing any of their members as prisoners. The French so 
appreciated the 369th, they gave them the Croix de Guerre, the highest 
honor the French can give any unit of the military.
  Individuals such as Dorie Miller, who won great fame while he worked 
in the

[[Page H793]]

mess in the Battleship West Virginia, on December 7, 1941, he rose to 
the decks and he fought back in the great epic battle of Pearl Harbor 
and became a national hero.
  Jackie Robinson. He fought for his Nation and he fought against the 
segregation of the military long before he took on the battle of 
integrating professional baseball.
  The famous Tuskegee Airmen, led by Captain Benjamin Davis, the 
Tuskegee Airmen, who fought in the airplane designated the P-51, the 
Mustang. They had the famous red tail. The red tails became famous in 
the air over Europe during World War II. Our bomber crews always looked 
for the red tails, because there was not a single bomber lost to enemy 
fighters while the red tails were protecting them.
  In the 92d Infantry, the only all-black infantry to fight in Italy, 
many members of which won the Congressional Medal of Honor, a military 
unit that was the direct descendant of the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th 
and 10th Cavalry that was active from 1866 into the early 1890s.
  But all too often these veterans, once again, had to come home and be 
treated as second-class citizens. Even after Harry Truman issued the 
Executive order to integrate the military, it was not until many years 
that we saw equity even begin to be approached.

                              {time}  1615

  So many of these veterans came home and took prominent roles in the 
civil rights movement, and it meant so much to their communities and to 
this Nation as we move forward.
  Mr. Speaker, so often as we look at the big picture of our 
legislation and of our resolutions, we always know that it comes back 
to individuals. I would like to take a moment of personal privilege to 
talk about a family from my hometown in Biscoe, North Carolina. It is a 
family with a mother who was a lady extraordinaire, Ms. Kagel, with 
many sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters who 
contributed so much to our community and still do. She had four sons 
who served our Nation--Pete, Jimmy, Lee, and Dan--who are my friends.
  Jimmy and I are members of the same church.
  Let me talk about Dan for just a second. He is a veteran of the 
Korean war. He was in the Air Force, and he worked at the school that I 
attended when I was in elementary school. He had the patience to answer 
many questions from my friends and me about his service. While I grew 
to know Dan as a friend, as a man, and as many things, I thought of 
him, first and foremost, as a veteran because he represented, as we are 
honoring here today, the African Americans who went and served our 
Nation and who then came back and served our communities.
  This resolution recognizes the accomplishments of these veterans. It 
also recognizes the inequities that have been in the VA system for too 
long. It calls upon the VA to always try to make sure that the 
inequities in terms of benefits and in terms of how illnesses are 
treated are ironed out and are made equal as we move forward.
  Mr. CAO. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 238, a 
resolution in honor of black veterans--their patriotism and their 
heroic military service and sacrifices on behalf of our Nation.
  It is appropriate in this last week of Black History Month that we 
honor and recognize the contributions of black Americans who fought in 
the Armed Forces for our Nation's freedom from the time of the American 
Revolution through today's fighting force. This resolution only lists a 
few of the countless deeds and individuals who fought for freedom 
despite racial prejudices they faced during their service and following 
their return from combat.
  Clearly, these brave warriors' love for our Nation is rooted in the 
love of freedom itself. They fought to help the United States of 
America become and remain that which our Founding Fathers envisioned--
the shining city on the hill and the beacon of freedom and hope for all 
people.
  I would like to thank the sponsor of this legislation, Mr. Kissell of 
North Carolina, as well as Chairman Filner, Ranking Member Buyer, and 
Ms. Brown for their work in bringing this legislation to the floor so 
quickly.
  African Americans have contributed greatly to our Nation and also to 
the State of Louisiana, in particular, for centuries by defending our 
freedoms in the Armed Forces, even at a time when they, themselves, 
were not free. Had it not been for the service of African Americans in 
1814-1815 in the Battle of New Orleans, which was really the battle for 
New Orleans from British control, the United States would not have the 
New Orleans we know and love today.
  Today, there are more military veterans who are African American than 
any other minority group. I am proud to represent Orleans and Jefferson 
Parishes, which have large populations of African American veterans and 
members of the Armed Forces.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support House Concurrent 
Resolution 238.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. FILNER. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for his 
personal story.
  Mr. Speaker, we have heard that black citizens of our country have 
made incredible sacrifices for our Nation. Yet, even with those 
sacrifices, many black veterans face tremendous challenges in the fight 
for civil liberties both at home and while they are serving.
  I want to recognize, Mr. Speaker, because he is in the gallery, Joe 
Wynn of the Black Veterans of America, who has brought us this 
resolution. We thank him for all of his work on behalf of equality for 
all Americans.


                announcement by the speaker pro tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Garamendi). Members are reminded not to 
refer to people in the gallery.
  Mr. FILNER. This resolution recognizes the soldiers and patriots who 
had to fight in both types of wars, and it helps to memorialize and to 
serve as a testament to their great spirit and determination.
  We've heard about Jackie Robinson, but as a member of the Army before 
becoming the famous baseball player who broke the color barrier, he 
once suggested that he was in two wars--one against the foreign enemy, 
the other against prejudice at home.
  Charles Hamilton Houston, who served as a commissioned 1st lieutenant 
in the 17th Provisional Training Regiment during World War I, boldly 
stated after encountering racism, ``I made up my mind that if I got 
through this war I would study law and use my time fighting for men who 
could not strike back.'' As we know, he became a famed civil rights 
lawyer and was the chief legal strategist behind Brown v. Board of 
Education.
  In seeing this paradox of fighting for the promise of liberty and 
freedom abroad and experiencing the denial of basic rights at home, 
black veterans were often in the forefront of the leadership of the 
civil rights movement. For instance, Civil War veterans later became 
champions for equal pay in the military, and many World War II and 
Korean war veterans came home and organized voter registration drives.
  Mr. Speaker, by their heroic deeds, black Americans brought deeper 
meaning to the word ``democracy.'' Their exemplary actions and activism 
on behalf of civil rights emboldened many others to participate in the 
NAACP, in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and in other 
civil rights organizations and activities. Ultimately, of course, they 
transformed the face of democracy in America.
  Even though we have made great progress, black Americans, who were 
once denied the right to serve side by side in battle with other 
Americans, have achieved some of the highest ranks in our military and 
government: Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., the first black general in the 
Army; Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., the first black four-star general in the 
Air Force, who led the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II; and General 
Colin Powell, the first black Joint Chief of Staff. These men are just 
to name a few.
  Unfortunately today, Mr. Speaker, black veterans are more likely to 
be homeless, are more likely to receive less than honorable discharges, 
and are more likely to suffer from disparities in treatment and access 
for many chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, kidney dysfunction, 
respiratory disease, substance abuse, diabetes, cancer,

[[Page H794]]

as well as post-traumatic stress disorder.
  So I wholeheartedly urge the passage of this resolution in the hope 
that we will not only recognize those who blazed the trail for us but 
that we will increase awareness of the need to continue the advancement 
of civil rights and liberties for all Americans.
  I urge the VA specifically to recognize the unique struggle of many 
minority veterans and to, accordingly, ensure that they receive all of 
the benefits and care that they have earned and that they deserve. 
Passing this resolution is the least we can do for these veterans who 
have done so much for our country.
  I urge the passage of this legislation.


                             General Leave

  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 238.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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