[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 36 (Friday, March 12, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING REVEREND DAVID CRUMP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend to this House the 
memory of one of my constituents, the Reverend David Joshua Crump, who, 
at the age of 42, died suddenly on February 20 of this year.
  Rev. Crump was a young man of strong personal faith, coming from a 
long line of leaders in America's faith community, including Bishop 
Alexander Waymon. His parents, the Reverends Izell and Elaine Crump, 
are also well-regarded ministers in my hometown of Baltimore.
  At a time when so many of America's young people are struggling to 
come of age without strong and loving fathers in their lives, Rev. 
David Crump's commitment to their upbringing was a beacon of personal 
and social responsibility for us all.
  I had the occasion to attend the funeral of the late David Crump, and 
his foster children, a number of them, came forward and talked about 
how he had touched their lives and how he had opened so many doors for 
them and what a wonderful parent he was.
  Not only that, David Crump excelled in his mastery of that most 
valuable kind of wisdom: the insights that help us to remain focused 
squarely upon what is truly important in our lives.
  In 1998, I invited the Congressional Black Caucus to Baltimore for a 
field investigation hearing of our local responses to illicit drug use 
and HIV/AIDS. We chose Micah's Cafeteria as the primary site for our 
hearing. David Crump's family owned Micah's, and David was the master 
chef and maitre d' at the restaurant. During our field hearing there, 
he made a very favorable impression on all of my CBC colleagues. Our 
positive response went beyond the positive quality of the restaurant's 
food. We were heartened by how well David worked with Micah's staff, 
and especially with the young people who worked with him. These young 
men and women were competent and polite, building better lives for 
themselves, and a lot of that had to do with David's leadership and 
compassion for them. It soon became apparent that David Crump was at 
the heart of a transformation that was worth our understanding.
  In the years that followed, I would often find David reaching out to 
the young and giving them an opportunity to find themselves in life-
affirming settings. His calling was at the center of his faith.
  So often, people go to church and prayer meeting, and when they come 
out the door, they forget their faith. But he never forgot. Not only 
was he a great foster parent, but he was a very loving husband.
  With his wife, Theresa Mina, he built a home full of love and 
laughter for the children who came into their lives. He was a man of 
good humor and a gentle spirit. He was a good father and husband who 
was devoted to his God and to his family.
  One of the things that I said at his funeral was, if I ever met 
someone who tried to walk in the path that God had laid out, it was 
David Crump.
  Mr. Speaker, recently I was thinking about Rev. Crump's example as I 
read comments that Attorney General Eric Holder made during a recent 
speech. Encouraging men to take more responsibility for our children 
and homes, Attorney General Holder observed that, ``I have held many 
titles in my life, but the title I am most proud of is father. A 
father's role in the life of a child is irreplaceable.''
  Stressing that we must do more to create a culture of mutual respect, 
our Attorney General went on to emphasize that we hold the future in 
our hands. He said, ``We as men need to spend more time with our sons 
and daughters. We need to teach our sons to have respect for women and 
daughters to demand respect for themselves.''
  This same wisdom was at the heart of David Crump's ministry and 
personal life. His vision and commitment are examples that we all would 
be well advised to follow.
  I strongly believe that government has important roles to play in 
rebuilding America's communities, yet I also understand that we, as 
individual citizens, are the critical element in the social 
transformation that this Nation needs to undertake. Rev. David Crump 
understood this, both in his ministry and in his personal commitment to 
the young people in his life. He was, indeed, a wonderful role model.

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