[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 77 (Thursday, May 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H3690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       DR. HAROLD A. CARTER, SR.--A LEGACY OF PRINCIPLE AND FAITH

  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 to honor a great American and true 
leader, Dr. Harold A. Carter, Sr., of Baltimore. His is a vision and a 
mission, grounded in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, that has 
compelling importance for our Nation today. More than half a century 
ago when Dr. Harold Carter, Sr., was still a young man in Selma, 
Alabama, Dr. Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., both 
offered Harold Carter his first opportunities to speak to their 
congregations as a newly ordained minister. ``I was a young college 
student, and they wanted to give me a boost from the beginning,'' Dr. 
Carter observed in a 2005 article written by Mr. Sean Yoes of the 
Baltimore Afro-American newspaper. Mr. Speaker, it was a strong, 
inspiring, and enduring ``boost,'' indeed. This same visionary 
foundation has inspired Dr. Carter throughout his ministry, both in the 
mission to proclaim the gospel to which he had been called and in the 
Social Gospel work of his faith. And I can say for a fact that not only 
does he preach the Word, but he lives it.
  This year, Dr. Carter celebrates 45 years as the principal shepherd 
of Baltimore's New Shiloh Baptist Church. In his own words, he is, 
above all, ``a God man,'' the primary trustee of his congregation's 
spiritual life. Yet at a time when our urban areas are in danger of 
crumbling under the stress of decades of disinvestment, Dr. Carter and 
his New Shiloh congregation also offer the people of Baltimore both 
hope and a concrete plan for social and economic renewal. A past leader 
of Baltimore's chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference 
and the local chapter of the Poor People's Campaign, Dr. Carter has 
readily acknowledged Dr. King's influence upon his vision for community 
renewal as an integral element of his New Shiloh ministry. ``I learned 
from him that we have to take responsibility for our condition, 
whatever that might be,'' Dr. Carter once observed. ``People in power 
do not concede anything to others freely, so we have to equip ourselves 
and do for ourselves based on the principles of unconditional love.'' 
That's Dr. Harold Carter, Sr.
  Aided by the strength and talents of his wonderful wife, the late Dr. 
Weptanomah Carter, whom I also knew, his son and copastor, Dr. Harold 
A. Carter, Jr., and a dedicated congregation that has grown to number 
in the thousands, New Shiloh is, indeed, equipping its community to 
move forward on empowering principles. Every day, people from the 
neighborhood can find inspiration and opportunity in its beautiful 
church and Family Life Center, its School of Music, Theological Center, 
Child Development Center and other facilities. These accomplishments of 
the congregation's Social Gospel mission are important aspects of Dr. 
Carter's vision, but they are far from the end. Already underway are 
plans for technical training for the community, a computer center, a 
senior center and senior housing.
  Mr. Speaker, it is more appropriate under our constitutional system 
for me to leave it to others to commend Dr. Carter for the other 
wonderful ministers whom he has trained, including my own pastor, 
Bishop Walter Scott Thomas, Sr., and many, many others. Others are 
better qualified than I to attest to the lasting importance of Dr. 
Carter's spiritual writings, which have been many. However, I have been 
honored to serve as a spokesman for the Congressional Black Caucus to 
our Nation's faith communities, and in that duty, I have gained a 
thorough understanding of faith-based initiatives that are working. A 
part of what my teacher, my mentor and friend Dr. Harold Carter, Sr., 
has taught me is that the inspiration for faith-based programs that 
work cannot be found in a strategy to transfer public responsibility 
for greater social equity to the faith centers of our country. Rather, 
that motivating force must first arise from the hearts and minds of 
people of faith themselves.
  This, I submit, is why Dr. Harold A. Carter, Sr., should stand as an 
example for all of our citizenry, whatever our respective faith 
traditions may be. This, I believe, is what Dr. Carter means when he 
speaks of how our local communities must undertake greater 
responsibility for themselves and their neighbors and how they must 
equip themselves for opportunity.
  Unlike other megachurches that have left the inner cities of our 
Nation, New Shiloh Baptist Church has followed Dr. Carter's vision and 
his mission for his congregation. It has constructed its foundation on 
an unwavering commitment to the people of our great urban community.

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