[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1851]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  RECOGNIZING REVEREND DOCTOR SAM E. MANN ON HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE 
         SAINT MARK UNION CHURCH AND UNITED INNER CITY SERVICES

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                          HON. EMANUEL CLEAVER

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2010

  Mr. CLEAVER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the 
achievements of Rev. Doctor Samuel E. Mann, an individual who has 
dedicated his life to helping the underserved in the Fifth 
Congressional District of Missouri, the District that I am honored to 
represent. This weekend, Reverend Mann is retiring, after 40 years as 
Pastor Administrator of St. Mark Union Church and executive director of 
United Inner City Services. In that capacity, he oversaw a budget of 
$1.5 million annually, a sixty-two member staff and programs that 
included: child and family development, social services, and community 
development and street organizations and violence prevention.
  He is a native of Eufaula, Alabama and a graduate of Birmingham 
Southern College, BA; Duke Divinity School, M. Div., and St. Paul 
School of Theology, D. Min. He is married to Dr. Beverlye J. Brown, and 
is the father of three children and grandfather of seven.
  Remarkably, Rev. Mann was a local preacher at the age of 15 years old 
at the First Methodist Church of Eufaula, Alabama; he was later the 
Associate Pastor of St. John United Methodist Church of Kansas City, 
Missouri, and sometime later, the Pastor of the First Methodist Church 
of Peculiar, MO, and Director of the Young Adult Projects, Inc. Rev. 
Mann was dismissed from both churches because of his views on race and 
peace.
  As a long-time civil rights activist, Rev. Mann marched in numerous 
demonstrations, including the march for the garbage workers in Memphis, 
Tennessee, the march against the war in Vietnam, led by Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr., and was part of the U.S. delegation that visited with 
South Africa ANC leader Dr. Nelson Mandela shortly after his release 
from prison. Dr. Mann has also been jailed on several occasions for his 
participation in these activities. He served as a key participant in 
the national effort to respond to the burning of black churches in 
America. He has traveled to Nicaragua and China for various 
humanitarian efforts.
  Rev. Mann was instrumental in the formation of Operation Break and 
Build, a street outreach organization that evolved out of the Urban 
Peace and Justice Summit in 1994. Its purpose was to assist street 
organizations, gangs, with transforming their lives via crisis 
intervention, education, economic development, addressing women's 
issues, and criminal justice.
  He has been the recipient of many awards, including the NAACP Harold 
Holiday Award; the John M. Swomley Human Rights Award, the Elder 
Statesmen of Kansas City award, the MO Jazz award, the Sam Eason Award 
presented by Niles Home; the Black Archives of Mid-America award; the 
Beta Omega PSI PHI Fraternity Inc.'s Citizen of the Year Award; and 
many, many more. He is co-founder of the project ``Reframing the 
Dialogue on Race in America.'' Through this national project, he 
attempts to address the problem of race by focusing on the issues of 
white supremacy and white privilege. Through training, he seeks to 
inspire ministries to address racism in their congregations.
  His most recent project was the building of the $4 million child care 
center, the St. Mark Child & Family Development Center, located at 2008 
E. 12th Street in Kansas City, Missouri. St. Mark's is a state of the 
art child care facility that annually serves approximately 225 low-
income families through its early childhood education program, before- 
and after-school program, and summer camp. Nearly 100 percent of the 
children are African American, with many living in single parent 
households in one of Kansas City, Missouri's poorest neighborhoods.
  Rev. Mann is presently a leader working in concert with other 
agencies in making Kansas City a Zone Seven site to provide additional 
services in the urban core for the education of children. I am proud of 
the federal funding I helped secure for St. Mark.
  Madam Speaker, it is an honor and privilege for me to recognize my 
friend, and colleague, the Reverend Doctor Sam Mann for his efforts to 
improve the education and quality of life in the Kansas City 
Metropolitan Area. It is with great pride that we honor Reverend Doctor 
Mann today for his commitment to the residents of Missouri. On behalf 
of the people of Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, I wish this 
thunderous preacher and fearless prophet a well-deserved retirement.

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