[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 30, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E562-E563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING REVEREND LUCIUS WALKER, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 30, 2011

  Ms. LEE . Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary life 
of Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr. The founding director of the new 
Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), and a 
steadfast advocate for civil

[[Page E563]]

rights, peace and justice throughout his life, Rev. Walker followed a 
spiritual call to serve and empower vulnerable communities. With his 
passing on September 7, 2010, we look to Rev. Walker's personal legacy 
of faith, the joy he inspired, and the outstanding quality of his 
life's work.
  Born August 3, 1930, in Roselle, New Jersey, Rev. Walker was one of 
10 children. As a teenager, he garnered recognition as a skilled 
preacher at Pentecostal revival meetings. He majored in English at Shaw 
University, a historically black institution in Raleigh, North 
Carolina, and later earned a second degree in divinity from Andover 
Newton Theological School in Massachusetts. He also earned a master's 
degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin, and was 
ordained in 1958.
  In 1967, a group of progressive religious leaders and community 
activists called upon Rev. Walker to be the founding executive director 
of IFCO, an organization that linked mainstream Protestant, Catholic 
and Jewish denominations and congregations to empower community 
organizers in troubled areas. For more than four decades, Rev. Walker 
led the IFCO in assisting the poor and disenfranchised to develop and 
sustain community organizations that fight for human and civil rights 
around the world.
  As the first and largest foundation in the country led and directed 
by people of color, IFCO's first major accomplishment was the historic 
National Black Economic Development Conference in 1969, chaired by Rev. 
Walker. The conference resulted in the presentation of the Black 
Manifesto, which asked for $500 million in reparations to the Black 
community. In the 1970s, Rev. Walker and IFCO were instrumental in 
working to organize the National Anti-Klan Network (now known as the 
Center for Democratic Renewal), which continues to be a watchdog for 
racist violence and hate crimes. Moreover, Rev. Walker founded 
Salvation Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, and was also one of the 
strategists and founders of the National Black United Fund.
  In 1988, Rev. Walker suffered a gun shot wound at the hands of 
Nicaraguan contras while leading an international delegation to raise 
awareness about U.S. policy in Central America. This harrowing 
experience strengthened his resolve to form a new IFCO program called 
Pastors for Peace. Through his work, the program has had a key role in 
the American Indian Movement, the national farm labor movement, the 
Puerto Rican struggle for independence, and opposition to the U.S. 
blockade of Cuba. It has organized more than 40 caravans carrying 
material aid to Mexico, Central America, Haiti, New Orleans, and more 
than 3,200 tons of aid to Cuba, flouting the U.S. blockade.
  One of Rev. Walker's proudest accomplishments was his decade-long 
organization of a groundbreaking medical exchange program for low-
income American youth from communities of color to earn full 
scholarships at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba and 
return to the U.S. to provide medical care to the underserved. It was 
an honor and a magnificent experience to work with him in establishing 
a process for American students to attend this school. He said, ``Yes, 
we can'' in spite of the odds. We owe Rev. Walker a debt of gratitude 
for his bold efforts.
  Lucius was an international leader. I personally witnessed the 
respect and love people had for him throughout the world. He epitomized 
the slogan, ``think locally, act globally.'' I miss his advice and 
counsel, but most importantly, I miss his friendship.
  Today, California's 9th Congressional District salutes and honors a 
great humanitarian, Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr. The contributions he made 
to others throughout his life are countless and precious. My thoughts 
and prayers are with his family, as well as his extended group of loved 
ones and friends. He was a man of bold integrity who is deeply missed. 
May his soul rest in peace.

                          ____________________