[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 149 (Thursday, October 6, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H6643-H6644]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   NOTICE OF INTENTION TO OFFER RESOLUTION RAISING A QUESTION OF THE 
                        PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2 of rule 
IX, I rise to give notice of my intention to raise a question of the 
privileges of the House.
  The form of the resolution is as follows:

       Whereas on October 2, 2011, the Washington Post reported a 
     story called ``Rick Perry And A Word Set On Stone'';
       Whereas upon reading that story the vast majority of people 
     in the United States were morally outraged;
       Whereas most of the facts in this resolution come from that 
     Washington Post story;
       Whereas Governor Rick Perry has described a childhood in 
     Haskell County in Paint Creek, Texas, as centered on Boy 
     Scouts, school, and church;
       Whereas Texas Governor Rick Perry is from West Texas and 
     was originally a Southern Democrat--often known as 
     Dixiecrats--who switched parties in the late 1980s to become 
     a Republican and is currently a leading Republican 
     presidential candidate;
       Whereas ranchers who once grazed cattle on the 1,070-acre 
     parcel in Throckmorton County on the Clear Fork of the Brazos 
     River--near where Governor Perry was raised in Paint Creek, 
     Texas--it has since become a hunting ground that was called 
     by the name ``Niggerhead'' well before Governor Perry and his 
     father, Ray, began hunting there in the early 1980s even 
     though there is no definitive account of when the rock first 
     appeared on the property;
       Whereas the use of the term ``Niggerhead'' to describe a 
     hunting retreat is morally offensive;
       Whereas Ronnie Brooks, a local resident who guided a few 
     turkey shoots for Governor Perry between 1985 and 1990, said 
     he holds Governor Perry ``in the highest esteem'' but said 
     this of the rock at the camp: ``It kind of offended me, 
     truthfully'';
       Whereas Haskell County Judge David Davis, sitting in his 
     courtroom and looking at a window there, said the word was 
     ``like those are vertical blinds. It's just what it was 
     called. There was no significance other than a hunting 
     deal''--in other words, the judge was morally vacuous;
       Whereas the name of this particular parcel did not change 
     for years and for many remained the same after it became 
     associated with Rick Perry, first as a private citizen, then 
     as a State official, and finally as Texas Governor;
       Whereas some local residents still call it by the morally 
     repugnant name ``Niggerhead'';
       Whereas as recently as this summer, the slab-like rock--
     lying flat, portions of the name still faintly visible 
     beneath a coat of white paint--remained by the gated entrance 
     to the camp;
       Whereas asked last week about the name, Governor Perry said 
     the word on the rock is an offensive name that has no place 
     in the modern world--implying that it may have been okay and 
     had an appropriate place in that community when he was 
     growing up;
       Whereas Mae Lou Yeldell has lived in Haskell County, Texas, 
     for 70 years and recalls the racism she faced in the 1950s 
     and 1960s in West Texas, when being called an offensive 
     name--like Whites greeting Blacks with ``Morning nigger''--
     was ``like a broken record'';
       Whereas Throckmorton County, where the hunting camp is 
     located near Haskell County, was for years considered a 
     virtual no-go zone for African-Americans because of old 
     stories told by locals about the lynching of an African-
     American man there;
       Whereas Haskell County began observing Martin Luther King 
     Jr. Day just two years ago according to a county commissioner 
     in Haskell County;
       Whereas Governor Perry grew up in a segregated era whose 
     history has defined and complicated the careers of many 
     Southern politicians;
       Whereas Governor Perry has spoken often about how his 
     upbringing in this sparsely populated farming community 
     influenced his conservatism;
       Whereas Governor Perry says he mentioned the offensive word 
     on the rock to his parents shortly after they had signed a 
     lease and he had visited the property, and they rather 
     immediately painted over the word during the next July 4 
     holiday, but seven people interviewed by the Washington Post 
     said they still saw the word on the rock at various points 
     during the years that the Perry family was associated with 
     the property through his father, partners, or his signature 
     on a lease;
       Whereas another local resident who visited the property 
     with Governor Perry and the legislators he brought there to 
     go hunting recalled seeing the rock with the name clearly 
     visible;
       Whereas how, when, or whether Governor Perry dealt with it 
     when he was using the property isn't clear and adds a 
     dimension to the emerging biography of Governor Perry who 
     quickly moved into the top tier of Republican presidential 
     candidates when he entered the race in August; and
       Whereas Herman Cain is the only Republican presidential 
     candidate to criticize Governor Rick Perry for being 
     ``insensitive'' when the word was not immediately condemned, 
     but we would remind Herman Cain that the word is not only 
     ``insensitive'', but is also ``offensive'': Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) calls on Governor Rick Perry to apologize for not 
     immediately doing away with the rock that contained the word 
     ``Niggerhead'' at the entrance of a ranch he

[[Page H6644]]

     was leasing and on which he was taking friends, colleagues, 
     and supporters to hunt;
       (2) calls on Governor Rick Perry's presidential rivals, who 
     have not yet make strong statements of outrage over the rock 
     that contained the word, to do so;
       (3) calls upon Governor Rick Perry to condemn the use of 
     this word as being totally offensive and inappropriate at 
     anytime and anyplace in United States history; and
       (4) calls upon Governor Rick Perry to list the names of all 
     lawmakers, friends, and financial supporters he took with him 
     on his hunting trips at ``Niggerhead''.

                              {time}  1150

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under rule IX, a resolution offered from the 
floor by a Member other than the majority leader or the minority leader 
as a question of the privileges of the House has immediate precedence 
only at a time designated by the Chair within 2 legislative days after 
the resolution is properly noticed.
  Pending that designation, the form of the resolution noticed by the 
gentleman from Illinois will appear in the Record at this point.
  The Chair will not at this point determine whether the resolution 
constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at 
the time for consideration of the resolution.

                          ____________________