[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 105 (Monday, July 22, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H4848-H4855]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous materials into the Record on the subject of this
Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor and my privilege once again
to anchor this CBC Special Order where, for the next 60 minutes, the
members of the Congressional Black Caucus will have an opportunity to
speak directly to the American people on the important issue of race in
America. Where do we go from here?
The events of the last several weeks have startled many throughout
this country; most recently, the verdict down in Florida where Mr.
Zimmerman was acquitted and the result that shocked many all across
this country, a verdict that was viewed by many as unjust.
A few weeks prior to that, the Supreme Court struck down an important
provision of the Voting Rights Act, an act that had been the most
effective piece of civil rights legislation in this country which has
helped to bring our democracy to life and is designed to make sure that
all Americans, regardless of race, have an opportunity to participate
in our democracy in a meaningful way.
The debate over the farm bill that has left many people troubled by
the fact that the SNAP program, in an unprecedented fashion, was left
out; and if we don't come to an agreement here, our failure to step up
and help those who are hungry will disproportionately have an effect on
many in the African American community.
These are just some of the recent events that have come together to
put us in a position where, as the President has recently indicated,
it's time for us to have a meaningful conversation on race--a direct
conversation, a forthright conversation, an honest conversation. That's
why the members of the Congressional Black Caucus are here today.
We have made tremendous progress in America. We've come a long way in
this great country, but we certainly still have a ways to go. The road
to equality is still under construction, and we're here today to try
and lay out a roadmap for how we can get closer to a more perfect union
here in America.
I'm pleased today that we've been joined by the chairwoman of the
Congressional Black Caucus, the distinguished gentlelady from Ohio (Ms.
Fudge), who has been such a tremendous, eloquent, forceful leader in
her position as chair of the CBC.
I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio.
Ms. FUDGE. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I want to thank you, Congressman Jeffries, for leading the
Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour on this very important
topic tonight, a topic that has once again captured national attention
and sparked a dialogue in communities across this Nation.
On Friday, President Obama helped provide context to the emotion
Americans--and particularly African American men--have had around the
tragedy of Trayvon Martin. Over the weekend, people of all ages and
races gathered at Federal Government buildings in their
[[Page H4849]]
cities to stand together, to rise up for justice and in honor of
Trayvon.
To many, the verdict we all heard on Saturday, July 13, was a
miscarriage of justice, a consistent failure of our system that we've
seen in this country one too many times. But tonight, I want to broaden
this conversation on race and justice in America. I want to talk about
how the emotion and discontent we are seeing from the average community
and people of other races in this country is about much more than the
Zimmerman verdict.
Much of the emotion we are seeing is in response to the continual
attack on the rights and the closing of doors to opportunity for
millions of individuals in this country. I'm not just talking about
African Americans tonight. I'm talking about people who come from poor
families, who are trying to find their way out of a cycle of poverty.
I'm talking about students who are doing all they can to pay for
school, but who have to choose between being in the classroom or paying
back loans that are becoming a source of profit for the government to
help decrease the deficit.
{time} 2015
I'm talking about thousands of students from Historically Black
Colleges and Universities who had to leave school because of changes to
loans their parents took out to help them get an education. These
changes were made without any consideration of how they would hurt
these young people. I'm talking about tonight, Mr. Speaker, immigrants
of Hispanic, African, Asian, and European descent who are working in
this Nation but have no rights. I'm talking about people in communities
across this Nation who must now fight harder to have their voices heard
in our democracy because others will use subversive, and now
permissible, tactics to make it harder to vote.
And, yes, to the Supreme Court of the United States, this is still a
problem. You see, what we are experiencing and talking about right now
is not just about Zimmerman. It is not just about race in America. It
is about a system that should be just in creating and protecting the
conditions for everyone to succeed, but instead it continues to favor
some over others.
Since its inception in 1971, the Congressional Black Caucus has stood
against injustice in our society so that inequity in treatment and
opportunity under the law comes to an end so that all people are
treated equally. Today, we continue that fight and ask America to join
with us, not so that one group of any particular race can win, but so
that, in the end, we all win.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished chair of the CBC.
Our objective here today, as part of our mission in the Congress, is
really just to make sure that all Americans, regardless of skin color,
have access to the American Dream, have an opportunity to pursue life
and liberty and happiness here in America, unencumbered by any barriers
connected to the color of their skin. That's our hope in America. That
will make America all that it can be, this great country even better,
in the quest toward a more perfect Union.
I am pleased that we've been joined by the distinguished gentleman
from New York, the lion of Lenox Avenue, a legendary Member of this
great institution, Congressman Charles Rangel.
(Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. RANGEL. Let me thank my friend and colleague from the great
Borough of Brooklyn, city of New York, and my colleagues, for coming
down to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, when we started the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971,
I guess most people said: Why do you need a Black Caucus? Thirteen of
you of color have been able to break the walls of racism and
discrimination to reach the Halls of the United States Congress.
Obviously, you don't have to say that you're Black.
What we tried to do then, and I guess we are still involved in that
struggle, is to try to make certain that there's absolutely no need for
any group of people to have to identify themselves for protection and
for aggressiveness on programs because of their color.
I tell the gentleman from New York--I guess you were about born when
we started the Caucus--I wish by the time you got here and you were
looking for the Congressional Black Caucus, I would be able to say:
Hakeem, that's all over. That's when we were not treated as full
Americans. That's ancient times, the same way I had thought that poll
taxes and things of that nature that the late--my predecessor--Adam
Clayton Powell had been able to overcome.
So now comes the question where people feel so awkward to say race
was a factor in the killing of young Mr. Martin. Why would they feel so
awkward? It is so easy to understand if two people have a problem, one
was minding his business, the other was stalking him, one had a gun and
the other ended up dead, and he had already described to the police who
he was following and it was a person of color. I don't think I've heard
anyone challenge if the colors were reversed it wouldn't take all of
the weeks, days and weeks that it took just to arrest somebody.
The reason that we are asking for the Justice Department to examine
this is because the Justice Department has been successful in examining
a whole lot of criminal activity where the local community somehow
didn't see it. And George, as the family in Sanford calls him,
obviously was a part of that family. I would think anybody would like
somebody that's not a part of that family to go in and see what
happened to Trayvon.
But having said that, if you want to know where do we go from here,
we don't have to explain why Blacks are killing Blacks. If we say
that's an epidemic, if we say that's a sickness, if we say that's a
disaster, I ask my fellow Americans: What the heck do you do when you
find a disaster? I think one of the things that you do is try to stop
it from spreading and find out what do these areas have in common.
First of all, why is it that members of the Congressional Black
Caucus have more of these than other Members in the Congress? We don't
want to talk about color. Color is not an issue, right? Right.
But are we talking about the poorest communities that we have in the
United States of America? Well, what's that got to do with it? Are we
talking about communities that have the lousiest education system in
the United States of America?
Rangel, I don't see why you are bringing that up. Are we talking
about sick people physically, where they have mental problems they call
them crazy instead of disoriented?
Rangel, you're going way off now. Are we talking about legislation
that actually, in an investment of the United States, less money goes
into these communities than communities of wealth?
Listen, you put all this together, Rangel, that doesn't explain why
people shoot each other.
Well, I don't know why people shoot each other, but I know one thing:
Who doesn't shoot each other? Our young kids that are inspired. They've
got education. They've got families. They've got a country that's the
wind behind their wings that want to make a contribution to this great
country. They can walk anywhere, talk anywhere, and nobody is going to
be following them talking about, ``You look like someone that may hurt
somebody.''
Now, we can't solve the problem unless we talk about it. If you are
talking about Hurricane Sandy, if you are talking about fires, if you
are talking about disasters, why can't we talk about this? This is
costing America human beings. It is costing lives. It is costing money.
It is costing us embarrassment.
We are losing in terms of having stronger productivity. We are losing
in terms of competition. It is not just the communities and their
families that are losing. America is losing, the same way we would not
hesitate to reach out to any village or any town or any State that has
any type of an epidemic.
So don't just look at the color. Look at the economic circumstances
that are in the community that has it. If you want, you might want to
look up and see what Member of Congress represents this.
They say that sometimes we look to cut our districts. Well, take a
look. We didn't look to cut our districts. Our districts looked for us
to represent them. The day we become color blind is the day the
Constitution should say we walked out of this body.
[[Page H4850]]
Our job here is to give this Congress sight. ``Color'' isn't a dirty
word. It could be one of the most beautiful words that we have in the
United States of America. Different colors, different cultures,
different languages, different ways that we can enjoy being with each
other, learning from each other.
So if we have a problem in Chicago, in Dallas, in Harlem, let's share
that problem. Whenever there is a problem anyplace in these great
United States, that all of us can come together and try to bring people
up so that this country doesn't have to take a back seat to anybody
when it comes to saying: This is the land of the free; this is the home
of the brave. And when you shoot someone down, you don't have to look
at the color of the victim or the perpetrator, justice shall rein and
discrimination and color shall not be a cause for lack of justice.
Let me thank my gentleman from Brooklyn for giving us this
opportunity. We've taken a death. I was with the family this weekend.
The mother said she lost her son but will dedicate her life to make
certain she does all that she can so that no mother and father would
lose their son. She didn't say ``Black''; she didn't say ``White.'' The
President said that you have to walk in his shoes. Anybody that's a
father that loses a teenage son, the more that son looks like you, the
more pain that you suffered.
I am about to take my seat, but I was just reminded when I went to
Korea and we were going up the lines, we saw all kinds of dead people:
South Koreans, communist Koreans, North Koreans, and our colleagues
that were White soldiers that had died before we got there. But my
colleague from Brooklyn, before we got up to the lines, two trucks, the
catafalios flew off them because of the speed that they were driving,
and in those cars were Black dead soldiers in our uniform cross-length,
like they were logs on the way to grave registration. I don't have to
tell you we felt a lot different in looking at those people who looked
exactly like us.
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from New York for
his very insightful, passionate, and wonderful remarks as they relate
to the situation that we in America find ourselves in today, the way
forward, as well as an understanding of why we have arrived in this
position.
Before I turn the floor over to the distinguished gentlelady from
Texas, I just want to thank the Congressman from Harlem for mentioning
the fact that we here in America do have a capacity, I think, to
address multiple problems at the same time. We can multitask.
It's wrong when a child is killed in the inner city. It's wrong when
a child is killed, 17 years old, walking home down in Sanford, Florida.
We have an ability to address all of these problems, but there are some
in this country that criticize those of us who raise problems of
injustice in America by immediately pointing out that in inner cities
all across this country--in Brooklyn, in Harlem, in Houston, in
Chicago--there's Black-on-Black violence. We understand that it is our
children who are dying. That is why the CBC, this Friday, will be in
Chicago convening a summit to discuss the problem of violence in the
inner city communities in places like Chicago, Illinois. But that
doesn't mean we turn a blind eye to injustices that exist in other
parts of the system.
We are pleased that we've been joined by the distinguished gentlelady
from Houston, Texas, who has been working hard on this issue, on many
issues of concern and injustice here in America. So let me now yield to
Representative Sheila Jackson Lee.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Let me thank the distinguished gentleman from New
York and let me thank our chairperson, the Honorable Marcia Fudge, and
all my colleagues that are on the floor tonight to accept the challenge
that has been given over the airways by many people.
I want to thank Mr. Jeffries for pointing out--as I stand here as a
mother, I would make the argument of a son, of a Black son. I can
affirm that any child's life is of great value. In fact, we spent the
weekend in Houston reaffirming the value of a child's life.
I want to cite and compliment Bishop James Dixon and Pastor Kirbyjon
Caldwell, Pastors Henderson and Nash and Lawson and many other pastors
that were there, who obviously joined with so many, including my
colleague who is here on the floor of the House, Congressman Al Green.
I heard nothing but an affirmation of the value of life.
I'm delighted as a lawyer and as a legislator that you reaffirm that
African Americans do not coddle crime of any kind, a crime that happens
to be between two African Americans or, in essence, two Caucasians. It
is noted, if my facts are correct, that 84 percent of the crimes
perpetrated on White Americans are done by White Americans.
{time} 2030
Eighty six percent of the crimes done on Black persons, on Black
Americans, are done by Black people.
It might be that it speaks again to the isolated, segregated
neighborhoods that we travel in, but the one thing, Mr. Speaker, that
is unique is that you can count on the fact that those African
Americans who perpetrated crimes are incarcerated over and over again
at a higher number than any other population in this Nation.
Their lives, the premise of much of what we are discussing tonight--
and I would hope that as I finish that it will also be a pleading that
we have a discussion on race. Let me just cite these numbers since I
started out with the idea of incarceration. Incarceration is not an
equal opportunity punishment.
For example, incarceration rates in the United States by race were as
follows: 2,468 per 100,000 are Black; 1,038 per 100,000 are Latinos;
409 per 100,000 are White. The United States locks up its Black males
at a rate 5.8 times higher than what previously has been known as one
of the more racist countries in the world, which is South Africa. Under
apartheid in 1993, Black males were only 851 per 100,000. In 2006,
Black males were 4,789.
I would say to my colleagues and to the Speaker and to my colleagues
here: What are we to think when the scales of justice are unequally
balanced?
As my friends have said, it is the pain that we felt at the loss of
Trayvon Martin and the simplicity of an arrest and then ultimately,
with a Sanford jury in a State trial, that we could not even find with
much evidence to prove that there was not enough commonality of
cultural connection and that they could not see that something should
have valued the loss of an innocent child who simply was walking to get
home.
Maybe it is the words of Frederick Douglass that he said on April 16,
1883:
It is a real calamity in this country for any man, guilty
or not guilty, to be accused of a crime. We are all upset
when that happens--guilty or not guilty, perpetrator or not--
but it is an incomparably greater calamity for any colored
man to be so accused. Justice is often painted with bandaged
eyes. She is described in forensic eloquence as utterly blind
to wealth or poverty, high or low, White or Black; but a mass
of iron, however thick, could never blind American justice
when a Black man happens to be on trial.
I would say to my colleagues that that is something we have to move
beyond in America.
In an E.J. Dionne article, he said:
The dignity and grace of Trayvon Martin's family should
inspire all of us to keep our eyes on the future. We should
not blind ourselves either to the persistence of racism or to
our triumphs in pushing it back.
It does not help when those who are not like those of us who are on
the floor--members of the Congressional Black Caucus--want to push back
and call those of us who raise questions of justice--which, by the way,
if you impact and correct the criminal justice system, you're going to
impact Whites and Latinos, and you're going to impact African
Americans. If you address the question of mandatory minimums, if you
address the question of rehabilitation funding, if you address the
question of providing housing and opportunity for work for those who
have come out of prison--no matter from where they come out, the
Federal system or, in fact, the State system--you make it better for
all. But every time we raise the question of improving issues of
justice, we get called or get labeled as being racist.
So I want to say to America and to our friends: Can we not be called
``Americans''? Because that is what the Congressional Black Caucus
stands for.
[[Page H4851]]
In 1997, John Hope Franklin finished a report that called itself
``One America in the 21st Century: Forging a New Future.'' I will read
one sentence:
America's greatest promise in the 21st century--which we're
in right now--lies in our ability to harness the strength of
our racial diversity.
We have not done that, and that is why the Congressional Black Caucus
is here on the floor of the House to be able to accept the challenge
that the President made as he indicated to America, unabashedly and
without fear: that it's not only that Trayvon may have been my son, but
that he may have been me.
The President said something very powerful. He said that we must, all
of us--Members of Congress and Governors and pastors and plain
civilians and young people--do some soul searching, and that we must as
families and churches and workplaces find the possibility of being a
little bit more honest and at least ask yourself your own questions: Am
I ringing as much bias out of myself as I can? Am I judging people as
much as I can based not on the color of their skin but on the content
of their character? That, I would think, would be an appropriate
exercise in the wake of this tragedy.
So tonight, Mr. Speaker, in joining with my colleagues, I'm going to
stand unabashedly and ask for that kind of discussion. I want it for
those who were standing on the street corners yesterday in Houston,
Texas, shouting out that people were racist because they were concerned
about a court decision that they didn't think was fair. I am concerned
that all of those people who were marching would be labeled across
America, in all the cities in which they were--peacefully without
arrest or incident--as ``un-American.'' That's when we have to ring, if
you will, our souls and find that we take from it the bias that we
might perceive to be blocking us from understanding the richness of our
diversity.
So I would argue that we are blessed because we have Asians, blessed
because we have White people, blessed because we have Latinos, blessed
because we have African Americans, blessed because of the diversity in
sexual orientation, blessed because we have people who are short and
tall, blessed because we have people who are wealthy and middle class,
and blessed because as a Congress we can work on those who are
impoverished, and we can stop the devastation of the SNAP and provide
the opportunity for those individuals who are impoverished to do
better.
Finally, let me say this. This past week, we honored an icon who
moved me because of the diversity of those who were honoring--from
Senator Cornyn from my State and Senator McConnell, organized by Maxine
Waters and Eric Cantor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Senator Durbin, and on and on and on, Leader Pelosi and Clyburn and
Hoyer--and I'm sure I've missed many others--our chairwoman and Eleanor
Holmes Norton. What a vast diversity of individuals who rose to honor
Madiba, Nelson Mandela.
Nelson Mandela said something that should be potent as we look to fix
the inequity of self-defense laws, as many of us look at racial
profiling, which exists extensively in this country, as evidenced by
the heinous crime that generated the hate crimes legislation in our
State of Texas--the killing of James Byrd, an individual who was
dismembered, who was an African American male who was minding his
business while walking along a lonely rural road. Another man was
killed in Mississippi, who just came to a hotel and went out to his
car, and was killed tragically just because of who he was. The numbers
of cases that we've had are that impact that we have not yet
understood--the greatness of America.
So we've got to change stand-your-ground laws, and I intend to
introduce that legislation this week. I look for bipartisan support
because, as Senator McCain said, maybe we need to look and to review
federally what stand-your-ground laws are doing, not the Castle laws,
but the extension of those that then carry this power out into the
public where you do not have to retreat.
But I read these words of Mandela's. They say:
Our struggle has reached a decisive moment. We call on
people to be able to intensify the struggle on all fronts.
He had another quote that I'd like to read:
Honor comes when you pursue and are determined in your
struggle.
He mentioned the fact that, even with humiliation, even with insults
and even with defeat, if you continue in your struggle, then there is
honor due.
Let me thank Mr. Jeffries for laying out the opportunity for the
Congressional Black Caucus to answer the question: the road to equality
is under construction. Also, let me thank him for allowing us to rise
to the floor.
I go to my seat by saying that equality will come when school
districts like North Forest Independent School District will not be
destroyed and closed in Houston, Texas, when we raise up education;
equality will come when we focus on ridding this Nation of poverty by
making sure that we have the kind of economic programs; and equality
will come when we recognize that justice should roll down on all of us,
and that we address the question of the criminalization of African
American males and others so that justice is equally applied but, as
the individuals return and have done their time, that they will come to
a place that is welcoming so that they can serve their Nation.
For that reason, I yield back my time with a great hope of the same
message that came in the treatise by John Hope Franklin. He chaired the
committee on race and said that America's greatest promise is in her
diversity.
I call upon my colleagues, my friends in Texas, my friends in my
district: let's sit down at the table of harmony. Let's talk about race
as we embrace each other and love each other, because that's what
America is all about. Thank you to the Congressional Black Caucus for
its vision and its leadership.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlelady from Texas for her
very thoughtful and eloquent remarks.
We in the CBC simply want a justice system that is color blind. That
should be our goal, our objective, our mission here in America. We
can't have a set of laws unequally applied--over-enforced with one
group that looks a certain way and under-enforced with another group
that looks a different way. That's not the type of America we want.
One of the reasons so many folks were troubled with the verdict down
in Florida was that it appeared that the stand-your-ground defense
seemed available for a self-appointed vigilante who shot down a 17-
year-old in cold blood but, apparently, was not available for a
battered woman who simply fired a warning shot against someone who had
had a history of abusing her. We just want a set of laws equally
applied to everybody.
We are pleased that the distinguished gentlelady from New York--my
neighbor back at home--who has been a fighter for justice here in the
Congress over the last 6-plus years, has joined us. Let me now yield to
Representative Yvette Clarke.
Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from Brooklyn, my
closest colleague in the New York State delegation--both of our
districts being in the borough of Brooklyn--for leading us in this
Special Order hour today: Race in America--where do we go from here?
For more than a year, many people have tried to give voice to Trayvon
Martin and to present his perspective into the debate concerning the
injustice of the criminal justice system in Black males. With his
remarks on Friday, President Obama provided Trayvon Martin a voice. By
sharing his experiences, he offered America a perspective on the
experiences of other African American men, women, boys, and girls, and
he gave voice to millions of Americans who felt the pain of the Martin-
Fulton Family as their own.
When President Obama introduced racial profiling into the
conversation, he held up a mirror to the faces of all of us as
Americans--to a truth that some commentators have tried to ignore and
that many more are in deep denial of--for, despite the promises of
equality in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, our
practices have been inadequate to our ideals. Our beliefs, the best
traditions of our Nation, have not become a reality for millions of
Americans of African descent. The tragic death of our
[[Page H4852]]
young man Trayvon Martin, followed by the acquittal of the man who
pursued him and killed him, has reminded us that, although it may seem
as if African Americans and other minorities have achieved full
equality in our civil society, we are still victims of racial
profiling--in violation of our laws and our morals.
The lives of Black men and women are not accorded the same value as
the lives of White Americans. This is the reality for far too many
Black Americans. Compounding the 21st century's divisive racial tone is
the reality of knowing that our lives have been devalued, our exercise
of the liberties to which Americans have been entitled have been
devalued and diminished, such as the right to vote. With millions of
Americans, I was deeply disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision
to prevent the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. We cannot forget
that prior to the enactment of voting rights that democracy did not
exist in many parts of the Nation, with the deliberate denial of the
right to vote to Black people.
{time} 2045
Mr. Speaker, while the Supreme Court's recent decision and the
Trayvon Martin case are crucial to this conversation, they cannot fully
address the problem of racial inequality without a discussion of racial
profiling, the structural discrimination of our judicial system, the
disintegration of the educational system, and the lack of jobs and
economic opportunity, especially for the African American community.
Tonight I want to just quickly hit on the issue of racial profiling
and our justice system. In a June 2013 report from the ACLU, ``The War
on Marijuana in Black and White'' demonstrated that even as rates of
marijuana usage between Blacks and Whites are comparable, Blacks are
nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.
In my district in Brooklyn, and all over New York City, African
American young men are harassed simply because of the color of their
skin. The excessive use of Stop-and-Frisk, known in New York City as
the Stop-and-Frisk program, it has been proven that this program
disproportionately targets African Americans and Latinos, these two
groups comprising 87 percent of all stops while only about 50 percent
of the City's population.
According to the New York City Civil Liberties Union, the number of
stops of young Black men neared the entire population of young Black
men, 133,119, as compared to 158,406 in the population in the year
2012. That means that there were some young men that were getting
stopped more than once
Commissioner Kelly increased the number of stops 600 percent since
2002 when he became Commissioner, reaching a peak of almost 700,000
stops in the year 2011.
They have almost a 90 percent fail rate. Only 12 percent of the
number of massive stops result in an arrest or a summons and have been
less effective in getting guns off the street than random searches of
all New Yorkers would. It is a clear violation of civil rights and
civil liberties of African American and Latino men.
So where do we going from here?
Well, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have introduced and
sponsored legislation on racial profiling, and that will represent a
comprehensive Federal commitment to healing the rift caused by racial
profiling and restoring public confidence in the criminal justice
system at large.
I want to encourage my colleagues to take a look at this legislation,
because this is where the conversation can begin, and this is where the
healing should start. This can be done through the changing of policies
and procedures underlying the practice of racial profiling and through,
like the President said, working with the State and local governments
on training that helps enforcement officials become more aware of
potential racial and ethnic bias.
I urge my colleagues to go back to their districts and to hold town
hall meetings and discussions on race. Speak to your constituents.
Speak to your families and friends. Have conversations at home and in
your neighborhoods.
We must not sit back and watch the progress gained by those who came
before us who worked diligently and often made the ultimate sacrifice
for freedom and the rights that we all enjoy today, we cannot permit
their sacrifices to be forgotten or erased from history. Today we must
take a stand against further racial injustice of all kinds. Enough is
enough.
You know, it's ironic, because when I think about my age and having
come of age in the 1970s in the United States of America, there was
just a lot more optimism about us becoming a more perfect Union. And to
arrive in the House of Representatives in the 21st century and see the
type of digression that is taking place in our Nation, to know that my
nephews that are millennials are going through some of the same issues
that young men in the 1950s and 1960s were facing in a desegregated
Nation is extraordinarily painful.
We are an enlightened civil society, and we have an obligation to do
what we can to make sure that all Americans are worthy of all that this
Nation has to offer. And that means that we have to have an honest
conversation about the inequities, the racial injustices that continue
to persist. While not as blatant as they were in the 1950s and sixties,
they still fester and continue to be a blight on a Nation that is
poised for greatness.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlelady from New York.
The conversation on race is not an easy one, but certainly is a
necessary one here in America and one that should be embraced because
the diversity of our society, as the gentleman from New York,
Congressman Rangel, pointed out, is one of our greatest strengths here
in America.
We've been joined by a classmate of mine, the distinguished gentleman
from New Jersey, Representative Donald Payne, not only one of the
sharpest dressed Members of Congress, but he's got one of the sharpest
minds. And so I'm pleased to yield to him such time as he may consume.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from New York. It
is really an honor and a privilege to stand here with him as one of the
freshmen Members in the 113th Congress to discuss an issue that has
plagued this Nation for centuries.
I am here tonight to talk to you about an issue that has interested
me for most of my life, and it is the issue around people having
respect for one another, irrespective of their racial makeup.
I grew up in Newark, New Jersey, which is a town, the largest city in
the State of New Jersey, with many suburbs surrounding that metropolis,
and our travels in and out of those communities were fraught at some
times with peril for young men. So that was 40 years ago.
But fast-forward to the past 18 months, and what do we have? We have
the same situation still before us. A young boy armed with a bag of
candy and a drink is profiled and followed. The car follows him, and
then the individual gets out of the car and follows the young man on
foot.
Now, at 17, I wonder how I would have felt if a car had followed me,
a grown man gets out of the car and continues to follow me. It is a
situation that I have thought about over the past 18 months because of
my triplet children. Two are boys who just turned 15, so they're right
around Trayvon Martin's age. And I wonder: Have I taught them enough to
be safe? Will they find themselves in this position?
And on hearing the outcome of the verdict that Saturday evening, one
of my young sons texted his mother to say what had happened and why had
that happened, because we taught them in this Nation that justice
prevails. And how the victim becomes the guilty party in a situation
like this I still cannot understand, because it became about who and
what this young man was and what he had done and what he had been doing
rather than the perpetrator following him.
I was fortunate to be in New York during the time of the 100 rallies
across the Nation in finding justice for Trayvon Martin. I proudly
stood with Trayvon Martin's mother on Saturday, a dignified woman.
In all of this crisis and sorrow there must be in her heart, she's
remained a dignified individual and only asked for justice for her son;
not that people should act out in a manner in which
[[Page H4853]]
the masses thought that they would, but to have a peaceful
demonstration about the injustices that came out of that case.
Stand your ground. Did Trayvon Martin have the right to stand his
ground? He was the one that was being followed. He was the one being
profiled. When did he lose the right to defend himself?
We are in a difficult time here in this country, but it seems like we
always get to this point at some time and we start the conversation,
but we never finish it. We need to have an open discussion about the
conditions that we find ourselves in as Americans, all of us. We need
to understand both sides of the issue, all sides of the issue so we can
move forward with this great experiment called the United States of
America.
It is the greatest Nation in the world, it is true, and many come
here to live the American Dream. Many nations emulate the United
States. But we have a long way to go in this Nation as well. The
injustices that we're facing are widespread and threaten some of the
most fundamental rights of this country.
So I ask my colleagues, let's have that discussion. I ask the
citizens of the United States, let's have that discussion so we can
form that more perfect Union.
I have had situations in my life where I've found myself not in the
exact situation of Trayvon Martin, but issues of racism that were
perpetrated on me. But I'm not bitter towards an entire population.
Those were individuals. We have to come to grips with prejudging people
in this country.
And I'd just like to end with something Dr. King said:
In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends.
And my father, the late Congressman Donald Payne, who was a great
teacher, humanitarian, and felt all people deserved the right to
freedom, justice, and equality, taught me a poem very early on in my
life, and I will end with that. It said:
Whether you have blonde fleecy locks or black complexion,
It cannot forfeit nature's claim;
Skin may differ in black and white,
But it is all just the same.
Were I so tall as to reach the poles,
Or span the oceans with my hands;
I must be measured by my soul,
The mind is the standard of a man.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank Congressman Payne for those very eloquent
remarks and for noting the conversation that he had with his young son,
conversations that have been taking place in the aftermath of this
verdict in households all across this country, with parents and their
young sons and daughters trying to make sense of an inexplicable
verdict in the eyes of many.
Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have remaining in this Special
Order?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 10 minutes remaining.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I'm going to now turn to the distinguished gentlelady
from the Virgin Islands, Dr. Donna Christensen.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you for yielding.
And it's my pleasure to join the CBC for another Special Order, and
thank you for bringing this issue of race in America before the
American public tonight, because racism in America is so pervasive in
so many aspects of our lives. Its impact, of course, was most recently
and painfully felt in the killing of young Trayvon Martin, as we've
spoken about this evening, and of course the insensitivity, the slow,
the poor, and the racially influenced response of the justice system to
his death.
{time} 2100
Our prayers, our thoughts, and our support are with his parents and
loved ones, and all of our families who face the same fears for their
children.
But I want to speak just briefly about how race in America affects
health care of African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color.
According to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, despite the existence
of civil rights legislation, equal treatment and equal access are not a
reality for racial-ethnic minorities and women in the current climate
of the health care industry. Many barriers limit both the quality of
care and utilization for these groups, including discrimination.
Just in the last National Health Care Disparities Report of 2012, it
reported that Blacks received worse care than Whites, and Hispanics
received worse care than non-Hispanic Whites for about 40 percent of
quality measures. American Indians and Alaskan Natives, worse care than
Whites for one-third of quality measures. Asians received worse care
than Whites for about one-quarter of quality measures. And it goes on
and on and on.
But just to be very brief, I want to just show you one example of how
racism affects health care of African Americans and Latinos. Because I
think this is a stark example of how it happened.
This is an emergency mortality rate. It's a study done by a doctor
not too far from here. You can see that whether they're insured or
uninsured, African Americans and Latinos arriving at an emergency room
with the exact same injuries are more likely to die. In fact, when
compared with an uninsured White patient, Black patients with
equivalent injuries but without insurance had a 78 percent higher risk
of dying; uninsured Hispanics, a 130 percent higher risk of dying. So
even if Trayvon Martin had lived, you wonder what would have happened
if he had arrived at the emergency room.
And so I just wanted to add the impact of racism in American, which
continues to this day, and how it affects the health care and the lives
of African Americans and Latinos. The Affordable Care Act, as we talk
about where do we go from here, has begun to change this by providing
coverage and access to care.
We really have to find ways to change the heart of America. And we
can't do that by legislation. We thank the CBC for all of its efforts,
like the efforts that will take place in Chicago and across the
country.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlelady for those very
powerful remarks and observations.
I now yield to the distinguished gentleman from Houston, Texas, a
fighter for civil rights and equality prior to arriving in the Congress
and during his tenure here in this great institution, Representative Al
Green.
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. I thank you very much for the opportunity to
speak. I do want your constituents to know that you have been an
awesome Congressperson from the awesome Eighth District. And if they
are as proud of you as I am, you shall have an opportunity to continue
to serve them. I wish you much success in Congress.
I would like to thank the President of the United States of America
for his comments on this issue of Blacks--especially Black males--in
America. I believe that the President understands that although the arc
of the moral universe is long, it bends toward justice. But it doesn't
bend toward justice without some assistance. It doesn't have the
kinetic energy to do so without some help from mortals. I think the
President went a long way toward bending the arc of the moral universe
toward justice with his comments as they relate to the plight of
African American males. I'm grateful and I'm thankful.
With reference to the Trayvon Martin trial, we live in a world where
it's not enough for things to be right. They must also look right. And
it doesn't look right when a 17-year-old boy leaves home to go to the
store, and on his way back home, unarmed, encounters a person with a
firearm, is killed--and it is done so with impunity. It may be right,
but it does not look right. And because it doesn't look right, we have
to understand that although you can have a fair trial, you may not have
justice as the outcome.
I believe that this trial was fair to Mr. Zimmerman. I don't believe
it was fair to Trayvon Martin. And I don't believe that we can say that
this was a just decision.
Now there are people who would differ with me and say that you
shouldn't say this. Many of these same people would say that O.J.
Simpson had a fair trial but that he didn't get a just verdict from
that court. And the same people who don't want me--us--to protest, you
have to understand that if it was right for the farmers to come here in
their tractors and protest the conditions related to farming, then it's
right for me to protest. If it was right for the veterans after World
War I to come up here and set up a tent city in protest,
[[Page H4854]]
it's right for me to protest. If it was right for the Tea Party to come
to Congress and stand along the way across from one building to another
and protest, then it's right for me to protest. And by the way, I think
it was right for them to come to Congress to protest. I support their
right to protest.
If you think it's wrong for me to protest, then you've got to change
the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of
America. We have the right. We must exercise the right because an
injustice has taken place.
Because time is short, and there is at least one other speaker, I
want to mention this as my closing remark. There's something bigger
than Trayvon Martin and Mr. Zimmerman that's taking place in this
country, indeed, in the world. There is something bigger than us as
individuals and individual cases.
J. Patrick Kinney has appropriately put this together. He has a poem
styled ``The Cold Within'' that addresses something that we have to
confront--this coldness that's so pervasive. This is his poem:
Six humans trapped by happenstance
in bleak and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs,
the first man held his back
for of the faces round the fire
he noticed one was Black.
The next man looking 'cross the way
saw one not of his church
and couldn't bring himself to give
the fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes.
He gave his coat a hitch.
Why should his log be put to use
to warm the idle rich?
The rich man just sat back and thought
of the wealth he had in store
and how to keep what he had earned
from the lazy shiftless poor.
The Black man's face bespoke revenge
as the fire passed from his sight.
For all he saw in his stick of wood
was a chance to spite the White.
The last man of this forlorn group
did nought except for gain.
Giving only to those who gave
was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death's still hands
was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without,
they died from the cold within.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Texas.
We, unfortunately, are approaching the close of this Special Order.
To close us out in the remaining time we have Representative Marc
Veasey from Dallas, who's done a tremendous job as a Member of this
freshman class.
Mr. VEASEY. Thank you, Congressman Jeffries. I appreciate you letting
me talk about this very important topic because we need to talk more
about equality and have a conversation on race and injustice in this
country.
I really liked a lot what Representative Clarke, your colleague from
New York, said when she talked about the over-enforcement of African
American males, particularly when it comes to stop and frisk, and other
Members that talked a lot about the verdict in the Trayvon Martin trial
that really did discourage a lot of people that were really starting to
gain hope in our criminal justice system and thought that things were
getting better.
I'm concerned about what is going on right now with voting. Because
in my own State of Texas, there's been so many laws that have been
enacted, laws that have attempted to be enacted that would scale back
many of the gains that African Americans have made when it comes to
exercising our suffrage--discriminatory practices that I didn't grow up
with when I was a young man but that many people that were before me
had to deal with and thought that we had made the progress.
And so at some other point in time I do want to continue to talk
about this. Because whether it's Trayvon Martin, whether it's over-
enforcement of African Americans and the disproportionate number of
African Americans that end up as part of the criminal justice system,
or protecting our Voting Rights Act, we need to talk about it more
because I, too, believe that we can do better as a country and a
Nation.
I want to thank you for holding this hour and also everybody in the
Black caucus that talked about this very important topic this evening.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Texas. We've
come a long way in America. But we, of course, still have a ways to go.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate the
150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th
anniversary of the historic March on Washington, a new fight for the
preservation of equal protection and justice under the law has emerged.
Just last month, the United States Supreme Court overturned a
critical component of the decades-old Voting Rights Act, effectively
exposing millions of Americans to discriminatory voting practices. Our
inability to protect American citizens from discrimination while
exercising the right to vote brings into question our ability to
implement other aspects of the law without regard to race.
In fact, there is significant evidence that we have much more work to
do to create a non- discriminatory justice system. The recent court
decision involving Trayvon Martin's death is the latest injustice
suggestive of discrimination throughout this system, which is further
exemplified by the harrowing statistics as they pertain to minorities.
For example, African Americans account for only thirteen percent of the
U.S. population, yet they represent more than 28 percent of all
arrests. Further, while more than half of all the individuals on death
row are people of color, 42% are African American.
Mr. Speaker, we must reflect on our values and determine what kind of
future we would like to see for our children. Do we want to leave
behind a divided nation where the rule of law applies only to select
groups of individuals? Or do we want to live in a nation united under
equal opportunity and justice for each and every American? I choose to
support an equal and just America, one that is built upon
uncompromising pillars of democracy, and I would urge my colleagues to
do the same by speaking out against this blatant discrimination.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and
subsequent acquittal of his killer by an all white jury is an echo of
this nation's past that the African-American community is shocked to
experience in the 21st century. It harkens back to the words of
interposition and nullification, waking the ghosts of Emmet Till and
Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman.
It is simply the nightmare of every parent of an African-American
male. Anyone who lacks empathy for Trayvon's parents or who has never
experienced the indignity of being held suspect due to his race should
take careful note of what this trial will mean for the nation. That
issue brings the CBC to the House floor this evening: Where do we go
from here. . . .
This weekend, tens-of-thousands across the country rallied for the
cause of justice for Trayvon Martin. These crowds included people from
across all ages and racial lines. Following King's path of nonviolence
protest, they asked for simple justice. Here in Congress, we have been
advised that the Department of Justice has an open and active
investigation to determine whether Federal charges will be filed in the
case. Notably, two African-American men, Attorney General Eric Holder
and President Barack Obama, have sought to assure all Americans that
justice will be served in the case.
Some have tried to criticize the President and Attorney General for
their comments, saying that they are politicizing the case or
grandstanding for the black community. I would disagree. Their comments
were measured and to the point, seeking to reassure a nation transfixed
by the powerful images attached to the incident and trial.
The more interesting point is how a nation, led by two such powerful
men, can still hold young black men as a suspect class. When you look
at the stop & frisk number in New York, there really is no serious
question about whether racial profiling is a reality in America. When I
introduced data collection legislation during the 105th Congress, the
phenomenon of driving while black was well known in the African-
American and Latino communities.
However, some commentators still tried to deny the credibility of
people who came forward to tell stories about their treatment by the
police. But as the litigation mounted and data was collected, it became
obvious that the nation had a serious problem with the use of race by
law enforcement. These attitudes, however, were not a product of
policing, but rather a product of society. No matter who is in the
White House, it seems that race never takes a holiday.
So, where do we go? At the official policy level, we can address the
suspect use of race by law enforcement through legislation. This week,
I will re-introduce the End Racial Profiling Act. Based upon the work
around that legislation, by September 11, 2001, there was significant
empirical evidence and wide agreement among Americans, including
President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft, that racial
profiling was a tragic fact of life in the minority community and that
the Federal government should take action to end the practice.
[[Page H4855]]
Moreover, many in the law enforcement community have acknowledged
that singling out people for heightened scrutiny based on their race,
ethnicity, religion, or national origin had eroded the trust in law
enforcement necessary to appropriately serve and protect our
communities.
The End Racial Profiling Act is designed to eliminate the well
documented problem of racial, ethnic, religious, and national origin
profiling. First, the bill provides a prohibition on racial profiling,
enforceable by declaratory or injunctive relief. Second, the bill
mandates that training on racial profiling issues as part of Federal
law enforcement training, the collection of data on all routine or
spontaneous investigatory activities that is to be submitted through a
standardized form to the Department of Justice.
Third, the Justice Department is authorized to provide grants for the
development and implementation of best policing practices, such as
early warning systems, technology integration, and other management
protocols that discourage profiling. Finally, the Attorney General is
required to provide periodic reports to assess the nature of any
ongoing discriminatory profiling practices.
We should be clear, however, that legislation, like ERPA, can only go
so far. After all, Trayvon's killer was not a sworn law enforcement
officer. Consider legislation the starting point for societal change.
His death demonstrates that racial profiling remains a divisive issue
that strikes at the very foundation of our democracy. Though not the
result of a law enforcement encounter, the issues of race and
reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct in this case were so closely
linked in the minds of the public that his death cannot be separated
from the law enforcement profiling debate.
Ultimately, Trayvon Martin is one of too many individuals across the
country who have been victimized by a perception of criminality, simply
because of their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. These
individuals are denied the basic respect and equal treatment that is
the right of every American. Until we address those broadly held views
through important dialogues like this one, too many parents will
anxiously await the safe return home of their sons.
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