[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 96 (Thursday, June 19, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H5506-H5507]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF FREEDOM SUMMER
(Mr. DEUTCH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute.)
Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Speaker, this year we mark the 50th anniversary of
the 1964 Freedom Summer, when hundreds of Americans traveled to
Mississippi to fight discrimination and advance voting rights and
equality under the law.
Today I rise to recognize three Americans who gave their lives in
that struggle: James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman. On
June 21, 1964, these three activists--one African American and two
Jewish--were kidnapped and murdered for working to register Black
voters.
Their lives, the lives of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew
Goodman, were claimed by hate, yet their faith in equality and justice
and the right to vote lives on today through the historic Black-Jewish
alliance born out of the civil rights movement.
I proudly support honoring these three activists with a Congressional
Gold Medal and would like to thank the Foundation for Ethnic
Understanding for championing this cause.
For 25 years, the foundation has advanced the values shared by the
Jewish
[[Page H5507]]
and African American communities, including tolerance, equal rights,
and justice. As a Jewish American, it is an honor to fight for these
values here in Congress today and every day.
____________________