[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 134 (Thursday, September 17, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H6080-H6081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RACISM AND VOTING RIGHTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rewatched recently one of my favorite 
movies. ``Selma'' tells the story of the fight to register voters in 
Selma, Alabama, culminating in the march from Selma to Montgomery, led 
by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1965. Spoiler alert: After being 
turned around, threatened, beaten, tear-gassed, and killed, Black 
people got to vote in America.
  A young and handsome John Lewis is depicted in the pivotal role of 
the community organizer who helps lead the movement. Another spoiler 
alert: John is a Member of this body and serves with distinction from 
the State of Georgia.
  It is among the highest honors of my life to know John Lewis and to 
work with him. In fact, I have marched with him and gotten arrested 
with John Lewis outside this Capitol Building in our fight for 
immigration reform.
  I highly recommend the movie, and I want every citizen--and every 
person who lives here and hopes to become a citizen one day--to watch 
and learn from the movie ``Selma.'' It is a moment in history when 
voting and citizenship were literally life-and-death struggles--and it 
was only 50 years ago.
  And just yesterday, the NAACP completed a historic 1,000-mile march 
from Selma to Washington to remind us how we must always stand up to 
bullies and official inaction using nonviolence and community 
organizing and empowerment techniques.
  The way to respond to racism is to vote. I have been thinking a lot 
about that recently as the Republican Presidential field of candidates 
has fallen in line with a bully who spews racism and is leading among 
his party's primary voters.
  What can Americans do when the tail wagging the dog of the Republican 
Party is saying that most Mexicans are murderers and rapists?
  What can we do as a nation when candidates blame unrest in reaction 
to police violence in Baltimore and Ferguson on Mexican and Central 
American immigrants.
  What can we do when thousands of people cheer when a candidate 
proposes building a great wall of America on our southern border, and 
the response from other candidates is to say that we should build 
another wall opposite Canada as well?
  Well, in the movie ``Selma,'' Oprah Winfrey didn't just get mad; she 
fought

[[Page H6081]]

back by making sure she could register to vote. We have all learned 
what the Republican Party seems to be forgetting: Appeals to a narrow 
Republican electorate with over-the-top racism and below-the-belt 
immigrant bashing will not get you to the White House.

                              {time}  1015

  President Romney--oh, I'm sorry. Governor Romney got more White votes 
than any candidate in the history of the United States, but he couldn't 
overcome the demographic reality that the country is more diverse and 
so are its voters.
  Appeals to racism and immigrant bashing are creating a predictable 
backlash in the neighborhoods of my district in Chicago. People are 
calling and coming into my office, asking what they can do to push 
back.
  Very specifically, those who are not yet citizens are asking: How do 
I become a citizen? Those who have not registered to vote are asking 
how to get that done.
  In Latino and Asian communities and in every community that thinks 
that calling most Mexicans ``rapists'' is not the kind of political 
rhetoric that should go unchallenged, people are becoming citizens.
  My office in Chicago is known as a place to go if you want 
information on the citizenship process. In total, more than 50,000 
American citizens have come to our office for help in figuring out the 
process.
  The demand for information on citizenship has grown so much in my 
district that, this Saturday, from 9:00 to noon, at the Instituto Del 
Progreso Latino, I will join my staff and local advocates and the local 
office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for a free 
workshop on applying to become a citizen.
  Not only will people get help in understanding the process, but we 
will also help them figure out if they qualify for a fee waiver so that 
the $680 application fee that people have to pay is not a barrier.
  Think about it. There are roughly 8.8 million immigrants with green 
cards who have lived in the U.S. for 5 years or more or who have been 
married to a U.S. citizen for 3 years or more, and they can pass a 
background check and qualify for citizenship today.
  So what I am proposing is that, instead of renewing your green card, 
if you are one of those 8.8 million people, and you get it for $450 for 
10 years, you apply for permanent citizenship, with a fee waiver, and 
become a citizen for free. That is right.
  Apply for citizenship, and you can vote for whomever you want to vote 
for. You can even vote against the guy who called your whole ethnic 
group ``rapists,'' ``murderers,'' and ``drug dealers.'' That kind of 
ugly, un-American attack is moving people to apply for citizenship and 
moving citizens to become voters.
  Mr. Speaker, today is Citizenship Day, and there are hundreds of 
citizenship workshops and activities across the country. I am looking 
forward to meeting with the hundreds of people who will be working 
towards their citizenship this Saturday in Chicago.
  The way to respond to racism is by voting, and in Latino and 
immigrant communities, we are getting that message loud and clear.

                          ____________________