[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 43 (Thursday, March 17, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E337-E338]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING DR. QUENTIN YOUNG'S LIFE AND LEGACY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 17, 2016

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember my mentor and 
precious friend Dr. Quentin Young, who passed away last week.
  Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle called him, ``a 
relentless advocate of fairness and justice for all citizens.'' In his 
book, County, Dr. David Ansell describes Dr. Young as a ``legend,'' a 
role model who attracted residents from all over the country to train 
with him at Chicago's Cook County Hospital. I am proud to have known 
Quentin Young as an advocate and as my personal physician.
  Throughout his life, Quentin Young fought to eliminate discrimination 
and to create a society rooted firmly in justice. As a young doctor, he 
was deeply troubled by the segregation he saw in Chicago hospitals, and 
he founded the Committee to End Discrimination to end it. He founded 
the Medical Committee for Human Rights to provide medical care to civil 
rights and anti-war advocates. He served as president of the American 
Public Health Association. And he helped lead other physicians in the 
push for universal health care, creating the Physicians for a National 
Health Program, which continues his legacy for medical care where 
``everyone is in, and nobody is left out.''
  Quentin Young inspired many of us to agitate for social and economic 
change, to literally go the extra mile. In 2001, he walked 167 miles 
across Illinois to champion the call for universal health care.
  Where Quentin Young saw problems, he also saw solutions. When 
patients came to him after suffering serious medical problems from 
back-alley abortions, he joined the battle to win legal abortion. 
Today, at a time when abortion rights continue to be attacked, it is 
important to remember his words to us, ``It's not a choice of abortion 
or no abortion, but safe abortion or unsafe abortion.''
  Quentin Young also understood that the fight for universal health 
care is part of a larger fight: to eliminate poverty, to make sure that 
every child receives quality education and to guarantee democracy 
throughout our society. As a young man, he registered African American 
voters during Mississippi Freedom Summer and participated in one of the 
1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery. Throughout his life, he pushed 
for voting rights and to make our electoral system responsive to the 
needs of voters, not the demands of the wealthiest campaign 
contributors.
  In Chicago and across the country, there are countless individuals 
like me whose lives have been made better because of Quentin Young and 
who are committed to paying-forward the lessons he taught us. He has 
inspired us not just to fight for economic and social justice but to 
build the movements that will bring results. While he will be greatly 
missed, we will continue that fight.

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