[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 9, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H26-H27]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING AND PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay honor and pay 
tribute to the Honorable Dr. Martin Luther King, and, Mr. Speaker, I am 
so proud and honored to have the preeminent privilege of doing so here 
in the well of the Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. King was born at a time, to quote Dr. Benjamin 
Hooks, when he could buy a hat but he couldn't try it on.
  He was born at a time when he could only sit in the balcony of a 
movie, and that was in some movies. There were others that he wasn't 
allowed in at all.
  He was born at a time when he had to sit in the back of the bus or he 
might be barred from riding the bus totally.
  He was born at a time when he would have to wait in line and others 
of a different hue could always stand in front of him.
  He was born at a time when invidious discrimination and when 
segregation was apparent and lawful.
  Dr. King was born at a time when there were few who were willing to 
challenge the hate and the bigotry that was emanating from this country 
in all of its arenas for the most part.
  But Dr. King was a person who understood that that which you will 
tolerate you will not change. Dr. King refused to tolerate bigotry and 
hatred. He refused to tolerate it, and, in fact, that is what separated 
him from a good many other people, for the most part.
  Dr. King, if I may recall, went to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. He 
went there to do something about the conditions, about the 
discrimination, about the hate and the bigotry. When he went there to 
do something about it, there were people who were tolerating hatred and 
bigotry.
  There were people there who were very prominent members of the 
clergy--eight of them--who decided that they would write Dr. King a 
letter and explain to him that what he was doing was unwise and 
untimely. They explained to him that law and order should prevail. They 
commended the constabulary for protecting the city.
  These were persons who were considered honorable people, but they 
were people who were willing to tolerate hatred and bigotry. They, in 
fact, insisted that we should let the courts handle this: Let's work it 
through peaceful means by which we might sit and negotiate with those 
who would perpetrate hatred and bigotry.
  Dr. King, on the other hand, sought to use nonviolent protest as a 
methodology by which change might take place. The things that he could 
not tolerate he was willing to protest to bring about change.
  There were other great orators of the time. Dr. King was indeed a 
great orator, one of the greatest ever, but there were other great 
orators. There were other persons who were knowledgeable, had Ph.D.'s, 
and who were very well versed in what was happening with discrimination 
and could have spoken up on it. Many did speak up, but many of them 
were willing to tolerate it. Dr. King was not, and that separated him 
from a good many people who were orators, who were learned, and who 
understood invidious discrimination. In fact, they were opposed to it, 
but they tolerated it in quiet ways.
  So when Dr. King went to Birmingham, these eight clergypersons having 
written him a letter, he found himself incarcerated in the Birmingham 
jail, and he decided to respond to them. The ``Letter from Birmingham 
Jail'' is a response to eight notable clergy members in Birmingham.
  So he decided to respond to their letter. In responding to their 
letter, he gives us this masterpiece that really addresses what 
invidious discrimination is all about, why you can't consider yourself 
an outside agitator if you are an American, and why you have to do this 
not only for yourself, but for the generations to come.

[[Page H27]]

  But reading Dr. King's letter, as masterful as it is, is not enough. 
So today, in honor of his birthday, January 15, I am asking people to 
read the letter that Dr. King was responding to. If you read that 
letter, then you will understand why you cannot tolerate hate.

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