[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 148 (Thursday, September 6, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H7902-H7903]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING RONALD V. DELLUMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for this Special Order 
hour, which we have decided to devote to the life and career of an 
extraordinary former colleague, Ron Dellums, the giant who has fallen 
and whose death has deeply affected this body. We have invited Members 
who have reminiscences and appreciations to come forward and to 
participate in remembrance of the life of Ron Dellums.
  I just have a few things to say. I never had the good fortune of 
serving with Congressman Dellums, but he was a very close friend of my 
family's, so, as a little boy, I grew up admiring him.
  He was an incredibly warm and dynamic, charismatic and brilliant man 
who really exuded love of people wherever he went.
  Among his many extraordinary achievements in public life, one of them 
was to bring into politics and government service our distinguished 
colleague Barbara Lee, who succeeded him in office and who will be 
taking over the Special Order hour after I say just a few words, but we 
should not understate the importance of that achievement.
  Congresswoman Lee served as his chief of staff for many years; she 
will tell you that story. Then he backed her for the seat that he 
occupied, so she is the proud and worthy successor to Congressman 
Dellums.
  But I wanted to say that, in a professional field where so many 
participants are known for putting their finger up to the wind and 
following simply what the pollsters or campaign donors are telling them 
to do, Ron Dellums was a diamond in the rough from day one. He always 
put his ideals and his values first, and he didn't waver from them, no 
matter how politically tough it became.
  He was raised in a politically engaged environment. His father was a 
longshoreman who was deeply involved in the labor movement. His uncle, 
Cottrell Lawrence Dellums, was instrumental in helping A. Philip 
Randolph organize the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters before being 
elected president of that union in 1966.
  Now, Ron, when he graduated from high school, enlisted in the United 
States Marine Corps and spent several years in the Marines before an 
honorable discharge.
  He went on to college and to receive his master's in social work and 
became a psychiatric social worker in the California Department of 
Mental Hygiene.
  He was elected to the Berkeley City Council in 1967 at the age of 32. 
He was deeply involved in the movement against the Vietnam war, which 
profoundly affected his political outlook and his development as a 
leader. He was elected to Congress in 1972.
  I will allow my colleague to talk about the various legislative 
efforts they were involved in with Congressman Dellums, but I will say, 
when I was in college, he was a great hero to college students across 
the country and to anti-apartheid activists, not just across America, 
but across the world for his leadership for comprehensive sanctions 
against South Africa, the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, 
which was passed as a culmination of a movement that he organized that 
involved civil disobedience at the South African Embassy.
  I was very proud to have played a tiny part in that as a college 
student, to have come and participated and submitted to arrest, along 
with thousands of other people who did that at that time in order to 
galvanize public opinion against American complicity and involvement 
with apartheid in South Africa.
  But I would say that one other thing that always made such a powerful 
impression on me was that Congressman Dellums, like another great 
leader for peace, George McGovern, was himself a veteran, and he saw no 
conflict between the two. He was someone who proudly served in the 
Armed Forces of his country and nobly did so, but thought that it was 
equally noble to fight for peace and to make sure that our defense 
budget was one that was very closely tethered to the actual military 
and national security needs of the country, not one that is bloated and 
subject to waste and corruption and graft and embezzlement and 
kickbacks and so on.
  That has been a historic struggle that goes back to the very 
beginning of our Republic. We want a military that actually serves the 
people, that serves the Republic, and is not an opportunity for other 
people to rip off the taxpayers.

[[Page H7903]]

  He was very focused on making sure that our military budget was 
really targeted to the actual defense and security of the country, and 
that America was a force for human rights and security of all peoples 
and peace all over the world.
  So he leaves an extraordinary and inspiring and difficult legacy for 
all of us to live up to.
  I am very proud at this point to turn it over to Congresswoman 
Barbara Lee, who has become, in her years in office, also a great and 
famous leader for peace, human rights, and social justice.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________