[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 23, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H7164]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PRESERVE FREE SPEECH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Tlaib) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, I stand before you as the granddaughter of 
a Palestinian grandmother, my sity, who yearns to experience equality, 
human dignity, and freedom. I stand before you, the daughter of 
Palestinian immigrants, parents who experienced being stripped of their 
human rights, the right to freedom of travel and equal treatment. So I 
can't stand by and watch this attack on our freedom of speech and the 
right to boycott the racist policies of the Government and the State of 
Israel.
  I love our country's freedom of speech, Madam Speaker. Dissent is how 
we nurture democracy and grow to be better, more humane, and just. This 
is why I oppose H. Res. 246.
  All Americans have a constitutional right, guaranteed by the First 
Amendment, to freedom of speech, to petition their government, and to 
participate in boycotts.
  Speech in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad is 
protected by our First Amendment. That is one reason why our First 
Amendment is so powerful. With a few exceptions, the government is 
simply not allowed to discriminate against speech based on its 
viewpoint or its speaker.

  The right to boycott is deeply rooted in the fabric of our country. 
What was the Boston Tea Party but a boycott? Where would we be now 
without the boycott led by civil rights activists in the 1950s and 
1960s, like the Montgomery bus boycott and United Farm Workers grape 
boycott.
  Some of this country's most important advances in racial equality and 
equity and workers' rights have been achieved through collective action 
protected by our Constitution.
  Americans of conscience have a long and proud history of 
participating in boycotts specifically to advocate for human rights 
abroad. Americans boycotted Nazi Germany in response to dehumanization, 
imprisonment, and genocide of Jewish people. In the 1980s, many of us 
in this very body boycotted South African goods in the fight against 
apartheid.
  Our right to free speech is being threatened with this resolution. It 
sets a dangerous precedent because it attempts to delegitimize certain 
people's political speech and to send a message that our government can 
and will take action against speech it doesn't like.
  Madam Speaker, the Supreme Court has, time and time again, recognized 
that expressive conduct is protected by the Constitution, from burning 
a flag to baking a cake. Efforts to restrict and target that protected 
speech run the risk of eroding the civil rights that form the 
foundation of our democracy.
  All Americans have the right to participate in boycotts, and I oppose 
all legislative efforts that target speech.
  Madam Speaker, I urge Congress, State governments, and civil rights 
leaders from all communities to preserve our Constitution, preserve our 
Bill of Rights, and preserve the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom 
of speech by opposing H. Res. 246 and antiboycott efforts wherever they 
arise.

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