[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 12, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H1117-H1118]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE TALE OF TWO CITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush) is recognized 
for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. RUSH. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Porter) for yielding the balance of the hour, of her time, to me.
  Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Illinois has 40 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. RUSH. Madam Speaker, I rise today to sound the alarm among the 
shrinking Black population in cities across the U.S. According to a 
recent study by the University of Illinois at Chicago, the city of 
Chicago lost 350,000 Black residents between 1980 and 2016.
  Madam Speaker, this is what I call ``Black exodus''--not exodus, but 
``Black exodus.'' This intense ``Black exodus'' is a result of decades 
of disinvestment and disenfranchisement. Sadly, the city of Chicago 
that so many African Americans looked to as a beacon of hope during the 
great migration has often failed to invest in its Black population.
  The economic, cultural, and political impact of Chicago's Black 
community on our Nation has been immense: Louis Armstrong's 
groundbreaking jazz emanated from Chicago, Thomas Dorsey's gospel rose 
up from Chicago, and Muddy Waters' blues all came about in Chicago.

                              {time}  1745

  Since 1945, until recently, the iconic Ebony Magazine, along with its 
sister magazine, JET magazine, chronicled Black civic and social life 
in Chicago and across the Nation.
  The first African American President of the United States began his 
political career on Chicago's South Side.
  The story of Black Chicago is one of power and perseverance, often in 
the face of extreme resistance and resounding prejudice.
  The UIC study stated that a lack of well-paying jobs and affordable 
housing are two main factors that have driven the decline in Chicago's 
Black population. The alarming statistics presented in this study are 
proof that the consequences of the predatory and prejudiced practices 
from the past are still present with us and still being felt at this 
very hour.
  Madam Speaker, the practice of redlining was invented, first 
occurred, in Chicago.
  Last September, I highlighted a study from Duke University that 
stated that redlining, the practice of restricting the availability of 
conventional mortgage loans in certain neighborhoods based on their 
racial makeup, stole up to $4 billion from Chicago's Black community 
during the 1950s and 1960s. Chicago's Black community was ripped off up 
to $4 billion because of redlining in the 1950s and 1960s.
  Now, some of the neighborhoods that African Americans were initially 
systematically forced into are, all of a sudden, quickly developing, 
which threatens to push out families who have lived there for 
generations.
  Redlining is being followed by the gentrifying that is occurring in 
Chicago.
  Despite the creation, Madam Speaker, of 65,000 new jobs in downtown 
Chicago between 2010 and 2015, Chicago's predominantly Black 
communities saw a net reduction of 1,500 jobs. While 65,000 jobs in the 
downtown area increased, 1,500 jobs in Chicago were decreased from the 
Black community.
  Compounding, Madam Speaker, this reduction is the fact that over 
700,000 jobs are located within 30 minutes of Chicago's downtown, in 
the predominantly White North Side of Chicago, but just 60,000 jobs are 
located within 30 minutes of the South Side of Chicago.
  Chicago is a tale of two cities. It always was and currently remains 
the tale of two cities: the wealthy, affluent, upper-middle-class North 
Side, and the poor, devastated communities on the South and the West 
Sides, both within 30 minutes of Chicago's downtown area.
  Many Black Chicagoans who reside on the South Side are thus deprived 
of the opportunity to earn a living in or near the community that they 
reside in.
  Madam Speaker, these startling trends are certainly not confined or 
restricted just to Chicago or even to the Midwest. In fact, Madam 
Speaker, we can look right here in our Nation's Capital, the city of 
Washington, D.C., for our next example.
  A recent Georgetown University study found that African Americans 
accounted for over 70 percent of the District's population in 1970. By 
the year 2015, African Americans were just 48.3 percent of the 
District's population, from 70 percent to less than 50 percent in just 
a few years.
  Georgetown's findings were strikingly similar to the findings at the 
University of Illinois at Chicago. Soaring housing prices and a 
diminished job market for those who were without a bachelor's degree 
pushed longtime residents out of our Nation's Capital, and they pushed 
out longtime residents in Chicago as well.
  Madam Speaker, we don't look just at Chicago or our Nation's Capital. 
Let's look south to see the same troubling trend.
  Austin, Texas, Madam Speaker, is a modern-day boomtown whose 
population grew by 20 percent between 2000 and 2010, a boomtown in 
Austin, Texas. During this same period, its African American population 
fell by over 5 percent.
  A 2014 survey from the University of Texas at Austin found that 26 
percent of African Americans who moved out and left Austin did so 
because the city had gotten too expensive.

[[Page H1118]]

Gentrification has forced many long-term residents of color to leave 
their neighborhoods due to increased housing costs.
  It is essential that this Congress ensures that neighborhood 
development does not force out those families who have often called 
these very same neighborhoods home for many past generations.
  Madam Speaker, that is why I am so proud to have joined with 
Congressman Hank Johnson in introducing H.R. 4999, the Opportunity Zone 
Fairness and Inclusion Act. This bill seeks to mitigate the inequities 
that are often brought on by rapid neighborhood development.
  The opportunity zone program was intended to incentivize investment 
in underserved communities. Currently, Madam Speaker, this same 
investment program, this same opportunity zone program, lacks 
mechanisms to ensure that the residents of these neighborhoods benefit 
from this increased investment.
  By mandating that opportunity zone funds establish investment and 
advisory boards that include members of targeted communities, H.R. 4999 
would ensure greater local involvement in opportunity zone projects.
  H.R. 4999 would also establish requirements for small and minority 
business involvement in those very same critical opportunity zone 
funds. I encourage all of my colleagues in this Congress to join me in 
supporting H.R. 4999.
  Madam Speaker, going forward, we must develop policies with an eye on 
rectifying the prejudices and the injustices of the past. That means 
bringing affordable housing, stable and well-paying jobs, and vibrant 
and robust businesses to communities that have been denied these 
opportunities for far too long, including my beloved hometown, the city 
of Chicago.
  Merely pushing development without a firm focus on equity would only 
perpetuate the discriminatory policies of the past.
  In partnership with State and local governments, this Congress and 
future Congresses can help preserve and strengthen the vibrant, 
pioneering, and groundbreaking Black communities in places like 
Chicago, Illinois, and, more broadly, in urban areas throughout our 
great Nation.
  Madam Speaker, this Congress can do nothing more or nothing less than 
help American citizens regain a footing in their communities, in their 
neighborhoods, by ensuring that fair housing is available, affordable 
housing is available, economic viability and vitality with increased 
businesses are available, and that jobs are created in these 
communities.
  Let us turn this page to a more productive and progressive future and 
close the book on the precedential and bad disinvesting past.
  Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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