[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 11, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H1653-H1655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            AND STILL I RISE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 
60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, and still I rise, and still I 
rise. And I rise as a very proud American, proud of my country, proud 
to be a part of

[[Page H1654]]

this great Nation. I am also proud to be a liberated Democrat, 
unbought, unbossed, speak truth to power, speak truth about power, a 
liberated Democrat. And I rise tonight with a very special message at 
this time in the history of our country.
  We find ourselves now in a state of fear. Unfortunately, too much of 
what we have based our response on to the novel coronavirus has been 
fear, not facts. We should act on facts, not fear. My hope is that 
after I say a few words tonight, I will at least cause some persons to 
rethink some of what they have already concluded.
  I am a person who believes that there is a philosophy, an adage, if 
you will, of live and let live. This is not my philosophy, live and let 
live. It simply says: You go your way and live your life; I will go my 
way and live my life.
  If this philosophy prevailed, I would not be in the Congress of the 
United States of America because a good many people did not embrace 
live and let live. Dr. King did not embrace it.
  A good many people embrace a philosophy that I now embrace, and that 
is live and help live. It is because of other people who made great 
sacrifices that I am able to stand here in the well of the Congress of 
the United States of America. It was a live and help live philosophy 
that made it possible for me to be here. There were persons who lived 
and some who died so that I would have this opportunity.
  I can bring Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney to your attention. 
Schwerner and Goodman were not African Americans, by the way. They lost 
their lives in the cause of freedom along with Goodman, who was an 
African American. They were trying to help somebody. That was a live 
and help live philosophy.
  There was John Shillady in Austin, Texas, an NAACP fieldworker, who 
was beaten by a mob. He was trying to help Black people.
  In a sense, there is a debt that I owe, and whenever I have the 
opportunity, I try to repay it. So tonight, with our country in this 
state of fear, I would like to ask some things of people and share some 
thoughts.
  The first thing that I want to address is what we expect from others.
  We now expect others who are sick to stay home. If you are sick and 
you think that you have a virus and you are concerned, we want you to 
stay home. Of course, see your physician, get an opinion from your 
physician, but if you are ill and you may be contagious, we believe 
that you should stay home.
  That is what we are saying to people across the length and breadth of 
the country. We believe that this is a patriotic thing to do, to stay 
home. Do what you can from home. Work from home.
  Well, that can work for a lot of people. It can work for Members of 
Congress because we will be paid if we work from home. We will be paid, 
and we will be appreciated for staying home because we don't want to 
spread an illness from one person to another by being in the workplace. 
That works quite well for Members of Congress.
  But what about the person who works for minimum wage? $7.25 an hour 
is still the minimum wage, the Federal minimum wage in this country. A 
good many places pay more than $7.25 an hour, but it is the Federal 
standard for the minimum wage.
  $7.25 an hour, that is not a lot of money for most of the people who 
work here, but to a good many people it is the means by which they 
maintain their dignity and keep food, clothing, and shelter for 
themselves and others.
  A good many of them are not in jobs that will pay them if they stay 
home. They are being patriotic Americans. They are doing what we are 
asking, but they won't get paid. They have to make a choice: Do they 
stay home and do that which we deem to be prudent and necessary, or do 
they come to work so that they will be able to put food on the table, 
so that they will have the shelter necessary to protect them from the 
environment? Will they have the necessary clothing so that they may 
continue to traverse through the elements?
  But even at $7.25 an hour, there is another case to be made, because 
some workers make less than the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. These 
are the persons who work and they receive tips. They make $2.13 an 
hour. We expect them to stay home if they are sick.
  Many of them work in the food service industry. They will serve our 
food. We want them to stay home if they are ill because we don't want 
them to contaminate the food. But these persons who serve our food, 
$2.13 an hour, patriotic Americans, if they stay home and they are not 
paid, they have a choice: Do they stay home or do they come to work 
ill?
  I say to the employers: Please give consideration to your minimum 
wage workers, $7.25 an hour. Perhaps it is $15 an hour. Give some 
consideration to them. And especially those who are working for $2.13 
an hour. Give them some consideration. Help them through this time of 
crisis, because they are helping us through this time of crisis.
  They are there for us by staying home. They are doing the patriotic 
thing. We should do the patriotic thing and give them some 
consideration.
  I plan to support legislation, hopefully, that will emanate from this 
House that would give persons some amount of money.

                              {time}  1845

  I think that we are at a point in our history when people who are 
going to have to stay at home are going to have to be accorded some 
sort of emolument because we don't want them to come to work and 
contaminate others. We don't expect them to do that which we would deem 
to be unpatriotic, so we have to help them.
  I heard a person this morning talk about $1,000 for persons who need 
help or $1,000 to persons in general, some amount. I am not sure what 
the exact amount should be, but I do know we have to give some 
consideration to persons who are working for minimum wages and 
especially persons who are working for $2.13 an hour, for tips.
  There are those who contend that if you are working for $2.13 an 
hour, you will get a lot of money in those tips, and you will be able 
to do what some will say, that ``I did.'' That is not me saying the 
``I,'' but I am now speaking the words of others. They will say: ``I 
was able to work my way through college on tips.'' Well, good for you. 
A good many others are not able to do such. A good many others are 
barely getting by on $2.13 an hour.
  I talk to people when I eat at these various cafeterias, and I have 
spoken to people who work in cafeterias in Houston, Texas, who tell me 
that they have gone home and made not more than $2.13 for each of the 
hours. They didn't get any tips. There are days when they get no tips.
  I would hope that they would get an abundance of tips, but the truth 
is, there are days when they do not. And they deserve some help because 
they are doing what we are asking when they stay at home. So, if they 
stay at home and don't come to work, I would hope that we would give 
them some consideration.
  Live and help live. That is the philosophy I embrace. That is the 
philosophy that will cause an employer to conclude that he or she, or 
the company, should help people who we are asking to stay at home.
  Live and help live, not live and let live: ``I am going to live my 
life. You stay at home. Sorry. Can't help you.''
  No, let's help those persons who have to stay at home because they 
are ill and are wage earners. Live and help live.
  Live and help live is a philosophy that I think we should embrace 
when we speak of persons who are of different ethnicities. More 
specifically, now, I am going to talk about persons of Asian ancestry.
  I am standing here tonight to speak up on behalf of persons of Asian 
ancestry, and I am going to speak on their behalf as it relates to the 
novel coronavirus because ugly things are happening to persons of Asian 
ancestry.
  I am here because I want to live and help live. I want to help them 
through this time of crisis when they are having to experience 
xenophobia and nativism.
  I have here some examples of what persons of Asian ancestry are 
experiencing, and I am here to live and help them live. I believe that 
somebody helped me to get where I am, and I have a debt that I owe, 
that I pray that I will be able to repay.
  Tonight, I would call to everybody's attention a person in New York, 
a

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woman on a subway who was attacked by persons who said that she was 
diseased. They used a word that I would not use--the b-word is what it 
is called in this forum tonight--because she had on a face mask.
  People have assumed that this is beneficial. It may not be. Many 
scientists--the persons who are supposed to know, the persons who deal 
with these things, who have studied these things--are saying to us that 
the mask doesn't help people, in general. It does help the persons who 
are aiding and assisting us, perhaps the physicians and nurses.
  Be that as it may, if a person chooses to wear the mask and happens 
to be of Asian ancestry, that person ought not be attacked, that person 
ought not be spoken to in harsh language.
  People have a right in this country to wear the type of face gear 
that they choose. If they choose to wear a mask, so be it.
  We ought to respect people and not assume things and say things about 
them because of their ethnicity, because of their ancestry.
  Another example, a person who is of the Hmong ancestry was checking 
in at a hotel and was told that Asians are not welcome. That is not a 
live-and-help-live philosophy. That is a form of nativism and 
xenophobia that is invidious, that is harmful to our society and 
harmful to this person trying to check into a hotel.
  I remember a time in this country when there were certain places that 
I could not check into simply because of the hue of my skin. I was not 
allowed. There were signs that said: ``No coloreds allowed.'' Those 
were the polite signs. There were some that had words that I will not 
repeat.
  But I remember this. And when I remember this, I relate to persons of 
Asian ancestry told that they can't come into a given business place 
simply because of who they are.
  I am here because I believe in live and help live, and I want to help 
them through this time of crisis.
  In California, a 16-year-old high school student was sent to the 
emergency room after being attacked by bullies who accused him of 
having the coronavirus simply because of his ethnicity.
  I have been attacked in my life, chased because of my ethnicity. I 
reflect on this, and it causes me to understand the plight of this 
person.
  I stand here tonight to speak up, to speak on behalf of people of 
Asian ancestry who are being assaulted, who are being accused, who are 
being denied simply because of who they are.
  I have an indication that even just looking Asian has been enough to 
incite attackers, to hurl insults and accuse individuals of being 
disease carriers.
  Friends, this is a time for us to band together and come together as 
a Nation. This is not a time for us to engage in this sort of phobia, 
this xenophobia, this nativism. This is not the time.
  This disease is not something that is related to any ethnicity. It is 
not related to any party. It doesn't assault or attack Republicans or 
Democrats because they happen to be of a certain party. It doesn't 
matter what your gender is.

  This disease attacks you because you are a human being and because 
you have been exposed to it in such a way as to allow it to enter your 
body.
  We ought to see each other now as people of one race, the human race. 
We ought to see each other as people who we should help live.
  We should embrace the philosophy of live and help live. Help the 
minimum wage worker. Help those who are not as fortunate as we are. 
Help those who may not be of the same hue as you. Help those who have 
been accused and attacked. This is a time for us to send a message that 
we won't tolerate it.
  I am here because I believe that Asian Americans, those of Asian 
ancestry, should not have to defend themselves by themselves.
  I think that it is important for persons who are not of Asian 
ancestry to send a message that we stand with them, and we stand 
against the Islamophobia that might ensue, the homophobia, all the 
various invidious phobias that can ensue from persons deciding that 
they are going to attack people because they are different.
  I have moved on from the Asian ancestry now to persons who are 
different. In this country, we ought not attack people simply because 
they are different.
  I believe that the differences that we have can make a difference in 
the culture, and it makes us richer for having these various 
differences. They are good for the country.
  Please, let us send a message that we will not tolerate persons being 
assaulted because of who they are, that we will not tolerate persons 
being denied the opportunity to have access to various places within 
our society that we ordinarily would have access to simply because we 
happen to have the bill of fare. If we can pay our way in, pay for the 
hotel room, then I think we ought to allow people to have access.
  More important than all of these, I think that it is important for us 
to treat each other with dignity and respect simply because we are 
people of the same creator. That creator, I believe, expects us to 
treat each other the same, regardless of our hues, regardless of our 
various differences.
  This is an opportunity for us to pull together. I believe that this 
is a great adversity, but I also believe that it provides us a great 
opportunity to come together and stand up for each other.
  Let us live and help live. Let us not live and let live, simply leave 
people to find their way as best they can.
  Let's help people through life. I am here because somebody helped me, 
and I want to be there to help others.
  I promise that I will do what I can to be of service to man, to 
humans, more specifically, to men and women in this society.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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