[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 170 (Wednesday, September 30, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5057-H5058]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ESTABLISHING A DEPARTMENT OF RECONCILIATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. And still I rise, Mr. Speaker, in the name of 
liberty and justice for all. I rise to call to our attention that we 
saw last night evidence of what happens when one party comes to debate 
and another party comes to disrupt.
  We saw a President who did any and everything that he could to avoid 
debating. And we saw a Vice President who did any and everything that 
he could to debate.
  But something more important happened than the disruption. We saw a 
President who refused to denounce white supremacy and the supremacists. 
This is not the first time this has happened. A President who refuses 
to denounce white supremacy and white supremacists should not hold 
office.
  Mr. Speaker, I was proud of the Vice President. He indicated that the 
President of the United States is a racist. Some things bear repeating: 
The Vice President, former Vice President, indicated that the current 
President is a racist.
  By the way, he is not the first person to say so. Many members of the 
leadership of the House have said so. Other prominent Americans have 
said so. So it should not surprise anyone that the Record should 
reflect what has been said.
  The Vice President went on to say that he wants to do something about 
racism in this country. That, if elected, he will convene a meeting of 
persons, prominent persons, law enforcement, and others, to do 
something about racism, and I am going to add systemic racism.
  I believe that the Vice President's heart is in the right place, but 
I also know that convening is not enough.

[[Page H5058]]

  Mr. Vice President, whom I happen to like very much, convening is not 
enough.
  It is time for us to turn the talking points associated with racism 
into action items, and we have done much of that here on the Hill. But 
there is one thing that we need to do that we have not done in this 
country that goes back to 1619, and that is, we have not reconciled. We 
have not reconciled the differences that we have, the racial 
differences. It is time for reconciliation.
  To turn this talking point into an action item, Mr. Vice President, I 
beg that you would establish a department of reconciliation with a 
secretary of reconciliation who wakes up every morning with the job of 
eliminating invidious discrimination in all of its forms in this 
country.

  It is time for us to deal forthrightly, to deal in an open and 
notorious manner, with racism and invidious discrimination in this 
country in all of its various forms.
  It is time, Mr. Vice President. You are the man. You are the man in 
the sense that you are the man running for President as the nominee of 
the Democratic Party. In that sense, you are the person to be more 
appropriate who can make this happen.
  We saw a President declare a war on poverty, President Johnson. It is 
time to declare a war on racism. It is time to end what we are seeing 
occurring almost on a weekly basis in this country to African 
Americans, minorities, and women. It is time to have a department of 
reconciliation.
  To this end, I will send the Vice President a letter asking him to 
consider a department of reconciliation. To talk about it is not 
enough. We have to have the action item.
  There are many other things that can be done. I don't oppose a task 
force. I don't oppose opportunities to look at other forms of 
reconciliation. But a department of reconciliation is the means by 
which we can formalize and actualize reconciliation in this country.
  It won't be easy, and it won't happen right away, which is why we 
need the department of reconciliation. Call it anything that you want, 
as long as it is about reconciliation.
  I will contact you, Mr. President.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

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