[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 66 (Friday, April 16, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H1885-H1886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      A SYMBOL OF NATIONAL CHANGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, 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.
  I rise to call to the attention of our Nation a symbol of national 
shame. And I rise to give commentary as I read a letter that I intend 
to send to certain colleagues. This is not a letter that I enjoyed 
producing, that I enjoyed writing, but it is necessary, in my opinion, 
to call to the attention of my colleagues a symbol of national shame, 
the Russell Senate Office Building.
  This building is right here on the campus in Washington, D.C. It is a 
building with the name of a person who should not be honored in such a 
way. It reads--and for our purposes today, I will simply say, ``Dear 
Colleague.''
  It is with love of country above politics that I send this request to 
remove the name of the racist Democrat--commentary: I will be saying 
some things about Democrats today because this involves Democrats--
remove the name of the racist Democrat, Richard Russell, from the 
Senate office building named in his honor and revert to using the 
building's original name, the Old Senate Office Building until the 
Senate selects another nominee who will be honored.
  The letter goes on to say:
  In 1972, the Old Senate Office was renamed the Russell Senate Office 
Building, hence for 49 years, the Old Senate Office Building has been a 
symbol of national shame bearing the name of an unapologetic white 
supremacist.
  Richard Brevard Russell, Jr., was a segregationist who worked 
throughout his career to disenfranchise and dehumanize people of color 
in our country, especially Black Americans.
  He participated in his first filibuster of a civil rights bill in 
1935. And in 1937, he was a part of the filibuster against antilynching 
legislation. In his 1936 reelection campaign, Russell committed himself 
to preserving and ensuring white supremacy in the social and economic, 
as well as the political life of our Nation. He also blocked the 
passage of a 1942 bill to eliminate poll taxes, and stated:

       If progressives want to force social equality and 
     commingling of races in the South, I can tell you now that 
     you are doomed to failure.

  In 1956, Russell coauthored the ``Southern Manifesto'' with Senator 
Strom Thurmond in opposition to integration of public schools after the 
Supreme Court unanimously ordered it in Brown v. The Board of 
Education.
  In 1964, during a civil rights movement, he proposed a voluntary 
relocation program, a racial relocation program to adjust the imbalance 
of the African-American population between the 11 States of the old 
Confederacy and the rest of the Union.
  My dear friends, this causes me to reflect upon the Trail of Tears. 
The Trail of Tears, quite similar but not nearly the same as what 
happened. The Trail of Tears was from 1938 to 1939, when the Cherokee 
Nation was forced to give up its land east of the Mississippi and to 
move to an area that we now know as Oklahoma. Thousands died. 
Thousands. Many others suffered; they cried. It was a trail of tears.
  I suppose this was then-Senator Russell's contemporary version of 
what could have been a Trail of Tears for African Americans. What a 
shame and sinful thing to propose that people simply be relocated 
because you have the power to do it, not because it was the right thing 
to do, not because it was a thing that would be done with some degree 
of honor and dignity. It was done because he had the power and he had a 
racist mentality, Democrat Senator Richard Russell.
  That same year, Russell and 17 fellow Democrats--all senators--along 
with one Republican--let me pause for just a moment. Some things will 
bear repeating. I will repeat that. But I know that there seems to be 
this unwritten rule that you don't say negative things about Democrats 
if you are a Democrat. But there is a higher calling, and we all have 
to speak the truth about injustice and that trumps any of these rules 
related to politics. You have to put country above politics, and the 
people within the country should be always placed in a position such 
that justice will prevail.
  So I will read again: That same year, Russell and 17 fellow 
Democratic senators, along with one Republican, led the 60-day 
filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I don't care what 
party they were in; it was wrong.
  When this filibuster failed and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed 
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, Russell, a Democrat, led a 
southern boycott of the 1964 Democratic National Convention as an act 
of rebellion. He was wrong then and it is wrong now.

  Regrettably, dear friends, our Nation's history is stained with the 
bigotry of men like Russell. And although racism still dwells in our 
country, we do not have to honor it, and that is what we are doing with 
the Russell Senate Office Building. We are honoring bigotry and racism. 
We are honoring, in a sense, the anti-Semitism and the hate and the 
bigotry that he espoused and was proud to do so. He never repented. He 
never atoned. And taxpayer dollars are being used to maintain this 
facility, the Russell Senate Office Building.
  Friends, by reverting the name of the Russell Senate Office Building 
back to the Old Senate Office Building, we are given the opportunity to 
atone for honoring this bigotry for 49 years, as well as we are given 
the opportunity to honor someone worthy of having a Senate office 
building named in their honor. This would be the appropriate thing to 
do.
  And by the way, I, in no way, advise that a certain name should be 
utilized. I simply say remove the name of Russell, and after removing 
the name of Russell, let it revert to the name that it had, the Old 
Senate Office Building. And in so doing, the Senate has time to select 
a new nominee, another person to be honored.
  No building maintained with taxpayer dollars should bear the name of 
Richard Brevard Russell, Jr.
  To this end--and it actually reads ``therefore''--I will introduce a 
resolution calling on the Senate to remove

[[Page H1886]]

the shameful name of Richard Brevard Russell, Jr., from the taxpayer-
maintained Senate office building bearing his name. And I am going to 
request serious consideration of this resolution in the 117th Congress.
  But that is not all that I plan to do. I shall not go into great 
detail about the rest of what I intend to do, but I will say this: When 
I go over next to the building, I will go over there to stand in the 
area where there is a statue of Richard Russell, Senator Richard 
Russell, a statue. There is a rotunda. He is the prominent figure; 
there are no other statues in that rotunda. If you traverse the 
Capitol, you will find many statues but none, in my opinion, honored to 
the extent that Richard Russell is being honored. He has an area unto 
himself.
  I am going to go there, and I am going to point out that this is the 
statue that we have to move. I am going to talk about it from the 
statue itself, and I am going to point out some things about the 
statue, because we can't tolerate this kind of legacy being 
perpetuated. It is time to end it. It is time to stop glorifying 
bigotry and hate with taxpayer dollars.
  How can we insist on renaming military bases that bear the names of 
racist Confederate generals and others, or military people, and then 
have an office building that we traverse on a daily basis that we are 
in and out of that is named after a racist and a bigot? How do we 
justify this?
  We have the power--not the House--but the Senate has the power to 
change this. I will ask that the Senate change it, but I will also go 
over to the Senate. And I want to let the world see what's going on in 
that hallowed facility wherein we allow to occur what we desire to 
change--and what we are changing, in fact, in other facilities. It is 
time to change it.
  Madam Speaker, I believe that this change should take place 
immediately. It has been 49 years. We have had enough time to consider 
it.
  Madam Speaker, 49 years under various Presidents; 49 years Democrats 
in control, Republicans in control.

                              {time}  1430

  Some would say that we are just realizing how insidious this 
invidious behavior has been. Well, now that we know, we ought to move 
posthaste to change that which we could have changed many years ago.
  I love my country. I have great respect for people who hold public 
trust. But I do believe that when we hold public trust, it is important 
for us to point out these kinds of circumstances that demean the 
reputation of the United States of America.
  This symbol of national shame puts a stain on the notion that we 
believe in liberty and justice for all. It puts a stain on the notion 
that all persons are created equal, endowed by their creator with 
certain inalienable rights, among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit 
of happiness. It puts a stain on the notion that we would speak to the 
world about their shortcomings but won't address one that the 
government has the power to change. It is shameful. This has to change.
  Now, there are some who would want the change to take place, but they 
don't want it to appear as though someone has called this change to the 
attention of people and that they somehow will feel that it was done 
because it was called to the attention of the public.
  Friends, when others speak out about injustices against other subsets 
of society, I have always been there to fight for that change, and I 
will continue to be there to fight for that change. It doesn't have to 
originate with me. If it is something that requires a righteous 
movement to make a positive change, I am going to be a part of that.
  I am going to continue to support and fight for the rights of persons 
in all the various subsets of society who have been discriminated 
against. Just today, I was on the floor to fight for the rights of 
people who work in certain venues, who are being hurt, harmed, and some 
even die. That is my calling. That is why I was sent to Congress. I 
wasn't sent here to go along by trying to get along, not calling to the 
attention of my constituents and this country the changes that have to 
be made.
  This is where I stand. This is where I will not retreat from. This is 
a position that means something to me and my constituents, and it ought 
to mean something to every person in this country.
  Madam Speaker, I thank you for the time. I thank the leadership for 
the time. And I thank the people who have taken the time to hear these 
words. But there is much more to be said and much more to be done about 
a symbol of national shame.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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