[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 200 (Wednesday, November 17, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H6321-H6322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SYSTEMIC RACISM IN THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, a proud, liberated 
Democrat.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address systemic racism in the judicial 
system. I believe one of the best ways to explain this and help persons 
understand with some degree of clarity is to use an example.
  Let's use an example of a 25-year-old White man. Let us assume that 
he is jogging through a neighborhood near his home. Let's assume that 
he is accosted by three Black men in a truck with a liberation flag on 
it. And let us assume that when they accost him, one of them has a 
shotgun and there is an encounter with this person, who happens to be a 
Black man. The White man is jogging, the Black men are pursuing, and 
now there is an encounter.
  Let's assume that this Black male shoots the White man, and in so 
doing, a case is brought to court by way of a video. Let's assume that 
in this case, the prosecutor is Black, that the judge is Black, and 
let's assume that the defense attorneys are able to select a jury that 
has 11 Black people, one White person.
  Mr. Speaker, this happens quite often in our country. As a matter of 
fact, it can happen regularly in our country to Black people. Black 
people don't have the luxury of being tried by juries with 11 Black 
people on them. They are likely to be fewer than three. Black people 
don't have the luxury of being in a

[[Page H6322]]

courtroom where the judge is Black, the prosecutor is Black, the court 
reporter is Black, and the witnesses are Black. We have a moral 
imperative to address this level of systemic discrimination. We should 
do more than simply talk about it, however. Addressing it with words is 
important, but we have to do more than this. We must do more than 
desire to manage systemic racism. We want to end it. If we don't end 
systemic racism, too many persons of color will continue to suffer, as 
is the case in this country today.

  We, in this Congress, can do something about this. We have a duty to 
do something about it, and that something has to entail dealing with 
what is called a peremptory challenge, which allows a lawyer to simply 
draw a line through the name of a person and have that person removed 
from the jury, assigning some specious reason for doing so, and end up 
with a Black person being tried by a jury that is almost White--11 
Whites and one Black.
  The peremptory challenge is not something that is embedded in the 
Constitution. It is not something that is required. Persons can be 
removed from a jury for cause, but this cause, this peremptory 
challenge, is the cause that we should take a look at because it is 
absolute and it allows systemic racism to rear its ugly head in our 
courtrooms.
  I hope to present legislation addressing systemic racism by way of 
the peremptory challenge.

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