[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 35 (Friday, February 25, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E174-E175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING THELMA LETT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELISSA SLOTKIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 25, 2022

  Ms. SLOTKIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to share the story of a 
courageous Black woman from Brighton who would not sit down when faced 
with racism, hatred, and bigotry.
  Thelma Lett did not grow up in Livingston County, but moved there 
from Detroit in 1976 with her husband. She was an avid churchgoer and 
involved in many community organizations, as she and her husband raised 
their two children, Paul and Keith.
  But it was her involvement with the Livingston Diversity Council, 
then known as Livingston 2001, that drew headlines and propelled this 
quiet woman into the local spotlight.
  Eager to champion the cause of diversity in the mostly white county, 
she joined the organization in 1988, its founding year--the same year a 
cross was burned on the property of a Black family in the county. She's 
credited with helping to grow the group and support for the cause with 
her dynamic, can-do style.

[[Page E175]]

  Here's what some former friends and colleagues had to say about 
Thelma: ``A tremendous go-getter.''
  ``You just had a smile on your face after talking to her,'' and,
  ``I would put a great deal of the success of the membership on her 
leadership.''
  But it's what SHE had to say to a group who showed up to protest a 
community forum that will go down in history. In 1994, members of the 
National Association for the Advancement of White People showed up at a 
forum in Howell and openly declared that they didn't want Black people 
living in their community.
  Lett stood up, looked directly at the crowd, and calmly, but 
passionately informed them she would not be run out of her home.
  ``When I walk down the street, I'd like not to have cat calls or the 
N-word shouted at me,'' she said, staring into the eyes of men and 
women wearing hats emblazoned with ``NAAWP'' and ``Anglo-Saxon.''
  She told the crowd how some of her family members served in the U.S. 
military, and were wounded in combat fighting for the American ideal 
that all people are created equal.
  And when she called for some simple respect, saying ``I give dignity 
and I want dignity,'' the crowd rocketed to its feet.
  Lett never backed down from her devotion to diversity, continuing her 
activism and community involvement until her death at age 79. In fact, 
if you visit the Detroit Impact Youth Center on the city's west side, 
you'll find the Thelma Lett Library inside, a tribute to the many young 
people she taught to read and write.
  And if you visit Howell, you'll find the Livingston Diversity Council 
continuing her work, inspired by the courage of her convictions, and 
still standing up to intolerance and hate.
  Thelma Lett lived and died in Brighton, Michigan and made it 
abundantly clear her love for this country and all it stands for was 
far greater than the hatred she was shown. Brighton was her home, and 
today it is my honor in sharing her story.

                          ____________________