[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 191 (Thursday, December 8, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H8857-H8859]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    DARK DAYS OF SLAVERY IN AMERICA

  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. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise.
  At this time, prior to going into my message, I yield such time as he 
may consume to the Honorable Mark Takano, the pride of California's 
41st District and the chair of the House Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs.


                        Thanking Toria Sullivan

  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for his 
generous yield.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank a member of my staff on the House 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs who will not be continuing with us into 
the next Congress.
  Toria Sullivan brought a deep passion for helping veterans to my 
committee and always provided a kind and empathetic ear to those who 
contacted our office seeking assistance.
  She brought calm and order to a fast-moving office, where the next 
urgent priority was always right around the corner. She was unfailingly 
helpful and went above and beyond expectations as part of the 
committee's communications team.

  The work of my committee, this Congress, and our government to honor 
and support our veterans was made better by Toria's service, and she 
will be deeply missed.


                    Thanking Heather O'Beirne Kelly

  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to thank a member of my staff on the 
House Committee on Veterans' Affairs who will not be continuing with us 
into the next Congress.
  Dr. Heather O'Beirne Kelly brought 20 years of experience as a 
psychologist to her critical role with the Health Subcommittee. She 
spearheaded my committee's work on veterans' mental health and suicide 
prevention and drafted key portions of some of the most important 
legislation passed by the committee, including the Veterans COMPACT 
Act, the STRONG Veterans Act, and the VIPER Act.
  Even as she grappled with incredibly difficult policy challenges, 
Heather was a joyful presence in our office who made every day better 
for her coworkers.
  The work of my committee, this Congress, and our government to honor 
and support our veterans was made better by Heather's service, and she 
will be deeply missed.


                         Thanking Esti Lamonaca

  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank a member of my staff 
on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs who will not be continuing 
with us into the next Congress.
  Esti Lamonaca is an Army veteran who lives and breathes veterans 
advocacy and who brought deep insight and tireless passion to the 
committee's efforts to support women veterans.
  As the lead for the Women Veterans Task Force during this Congress, 
Esti organized a series of important task force events. The oversight 
work they undertook will guide the committee's work on behalf of women 
veterans for years to come, and Esti's commitment to this work will 
continue to inspire those who worked with them.
  The work of my committee, this Congress, and our government to honor 
and support our veterans was made better by Esti's service, and they 
will be deeply missed.


                          Thanking Matt Tyrell

  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank a member of my staff 
on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs who will not be continuing 
with us into the next Congress.
  Matt Tyrell came to our committee from the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, and his experience within that organization proved invaluable 
to our work. He spent months engaging with stakeholders, drafting 
language, and laying the careful groundwork needed to pass the Honoring 
our PACT Act, one of the most important pieces of legislation to come 
out of this Congress. Even while accomplishing such a Herculean task, 
he never failed to bring collegiality and good humor to his work.
  The work of my committee, this Congress, and our government to honor 
and support our veterans was made better by Matt's service, and he will 
be deeply missed.


                          Thanking Peter Tyler

  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank a member of my staff 
on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs who will not be continuing 
with us into the next Congress.
  Peter Tyler is a former member of the Navy Reserve and an experienced 
Hill staffer who brought considerable skill and oversight experience to 
my committee. He led many of our efforts to make the Veterans 
Administration a welcoming place for all who served our Nation and to 
protect veterans and their families from abusive debt collection 
practices by improving administrative processes at the VA.
  Peter's passion for good government shone through in every task he 
took on for the committee.
  The work of my committee, this Congress, and our government to honor 
and support our veterans was made better by Peter's service, and he 
will be deeply missed.


                         Thanking Matt Horowitz

  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank a member of my staff 
on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs who will not be continuing 
with us into the next Congress.
  Matt Horowitz brought real-world experience in technology and 
cybersecurity to my committee's work and broadened the scope of our 
oversight efforts into this important, complex, and often overlooked 
area.
  His deep knowledge, patience, and good humor also helped my committee 
become a model to others as Congress adjusted to the need for remote 
work and virtual hearings during the pandemic. He expanded the work the 
committee does and helped us do it better during a very challenging 
time.
  The work of my committee, this Congress, and our government to honor 
and support our veterans was made better by Matt's service, and he will 
be deeply missed.


                          Thanking Joel Walsh

  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank a member of my staff 
on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs who will not be continuing 
with us into the next Congress.
  Joel Walsh has been an important part of my committee's oversight and 
investigations team, and he brought skills to his job that he honed 
while working as a journalist. His professionalism, writing and 
investigation skills, and work ethic proved invaluable to the committee 
as he helped lead hearings and draft important records.
  Joel's sincerity and good humor made my committee a better place to 
work and also made our work better.
  The work of my committee, this Congress, and our government to honor 
and support our veterans was made better by Joel's service, and he will 
be deeply missed.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for his generosity of 
spirit and for his collegiality.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, a proud, liberated 
Democrat, unbought, unbossed, and unafraid to speak truth to power as 
well as truth about power concerning the topic of slavery and the need 
for atonement.
  Let's start with slavery and identify it for what it was. A proper 
identification of slavery would cause one to conclude that it was truly 
one of the greatest crimes ever committed against humanity.

  Slavery was kidnapping. People were stolen from their homes. They 
were traversed across the oceans.

[[Page H8858]]

  Slavery was murder because in the process of transferring persons, if 
they became unruly, unmanageable, they could simply be thrown overboard 
into the shark-infested waters. In fact, it is said that sharks would 
follow the ships knowing that, at some point, a body might be thrown 
over that they could feed upon.
  Slavery was robbery. People had their identities stolen from them. 
People were put in a position such that they could not know who they 
were in terms of their connection to the past, and they could not get 
an education about what the world was all about.
  Slavery was rape. It was not unusual for the masters to rape the 
women. It was not unusual for them to father the children, and then for 
those children to become slaves.
  Slavery was about the enslavement of babies. What kind of people 
would do such a dastardly thing as to enslave babies?
  The people who would do this were the people who didn't see the human 
beings, the human qualities associated with slavery. They just saw them 
as chattel, something to be traded, something to be used, and something 
to be discarded.
  Slavery was also about forced labor. I would like to say more about 
this topic of forced labor and slavery because I happen to have the 
good fortune to be the chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and 
Investigations of the Financial Services Committee.
  I serve under the leadership of the Honorable Maxine Waters, who is 
one of the most courageous Members of Congress. Under her leadership, 
we have had hearings on this question of slavery and how this slavery, 
this evil, has impacted not only the people of that time when they were 
enslaved but also the people of this time.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a very sensitive topic, and it deserves our 
attention. For those who desire not to give it attention, there are 
places for them to have their conversations off the floor. I beg that 
they would do so. It is a very sensitive topic.

                              {time}  1430

  We have held hearings on this topic, and at these hearings we have 
discovered that there are institutions that have a historical 
connection to slavery. These institutions include our mega banks. I 
will call them ``big banks.'' They include mega insurance companies. I 
will call them ``big insurance companies.''
  These mega banks, these big banks, these big insurance companies have 
predecessor institutions, predecessor banks and insurance companies, 
that actually engaged in the slave trade by way of with banks insuring 
slaves as chattel, and the insurance companies would insure them, and 
the banks would make loans against slaves as chattel.
  Let me give some examples. One big bank had a predecessor bank that 
was found to have had a connection to chattel slavery by accepting 
8,149 enslaved people as collateral for loans and coming into 
possession of 437 enslaved people.
  Another predecessor bank accepted approximately 13,000 enslaved 
people as collateral for loans as well as took possession of 
approximately 1,250 enslaved people upon default.
  Mr. Speaker, it might be worthy of noting that these predecessor 
banks were located in our State. I was born in Louisiana. You represent 
a great Congressional District in Louisiana. Predecessor banks that 
took possession of approximately 1,250 enslaved people upon default on 
loans.
  Another predecessor bank made a loan of $135,000 to a railroad 
company to use slave labor. Adjusted for inflation, $135,000 is worth 
approximately $4,776,840 in 2022.
  Another predecessor bank accepted enslaved people as collateral in at 
least 24 transactions, took possession of enslaved people upon default 
on loans, and engaged in business and investments with the Confederacy 
that by 1862 exceeded $1.5 million. That amount is worth $44,000,230 in 
2022.
  Mr. Speaker, as a proud descendent of enslaved people, I cannot in 
good conscience allow these transgressions to go unchallenged, to allow 
them to continue without atonement. There are some things that we ought 
not allow to remain a part of our history without proper redress. The 
enslavement of people and the profits that were made off of these 
people as slaves is something that must be redressed. These big banks 
and these big insurance companies have a duty, responsibility, and an 
obligation to atone for their connectivity to slavery.
  As a result, Mr. Speaker, I plan to file a big banks' and big 
insurance companies' atonement legislation, a piece of legislation that 
will address the injustices that were perpetrated upon human beings, 
the greatest crime against humanity, that we call slavery.
  This piece of legislation will require these big banks to assess 
whether their institutions, their predecessor institutions had direct 
or indirect ties to or profited from the institution of slavery. We 
already know that some did. They will have to issue a report containing 
all findings and determinations made in carrying out the assessments 
required, and to the extent the institutions, these big banks and these 
big insurance companies, identify ties to or profits from the 
institution of slavery a disclosure of the steps these institutions 
have taken to reconcile such profits and ties shall be reported. This 
report will be made available to the public, including on a website of 
each of the institutions making the reports.
  Further, this legislation will require a fine to be imposed on any 
institution that fails to issue a report as required or that reports 
false, misleading, or inaccurate information on such a report. They 
shall be fined $20,000 per day until the report is issued properly or 
until the report is corrected to not be false, misleading, or 
inaccurate.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a part of the process necessary for great a 
nation--and ours is a great nation--to be an even greater nation after 
it has properly reconciled for its greatest sin, its seminal sin of 
slavery; as I have indicated one of the greatest crimes ever committed 
against humanity, a crime that has implications on this very day and 
will have implications on tomorrow in a very negative way.
  We still have people who are suffering from these crimes that were 
committed centuries ago. Slavery didn't end all of the suffering. After 
slavery we had Black codes, which allowed Black people to be arrested 
and then forced to work as persons who were leased. It was called 
``convict leasing.'' You could be arrested for something as simple as 
not having a job and then forced to work. Many people worked until they 
died; literally, they would work them to death.
  In Texas we have discovered a grave of 95 such people known as the 
Sugar Land 95, a common grave with persons who were slave laborers.
  It didn't end there. It went on to have persons who were 
discriminated against lawfully in this country because we had 
segregation. Segregation was another means of maintaining people of 
African ancestry as second-class citizens, people who were not entitled 
to the same privileges and opportunities as others.
  But it didn't end there. We then suffered from--and still to this 
day--suffered from invidious discrimination. Yes, there are some people 
who say that it doesn't exist, but it does. There is invidious 
discrimination in the House of Representatives. Invidious 
discrimination, discrimination that keeps people from reaching their 
potential because of who they happen to be.
  In fact, our failure to recognize marriage as we have voted to do so 
today was a form of invidious discrimination.
  So it doesn't just consume people of African ancestry. I am making 
that the topic today. On some future occasion I will be talking about 
the invidious discrimination perpetrated against others, but today as 
it relates to African Americans there is still invidious discrimination 
in our country.
  African Americans were not given the same opportunities to acquire 
wealth. Over the centuries, we have had circumstances where in this 
country you could acquire wealth by simply going out in the West and 
fencing in as much property as you could, buy a Winchester rifle, 
defend it, and it was yours. You could simply squat and acquire land. 
People of African ancestry were not given the opportunity to acquire 
land in this fashion.

  When the GI Bill was passed, many people benefited from it. Very few 
of them were of African ancestry. People who fought, many of them died, 
but

[[Page H8859]]

people who fought and survived and came back could not get the same 
loans, the same grants, the same opportunities as others. So the 
opportunity to build wealth has been denied, and that opportunity 
denied has manifested in a wealth gap that is unimaginable with Black 
people having pennies on the dollar for the many dollars that White 
people have in terms of wealth.
  This wealth gap is something that cannot be ignored, and atonement 
has to be a methodology by which we achieve a bringing together, a 
closing of the wealth gap, if you will. And until we close the wealth 
gap we have to continue to require atonement.
  Now, there are many people who conclude that atonement and just 
talking about slavery is something that ought to be against the law.
  In the State of Texas they have in our legislature imposed a law that 
as many read it would not allow teaching the truth about slavery in 
schools. There are people who don't want their children to be harmed by 
hearing about the suffering that people in this country had perpetuated 
upon them for centuries. They don't want their children to know. They 
want their children to believe that liberty and justice for all has 
always applied to all of the people in the country, and it hasn't. They 
want their children to believe that there has always been equal access 
to opportunity in this country, which is not true. They don't want 
their children taught the truth, but the truth is going to be told and 
taught. The truth will be known. Carlyle was right: ``No lie can live 
forever.'' William Cullen Bryant was right: ``Truth, crushed to Earth, 
shall rise again.'' Dr. King was right: ``The arc of the moral universe 
is long, but it bends toward justice.''
  The truth will be told. You can't hide it from your children. They 
need to know the truth. It is only after the truth is known that we can 
then reconcile and have an even greater country than we have today.
  The process of reconciliation requires atonement, and for this 
process of reconciliation I have legislation pending to have a 
department of reconciliation, a department with a secretary of 
reconciliation with undersecretaries of reconciliation who will have 
the responsibility to wake up each and every day and deal with the 
racial wealth gap, deal with the invidious discrimination that took 
place against persons who came here and built the railroads, persons of 
Asian ancestry, the invidious discrimination that took place with the 
Trail of Tears when people were forced to leave their homes, move 
across the country, and dwell in a foreign place as it related to them, 
and the invidious discrimination to deal with the Latino population 
that many years ago had land taken from them.
  Yes, we need a department of reconciliation. I have the legislation 
for such a department.
  But notwithstanding that, we still need this legislation to deal with 
the atonement of these big financial institutions that have profited 
from the labor of human beings who were treated as chattel.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I say every word that I have 
said today because I am the proud descendent of these humble hands that 
helped build this Capitol, the proud descendent of these humble hands 
that helped build the roads and bridges, laid the foundation for this 
country. They were the foundational mothers and fathers of this 
country. I am proud to be a descendent of the enslaved people who 
helped make America great. I am proud to say that I think these 
enslaved people who helped make America great deserve more than being 
reviled while the people who tried to maintain slavery are revered--the 
Confederacy--revered by this House of Representatives.

                              {time}  1445

  Slavery reviled. The slaves reviled.
  Why do I say that the Confederacy was revered or is revered or has 
been revered by this House?
  Because this House of Representatives granted a Congressional Gold 
Medal to Confederate soldiers. Some things bear repeating. The House of 
Representatives in this Chamber passed legislation to accord a 
Congressional Gold Medal to Confederate soldiers. We revere the 
enslavers and revile the enslaved.
  That hasn't changed. This Congress or the next should accord a 
Congressional Gold Medal to the enslaved people who built this country. 
If we could do it for the enslavers, then we can do it for the 
enslaved.
  I will have legislation before this House to allow each and every 
person to go on Record as to whether you have the courage and the 
intestinal fortitude necessary to set the record straight, to do the 
right thing--no, more importantly--to do the righteous thing: give the 
people who built this country the same recognition that you gave to the 
people who would keep them in chains.
  My dear brothers and sisters will have an opportunity. We will find 
out whether you put principle above politics or whether you are going 
to put the Confederacy above the enslaved. We will find out.
  I assure you; the Record will be made known. We will know who voted 
for and who voted against.
  Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, we will file this legislation. We will 
give Members an opportunity to demonstrate where they stand.
  Dr. King was right: The truest measure of the person is not where you 
stand in times of comfort and convenience when all is well in your 
world. The truest measure of the person is where do you stand in times 
of great challenge and controversy?
  I plan to bring the time of challenge to the floor of the House.
  The question is: Where will the Members of this great House stand?
  Will Members have the courage to accord a Congressional Gold Medal to 
the enslaved persons?
  Will Members have the courage to pass a resolution asking for a 
department of reconciliation?
  Will Members have the courage to vote for legislation to require 
these megabanks and mega-insurance companies to atone for their 
connectivity to the greatest crime committed against humanity?
  We will find out because the legislation will be presented.
  Mr. Speaker, let me close with this: Notwithstanding all that I have 
said, I still love my country. I still pledge allegiance to the flag, 
and I still sing the national anthem. I still support those who choose 
not to say the pledge of allegiance and refuse to sing the national 
anthem. But I do it because I believe in the Constitution. I believe in 
the words liberty and justice for all as extolled in the pledge of 
allegiance. I believe that we can be a country of the people, by the 
people, and for all of the people.
  I believe these things in spite of the fact that my country hasn't 
always loved me as much as I love it. I just celebrated my 25th 
birthday for the third time, and my country hasn't always loved me as 
much as I love my country.
  My country required me to drink from colored water fountains, Mr. 
Speaker. My country required me to sit in the back of the bus and to 
sit in the balcony of movies. My country required me to go to back 
doors and get my food. My country required me to step off the sidewalk 
when other persons of a different hue passed.
  I still love my country. I am standing here today because I love my 
country, and I want my country to live up to the promise made in the 
Declaration of Independence and the promise made in the Constitution.
  I want America to be America for all Americans, and until that day, I 
will still love my country, but I will remain a liberated Democrat, 
unbought, unbossed, and unafraid to speak truth to power and truth 
about power.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________