[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 22 (Thursday, February 2, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H659-H663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          OUR MORAL IMPERATIVE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 
60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise.
  I rise with a message related to the month. This is, indeed, Black 
History Month. But I rise with a message that goes far beyond this 
month, a message that carries with it a moral imperative to do certain 
things that are on the conscience agenda.
  Today, I will first thank the leadership for allowing me to have this 
time,

[[Page H660]]

this privilege to come to the floor and speak on these issues. I am 
grateful to the leadership on both sides of the aisle.
  I am grateful because it is a rare privilege that one is accorded 
when one can stand in the well of the Congress and literally speak to 
the world. Each time I do it, Mr. Speaker, I ask myself, could you have 
ever imagined this happening to you? And the answer is always the same. 
Never.
  So I don't take for granted this privilege that I have, and I am 
honored to stand here and represent the 9th Congressional District of 
Texas, but as a United States Congressman, I do represent everyone in 
the country because my votes impact the entirety of the Nation.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, I am going to talk about several issues that are 
our moral imperative. These issues will include, first, August 20 as an 
annual day wherein we will recognize slavery remembrance. We want to 
inculcate this into the fiber and fabric of our country.
  Slavery Remembrance Day is important because it is unlike any other 
day. There are many holidays in this country, and I recognize them, I 
have no quarrel with them, but in this country we have certain days 
that are set aside for us to remember certain events, certain events 
that have been similar moments in time:
  9/11, a similar moment in time, a day to be remembered;
  Pearl Harbor, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, a similar 
moment in time, a day to be remembered;
  The Holocaust, a similar moment in time that has impacted the rest of 
time, should be remembered.
  All of these are remembrance days, days that we have set aside in 
this country to remember.
  Well, August 20, 1619, the White Lion landed--docked, if you will--at 
Point Comfort, and the White Lion had on it 20 persons of African 
ancestry, 20 people who were traded. They traded cargo. They had other 
things that were desired by the colonists, and they traded, they 
exchanged these things, but they also had 20 people that were exchanged 
for goods that they desired.
  These 20 people became the persons that we know as slaves, slaves who 
were among the first, if not the first, in this country. There may be 
some debate about some other circumstance, but generally speaking, 
August 20, 1619, is acknowledged as the date that slavery had its ugly 
face shown in our country.
  August 20, 1619, 20 people, human beings treated like cattle called 
chattels. Treated like cattle called chattels, chattel slavery. We want 
to commemorate their lives and all of the millions of lives that 
followed, commemorate their lives, and commemorate their contributions 
to the success of this country.
  America is a great country, but it is great because of these humble 
hands. There were others who contributed to the greatness, and they 
have been acknowledged, and many are going to be acknowledged, but the 
humble hands of slaves have not been properly acknowledged for what 
they have done to make America the great nation that it is.
  These humble hands helped to construct this Capitol. They helped to 
raise the Statue of Freedom that is on top of the Capitol. These humble 
hands helped to build roads and bridges. They planted the crops. They 
harvested. They literally were the means by which the Nation was fed.
  These persons were worked, some of them, for their entire lives 
without remuneration, without compensation. They were kept alive. They 
were given clothing; they were given food; they were given the 
necessities of life only such that many of them could continue to slave 
their lives away.
  We don't recognize them for what they have done for this country. The 
truth is, we revile them. We revile the slaves, those who were enslaved 
to be more appropriate. We revile them and we revere the enslavers.

                              {time}  1400

  Confederate soldiers have been revered across the length and breadth 
of this country.
  Confederate soldiers who fought to maintain slavery have been honored 
and celebrated and appreciated.
  Confederate soldiers who took the lives of many people, many of whom 
were not slaves, in the Civil War.
  Confederate soldiers have been honored, celebrated, and appreciated, 
but not so with the enslaved persons who are the foundational mothers 
and fathers and children of this country. They haven't been properly 
recognized.
  I mentioned that the Confederate soldiers have been lionized by 
having their names placed on schools and statues around the country. 
There is no statue honoring Nat Turner, no statue that I know of; there 
may be one or two someplace that is unknown to me. Those who fought to 
liberate the slaves have been demonized.
  I remember well what I was taught when I was in grade school, how Nat 
Turner was a bad man. Nat Turner was a liberator. How John Brown was 
crazy; he was a White man who was a liberator. We have been taught to 
demonize the liberators, lionize those who would maintain slavery, and 
literally overlook, marginalize--literally try as best as we can to 
reshape history as it relates to those who were enslaved.
  Here is how far we have gone with this.
  In 1956, this Congress, the Congress of the United States of America 
accorded a Congressional Gold Medal to Confederate soldiers. The 
Congress of the United States of America honored Confederate soldiers. 
Never has this Congress bestowed any honor on the enslaved.
  It is almost impossible for people of good will to comprehend that 
such a thing occurred and is still occurring because we still have 
places around the country where Confederate soldiers are being 
lionized, but the slaves have not been recognized. No recognition, 
appreciable recognition for the slaves, the people who helped build the 
country, foundational mothers and fathers of the country, born into 
slavery.
  Babies were slaves, for edification purposes.
  Babies. Babies were slaves.
  If you were born the child of a slave, you were a slave at birth. You 
lived your entire life as a slave. You died as a slave.
  At some point this wrong has to be addressed. I believe that it 
should be addressed by according the slaves, the persons who were 
enslaved--they didn't place themselves in this condition--I believe 
that it should be addressed by according them a Congressional Gold 
Medal just as we accorded the Confederate soldiers who sought to 
maintain slavery a Congressional Gold Medal. That is not asking too 
much of the country.
  In this Congress, we are going to give Congressional Gold Medals to 
people. Yes, last Congress we did. Why can't we give a Congressional 
Gold Medal to those who were enslaved?
  Oh, because that happened centuries ago.
  Because they are no longer with us.
  Well, we have accorded Congressional Gold Medals posthumously. This 
would not be the first time.
  We have done it for the code talkers, the Tuskegee Airmen, the 
soldiers who died in Afghanistan. We have done it.
  The question is, do we have the decency to do for the people who 
helped build this country what we have done for so many others? Do we 
have the decency?
  I believe that we can and we should do this. It would be historic but 
it would be meaningful to a good many people. It would say that we 
respect those people. We regret what happened to them but we respect 
them and we respect them enough to recognize their lives, not just the 
work, not the building of the country, but their lives that were 
sacrificed.
  I believe it can be done. I believe it should be done. And I'm not 
alone in my belief. We opened the letter up and started circulating it 
today.
  I will read the names of the persons who have similar beliefs. These 
are persons who are already on as original cosponsors and we will close 
the opportunity at the end of Black History Month. It is open now to 
everyone this Black History Month. This is a piece of Black history, a 
seminal piece of Black history.
  I will tell you who agrees that a Congressional Gold Medal ought to 
be accorded to persons whose lives were sacrificed to make America the 
great country it is.
  First on the list is the Honorable Maxine Waters; the Honorable 
Bennie Thompson, the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, the Honorable   
Danny Davis, the Honorable  Jim McGovern.

[[Page H661]]

  For fear that someone may just be tuning in or starting to follow 
what we are doing, I am announcing the names of persons who have 
allowed their names to be associated with the Congressional Gold Medal 
legislation that we will be filing at the end of this Black History 
Month.
  I will continue with the names:
  The Honorable Brad Sherman, the Honorable Barbara Lee, the Honorable 
Emanuel Cleaver, the Honorable Yvette Clarke, the Honorable Hank 
Johnson, the Honorable Gerry Connolly, the Honorable Kweisi Mfume, the 
Honorable   David Cicilline, the Honorable Joaquin Castro, the 
Honorable Mark Veasey, the Honorable Pete Aguilar, the Honorable Ted 
Lieu, the Honorable Adriano Espaillat, the Honorable Colin Allred, the 
Honorable Lizzie Fletcher, the Honorable Sylvia Garcia, the Honorable 
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Honorable Ilhan Omar, the Honorable 
Ayanna Pressley, the Honorable Troy Carter, the Honorable  Greg Casar, 
the Honorable Jasmine Crockett, the Honorable Bonnie Watson Coleman.
  I trust that there would be more names that I would be permitted to 
announce at a future point in time.
  Remember, historic legislation, original cosponsorship closes at the 
end of Black History Month, the last day. It will close at the end of 
this month. This legislation is designed to be brought to the attention 
of the House this month. So we will close it and we will file it on the 
last day of this month.
  I believe that should we do this, and we should, if we do this, I 
believe that it will make a difference in the lives of all people in 
this country, because I think that in large part, the reason we had a 
person of African ancestry assaulted by other persons of African 
ancestry who are a part of the constabulary, police officers, is 
because there is little respect for Black lives. Not as much respect 
for Black lives.

  We say all lives matter. If we say that, then we have to say Black 
lives matter. You can't say all lives matter and not say Black lives 
matter. They do.
  I do not believe that if that young man had been of European 
ancestry, what we would call an Anglo or White, whichever you prefer--
I, quite frankly, don't like saying White--but if he had been an Anglo, 
a person of European ancestry, those officers wouldn't have behaved 
that way. They would not have disrespected his life to the extent that 
they disrespected that young man of African ancestry's life.
  We have got to respect Black lives. If you say they matter, then you 
respect them.
  And for further edification purposes, this is not the first time. If 
anybody thinks this is the last, you are mistaken. I want it to be the 
last. I don't want it to ever occur again, but it can and likely will 
because we don't respect Black lives to the same extent as many others, 
and we should.
  This will go a long way toward our saying to the world: Black lives 
ought to be respected. I believe that Black lives when properly 
respected will not be abused as was the case with that young man.
  What they did to him is unthinkable. I would say unforgivable but my 
religious teachings don't allow me to say that. I would say it but we 
forgive according to my religiosity. We forgive. But I assure you, it 
is the kind of thing you never forget. I have memory for a reason, to 
remember so that I can shape the future.
  Black lives do matter, and I would like to think that we can pass 
this first thing on our list on this conscience agenda, the inculcating 
of August 20 annually as Slavery Remembrance Day.
  I will move on to the next item on the list. All of these items are 
important. Some would say that some items are more important than the 
others but they are all important.
  By the way, there are many more things that will be added to this 
list. This is not exhaustive of the things that are a moral imperative 
for this conscience agenda.
  I have talked about the August 20 as Slavery Remembrance Day and I 
talked about awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to the enslaved. The 
third item that I have listed is removing the name of Richard Russell 
from the Russell Senate Office Building.
  Richard Russell was a self-proclaimed white supremacist. I don't go 
in the Russell Senate Office Building. I think I respect myself enough 
not to go in the Russell Senate Office Building. Others do what they 
may.
  And I assure you, if that office building had on it a name associated 
with the Third Reich, lots of other people wouldn't go in too.

                              {time}  1415

  We would take that name off of that building. What Richard Russell 
did to people of color is not only sinful, it is so shameful as to not 
reward him with placing his name on a building paid for with tax 
dollars, maintained with tax dollars, knowing that people of color of 
necessity have to go in and out of the building.
  Do you have no respect for us? Do you not care how we feel about 
things? Is it just another thing that we will get around to when we 
feel like it?
  When things are harmful to us, our psyche, our well-being, can we not 
say when they should cease to exist? Do you have to always set the 
timetable for the people who suffer?
  What is wrong with the Senate? The United States Senate can change 
this. Take his name off.
  Richard Russell fought antilynching legislation. Richard Russell was 
the father of the Southern Manifesto. The man called himself a white 
supremacist.
  What is wrong with us? Why do we disrespect Black people to this 
extent?
  The Senate ought to immediately take it up, but it won't. This is 
Black History Month. It would be a great time to do it, but it won't.
  There are people hiding behind, ``Well, who do we name it after? Who 
do we honor? What name do you put on it?'' I am not asking you to put 
Nat Turner's name on it. I am not asking you to put John Brown's name 
on it. I am not asking you to put Dr. King's name on it, Rosa Parks' 
name on it, Harriet Tubman's.
  I am not asking you to put any name on it other than the name it had 
before it became the Russell Senate Office Building. That name was the 
Old Senate Office Building. Revert to the name it had, and then take 
all the time you desire, my dear brothers and sisters. Take as much 
time as God allows, ad infinitum. Go beyond the end of time if you so 
desire.
  Richard Russell's name won't be there ad infinitum. It won't be there 
beyond the end of time. We will have done more than the right thing.
  You can do the right thing. That would be a part of it, but we will 
do more than the right thing if we take his name off.
  We will have done the righteous thing, the righteous thing. His name 
ought not be there. Richard Russell, notorious bigot, notorious white 
supremacist, his name ought not be on that building.
  At some point in time, at some point along this infinite continuum 
that we call time, we all are going to have to account for our time.
  Those of you who had it within your power to change these things, you 
are going to have to account for your time. At some point on the 
infinite continuum, you will account for it.
  You will account for holding in your hands the ability to make 
righteous change and deciding that you will do it when you get good and 
ready and when it benefits you.
  You ought to be concerned about the people adversely impacted and how 
it would benefit them as opposed to how it would benefit you.
  The minister talked about the Good Samaritan today. The Good 
Samaritan didn't ask the question, ``What will happen to me if I cross 
over and help this person who has been beset upon by thieves?'' That 
wasn't the question. The Good Samaritan wanted to know, ``What will 
happen to him if I don't do it?''
  Senate of the United States of America, ask what will happen to the 
many people who have to suffer knowing that there is a racist name on a 
Senate office building that is paid for with their tax dollars.
  If the tables were turned, and he insulted European Anglos to the 
same extent that he has insulted Black people, his name wouldn't be 
there. They would have removed it long ago.
  It is time for the name to come off the building. Let it revert to 
the Old Senate Office Building.

[[Page H662]]

  The fourth thing on the agenda: Enacting the Securities and Exchange 
Atonement Act.
  Friends, our research has shown that financial institutions engaged 
in the slave trade--banks. Many of the big banks now had predecessor 
institutions, banks that literally, actually, made loans to people and 
allowed those loans to be secured with enslaved people, enslaved people 
treated like cattle, called chattels, like a piece of property, like 
you secure a loan now with a piece of property. They secured the loans 
with enslaved people and made money doing it.
  Insurance companies' predecessor institutions literally insured 
enslaved people just as you would insure cattle, a horse, a cow. They 
insured them and made money.
  They need to atone. They need to atone. Atonement has not been 
defined in the sense of ``do a specific thing.'' One institution has 
made an effort, but there has to be atonement. There has to be some 
sort of atonement for that.
  I assure you, if the tables were turned, if Anglos had been treated 
in the numbers and the same way, in a similar fashion to the way people 
of color were treated, Anglos would be demanding atonement.
  I assure you. It is not even debatable. You would. You would. By the 
way, I would be there with you. I would stand with you because it would 
be the righteous thing to do.
  I would stand with you if the tables were turned on any of these 
issues because it would be the righteous thing to do.
  I plan to proceed with this legislation. We will be filing it in this 
Congress.
  Finally: Establishing the department of reconciliation. We have not 
reconciled in this country.
  By the way, I am of the opinion that there are many people who just 
don't care. They don't care. But there are many others who do, who do.
  Those who care, people of good will, they know that we need to do 
more to reconcile. We need to cover this moral imperative.
  We have a Department of Education with Under Secretaries of 
Education; a Department of Labor, Under Secretaries of Labor; a 
Department of Commerce.

  Why, then, can we not have a department, a department of 
reconciliation; a department of reconciliation with a secretary of 
reconciliation and under secretaries, structured such that it will deal 
with the moral imperatives; a department of reconciliation such that at 
the end of the day, when one President leaves office and another comes 
in, the work of the department continues, just as the Department of 
Labor continues, the Department of Commerce continues? One President 
coming and leaving does not change the work of any of these 
departments.
  It is not going to be easy to complete the moral imperative, the 
conscience agenda. It is not going to be easy, but it is something that 
we must do.
  We are not going to change history. Those who desire to no longer 
teach what actually happened to people in this country--there are 
people in Texas now who would have slavery become ``involuntary 
relocation.'' That is true, ``involuntary relocation.''
  Kidnapping? Involuntary relocation. Murder, rape? Involuntary 
relocation. Separating families at the auction block? Involuntary 
relocation.
  No, you are not going to change history. You are not. There are 
people who want to, under some specious theory that the people who want 
to teach history are somehow wanting to harm the country by telling the 
truth.
  Now, we are a country that believes in truth. We preach truth in this 
country. Somewhere it is written, ``You shall know truth, and the truth 
will set you free.''
  There is a certain amount of freedom associated with actualizing, 
realizing, the truth. We have to know the truth. You are not going to 
be able to hide it. But there are people who would say that by teaching 
truth, we are going to harm the country.
  What about the people who suffered and still suffer as a result of 
the truth not being told? People have to know what happened.
  Black History Month is not nearly enough time to explain what 
happened. We pick out certain things that happened, certain meaningful 
moments in time, but that is not Black history.
  Black history is more than the civil rights movement. It really is. 
It is more than the history of Africans in the Americas.
  Yes, Black history is American history, but it is also world history. 
It is world history. Just as the history of others who are global, they 
have a global history, too.
  I remember, in my history book, there was an indication that the 
reason the nations or countries in Africa were not mentioned in world 
history was because they made little contribution to history. I had to 
grow up with that--little contribution to history.
  Friends--I say ``friends,'' and I am very sincere when I say it. I 
consider people friends who may not consider me a friend.

                              {time}  1430

  Friends, or as Dr. King might say it, brothers and sisters, we must 
reconcile. We will not reconcile without some structured department, 
something that has no end in sight. The end would be when 
reconciliation is ultimately achieved.
  We need this department of reconciliation. The country needs it. It 
will benefit us all. It will make the country a better place.
  Not everybody wants it. Not everybody wants to see the change in the 
status quo.
  I know this is a very difficult thing for many people to embrace, and 
I am very much aware of what Voltaire called to our attention, and it 
impacts many people. He reminded us that it is dangerous to be right in 
affairs where established men are wrong. It is dangerous to be right. 
Many people, they understand that, and because they understand that, 
they avoid this.
  This is a righteous agenda. There is nothing on here that cannot be 
done and should not be done. Everything on here is a part of the 
righteous agenda.
  Nothing wrong with inculcating August 20 as Slavery Remembrance Day 
because of what happened to the slaves, just as we have a 9/11 
remembrance, just as we have a Pearl Harbor remembrance, a Holocaust 
remembrance--by the way, all recognized by the Congress. That would be 
the House and Senate, Congress as the House and Senate, not just the 
House, all recognized.
  I do confess this, and I should have mentioned it earlier, but it is 
never too late to speak truth. The President of the United States has 
acknowledged August 20, has acknowledged Slavery Remembrance Day, the 
Honorable Joe Biden.
  The House passed this resolution, by the way. Many Members are not 
aware of it. We did pass a resolution honoring August 20. I don't know 
what the Senate will do, but I am at a point where I just believe we 
need to go on and commemorate the day. Just commemorate the day.
  Nobody gets paid. I am not asking does anybody get paid. Nobody 
should be paid. This is a day of commemoration, not celebration. No 
celebrations. I don't want the stores to give discounts, Slavery 
Remembrance Day discounts. That is not what this is about. This is 
sacred. This is not secular.
  This, August 20, nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with it. The 
President has acknowledged it.
  If I just may say so, the President, in his efforts to acknowledge 
that Black lives matter, and do so in a very positive way, the 
President appointed an African-American female to the Supreme Court of 
the United States of America, something that could have been done by 
many others but never achieved. He did it.
  Now, if anybody thinks I am going to forget that the President did 
something as significant as that--see, it may not be important to other 
people, but to me it is probably one of the most important things that 
he has done. I will be eternally grateful, and there are a lot of other 
people who will be equally as grateful.
  So, there is nothing wrong with this August 20 as Slavery Remembrance 
Day. Nothing wrong with according, giving, a Congressional Gold Medal 
to the enslaved people who built the country, laid the foundation for 
the economic success of the country. Nothing wrong with that.
  If we can do it for the Confederate soldiers, surely we can do it for 
the enslaved people born into slavery, lived as slaves, many of them, 
and died as slaves.

[[Page H663]]

  Nothing wrong with removing the name of a self-proclaimed white 
supremacist from a building paid for with tax dollars.
  Nothing wrong with saying that these companies, mega companies, 
nothing wrong with saying that these mega companies which profited 
enormously from the slave trade--nothing wrong with saying they should 
atone.
  Good Christians understand atonement. People of good will understand 
atonement. All religions address atonement in some way. Nothing wrong 
with atonement.
  Wanting to reconcile? Having a department of reconciliation, how does 
that hurt a country wherein we see circumstances necessitating 
reconciliation, our moral imperative?
  Mr. Speaker, it is always an honor, it is a privilege, to have this 
freedom of speech. Freedom of speech may be the hallmark of our 
democracy. We don't have to agree. That is what freedom of speech is 
all about, freedom to say and not be persecuted for having said.
  I am grateful to have this opportunity to speak without fear of 
persecution. I could be wrong, but I am not afraid. I am not afraid, 
and I am grateful.
  I love my country. I try to conclude by saying this. I love my 
country. I salute the flag. Yes, I say the Pledge of Allegiance. I sing 
the national anthem. I stand when I sing it. I place my hand on my 
heart when I sing it. I place my hand on my heart when I say the Pledge 
of Allegiance. But I also defend those who choose not to.
  That is the greatness of America. The greatness of America is not in 
my standing and saluting and singing. The greatness is in allowing 
those who choose not to. That is the greatness of the country, that we 
can accept those who would not do what others do, those who would say, 
``Look, I am not an automaton. I am not going to march in lockstep. I 
choose to take a different path.''
  I defend their right to do so. I do so because I love my country.
  God bless you, Mr. Speaker. God bless the United States of America.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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