[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 29 (Monday, February 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S347-S349]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               PENNSYLVANIA BLACK HISTORY MONTH HONOREES

  Mr. CASEY. Madam President, every year, it is my privilege, during 
Black History Month, to honor Black Pennsylvanians who have made 
particularly notable contributions to their communities and the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I rise today to pay tribute to this 
year's honorees and to commend their deep commitment to service. This 
year's theme is ``Inspiring a Bold and Bright Future.'' Several 
individuals we honor have been laboring in their communities for 
generations, while we are also honoring a younger generation of 
Pennsylvanians who have already brought about positive change in their 
communities. We have chosen to honor both those in the dawn of their 
service and those who are well established in that service to highlight 
the generational and sustained nature of this work and to emphasize the 
enduring relationships between our older heroes and those who come 
behind them to take up the mantel of justice work and community 
empowerment.


            Hettie Simmons Love--south central Pennsylvania

  In 1947, a young African-American woman, Hettie Simmons, graduated 
from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania 
with her MBA in accounting, becoming the first African-American to do 
so. While Hettie never had the opportunity to pursue a career in the 
same manner afforded to other graduates of Wharton, she continued to 
forge a path where she could apply her talents for the benefit of 
others. While she has recently been discovered late in life as a 
``hidden figure,'' to many in central Pennsylvania, she is an 
accomplished community leader clearing a path for those who came after 
her.
  Hettie Simmons was born in Jacksonville, FL, and attended Fisk 
University, a historically Black college or university--HBCU--in 
Tennessee where she majored in math. After graduating from Fisk in 
1943, her desire for better opportunities for her future led her to 
apply for admission to Penn's Wharton School.
  Unable to pursue a career with her Wharton degree, Hettie Simmons 
Love, newly married and living in Philadelphia, applied her academic 
skills in community settings, serving as treasurer in several 
organizations and, after the family moved to Harrisburg in 1971, 
serving as the church treasurer at St. Paul's Episcopal Church for over 
20 years.
  Hettie also lent her business acumen to three different Black-owned 
businesses in the Harrisburg area, serving as a bookkeeper and offering 
suggestions for operational improvements. In her early eighties, Hettie 
Simmons Love was still volunteering to help seniors with their income 
tax forms. Hettie is also a long-time member of her sorority, 
volunteering for decades and becoming a diamond member of Alpha Kappa 
Alpha Sorority, Inc., in 2016 for having been a member for 75 years.
  In December 2016, Hettie was awarded a Trailblazer award from the 
National African-American MBA Association for being the first African-
American graduate student to earn her MBA degree from the Wharton 
School. The current Dean of the Wharton School, Dean Ericka James, the 
first African-American dean of the school, had the honor of meeting 
Hettie and presenting her with a certificate acknowledging the historic 
significance of Hettie's achievement.
  Now 100 years young, Hettie Simmons Love continues to thrive, serving

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in her church and community whenever opportunities arise. With each 
passing birthday, she thinks that if God is keeping her here, then she 
must have more to do. Hettie continues to donate her time, talent, and 
treasures to others, earning the respect of her community and inspiring 
generations of leaders to come.


                  Gary Horton--northwest Pennsylvania

  While Ms. Hettie Simmons Love was building community in Philadelphia 
and Harrisburg, Gary Horton was learning the same lessons of community 
service from his parents in northwestern Pennsylvania and making those 
lessons his own. Born into a large family in Erie, Gary learned from 
his parents and grandparents the importance of public service early in 
his life. One of his first acts of civic engagement at the young age of 
8 was to canvass for U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign for 
President. Gary recalled that he and others, ``were able to picket 
places as a young person for job opportunities, for voting rights, for 
justice and we were able to register people to vote.''
  The transformative power of education was evident early in Gary's 
life and would become a theme of his own service over time as well. 
Gary was educated in Erie Public Schools and graduated from Strong 
Vincent High School. Gary went on to pursue higher education at Hampton 
Institute and then Cheney University, earning a bachelor's degree in 
political science. He applied the political education he learned as a 
young activist and then as a student by going to work in State 
government for several years and then returning home to work in the 
administration of Erie Mayor Joyce Savocchio, Erie's first woman mayor. 
Wanting to continue his work to improve his hometown of Erie, Gary then 
founded the Urban Erie Economic Development Corporation--UECDC--and 
became its chief executive officer when it merged with the Reverend 
Ernest Franklin Smith Quality of Life Learning Center in 2002. At 
UECDC, Gary leads an organization that carries on the educational 
mission that informed his life from an early age, offering job training 
programs, a summer youth work program, and self-help initiatives for 
young people and, more recently, a growing number of new Americans from 
South Sudan, Eritrea, Liberia, Ukraine, Iraq, the DRC, and other 
countries. With Gary's help and that of the UECDC, these new arrivals 
have found the promise of a new life.
  Gary Horton has also served his city through voluntarism, serving two 
terms as an elected member of the board of directors of the school 
district of the City of Erie from 2004 to 2011, serving as the 
president of the Erie chapter of the NAACP, and leading Erie's 
``Walking in Black History,'' a program that takes Erie school children 
to historic sites of the civil rights movement throughout the South.
  The city of Erie is blessed to have Gary and those like him who have 
dedicated their lives to the city and its residents. Gary has truly 
been an inspiration in Erie and with Gary and others leading the 
charge, offers a bright future to its residents.
  I have thus far talked about two leaders who have devoted their 
entire lives to community building, Ms. Hettie Simmons Love, who is 
still doing so at the age of 100, and Gary Horton, who though he cannot 
match Ms. Simmons Love in total years, has brought his own unmatched 
service to Erie. But today I also want to honor the next generation of 
leaders, those who have been inspired by the efforts of people like Ms. 
Hettie Simmons Love and Gary Horton and upon whose shoulders they 
stand.


                  Shawn Aleong--southeast Pennsylvania

  Shawn Aleong is a disability, civil, and human rights activist from 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although Shawn lives with cerebral palsy, 
he has always said, ``For me, my disability is not a curse. It's not a 
handicap. It is a gift so that I can help implement change.'' His 
passion and dedication were recognized this past year on a national 
level. On March 11, 2022, President Biden appointed Shawn to serve on 
the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, 
which advises the President on disability policy. Shawn will now be 
able to effect change nationally just as he does locally.
  Leading up to that well-deserved appointment, Shawn has been steadily 
building his platform through his education and community engagement 
efforts, particularly at Temple University. He is a pre-law student at 
Temple, and he serves as senior adviser for local and community affairs 
for Temple student government and is a director on the board of 
advisers for Temple's Institute on Disabilities. During an internship 
with the Temple University Police Department, Shawn developed an 
interest in the interactions between law enforcement and people with 
disabilities and started a process to train officers to better interact 
with people with disabilities.
  Shawn is also an intern at Disability Rights Pennsylvania, where he 
supports staff working on potential discrimination cases related to the 
disabilities of clients. He has been a member of the NAACP and the 
board of directors for the Arc of Philadelphia, an organization that 
advocates for the rights of people with disabilities.
  Shawn has been an outspoken advocate for disability policies 
affecting the well-being of all people with disabilities. He has 
advocated for passage of a bill providing an expansion of ABLE account 
eligibility to age 46. We achieved passage of this in Congress this 
past December with Shawn's assistance. He has also worked to preserve 
and expand access to Medicaid, home and community-based services, and 
accessible voting for people with disabilities. Shawn has also been an 
advocate for people with disabilities having the opportunity to live in 
their own homes, in neighborhoods of their own choosing. When 
describing what inclusion means, he has said it is ``living in the 
community and working in the community. We need affordable housing, 
good paying jobs, good support systems, and a good community. That's 
how I believe that we can all be as one.''
  Shawn has been able to continue his advocacy in a much more creative 
way. He is an accomplished actor and long-time cast member of ``A 
Fierce Kind of Love,'' a theater piece highlighting the struggles of 
people with intellectual disabilities who were institutionalized in the 
early and mid-20th century and how leaving institutional living 
affected their lives.


        Deahmi Mobley and Jaia Harrison--southwest Pennsylvania

  This year, we also honor two high school freshmen from southwest 
Pennsylvania, Deahmi Mobley and Jaia Harrison. In 2022, Dehami and Jaia 
were named Do the Write Thing Ambassadors for their impressive essays 
on the impact of gun violence.
  Deahmi Mobley is a freshman at Central Catholic High School. In 2022, 
Dehami was named one of Pittsburgh's two Do the Write Thing Ambassadors 
after his essay on the impact of gun violence for young people won a 
top honor. In his essay, Deahmi describes how youth and gun violence 
has affected his life since he lost his brother, SeQuorri Smith. In his 
essay, Deahmi reflects on a number of things, the impact of his 
brother's death at a young age, the misplaced priorities of some young 
people, the bullying that others face, and the critical importance of 
violence prevention and the need for parents and educators to play a 
role in it. Deahmi talks about his belief that education and youth 
violence are closely linked and he echoes our other honorees in 
stressing the important role that education has on community change. He 
writes, ``We need to do better as a whole. Instead of putting others 
down, we should bring each other up. Instead of balling up a fist, hold 
someone's hand. Instead of picking up a gun, pick up some books. And 
watch how society, and us as a community, change.''
  Jaia Harrison, a student at Northgate Senior High School is, like 
Deahmi, a freshman. In her essay, Jaia talks about her own experience 
with youth violence as a witness to a deadly shooting in 2021, and she 
summons the courage to talk about its impact upon her. She speaks 
poignantly about the shock that spread through her body as a result of 
witnessing youth violence firsthand. She also shares her views on youth 
violence more broadly, particularly the need to take youth mental 
health more seriously in order to prevent violence. She likens youth 
mental health to a home that may appear to be in good shape on the 
outside, but which internally has many problems that may be invisible. 
``To address

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what may seem like the bigger problems,' Jaia says, ``you have to 
address the internal problems first.'' Jaia loves being a big sister. 
She has a sister, Jaylen, and a young brother named Junior, and she 
dreams of attending a historically Black college and university.
  It is difficult to share your loss and your struggles in public, and 
Deahmi and Jaia have shown remarkable courage for stepping forward and 
telling their stories. They have not only reminded us of the terrible 
toll that violence takes upon our communities, especially our young 
people, but they have also provided us specific areas of focus to 
prevent violence and promote better health in our communities. I am 
grateful for their wisdom and leadership, and I encourage them to 
continue speaking up. I have no doubt that they will continue to speak 
the truth and bring about change in the years to come.
  The community leaders working in our communities large and small 
across Pennsylvania improve our neighborhoods and strengthen our 
communities. Pennsylvanians like Hettie Simmons Love and Gary Horton, 
who apply their talents wherever they are called to do so, lead our 
communities through dark times and into a brighter future. Shawn 
Aleong's fight for disability rights and the right to self-
determination inspires me and so many others to join him in the 
struggle for the civil rights of people with disabilities. It is young 
people like Deahmi Mobley and Jaia Harrison who muster the courage to 
challenge all of us, young and old alike, to declare that we must act 
boldly to end the epidemic of violence in our communities.
  I am inspired by the example and the commitment of the leaders who we 
are honoring this year, and I am sustained in my own work by the 
knowledge that they stand with me in the fight to bring equity and 
justice to communities across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

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