[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 58 (Thursday, March 30, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1685-H1686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY'S CORRECTIVE ACTION TO THE INSTITUTION 
                               OF SLAVERY

  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. Madam Speaker, and still I rise. I rise as a 
proud descendant of the enslaved people, who constructed the foundation 
upon which the greatness of America resides. They are the foundational 
mothers and fathers of this country.
  Today, I rise, Madam Speaker, because I was accorded the preeminent 
privilege of speaking at the Georgetown University Law Center and I was 
accorded this opportunity to talk about the conscious agenda.
  In so doing, we, my staff and I, did some research on Georgetown 
University and we discovered some things that I will share with you 
today.
  First, I do want to thank the persons who made it possible for me to 
have this opportunity to speak today at Georgetown. I would like to 
thank Juan Thomas, the chair of the ABA Section of the Civil Rights and 
Social Justice Entity. This is an entity that is associated with the 
American Bar Association, and they were hosting this event today.

  I would like to thank Dean Treanor. He is the executive vice 
president of Georgetown University Law Center.
  I would like to thank Professor of Law Edelman. He is a person who 
has, quite frankly, helped to set a course of conduct that has made a 
difference in the lives of many people at the institution.
  Today, Madam Speaker, I, having had this opportunity to visit 
Georgetown, would like to commend the university for what it has done 
and I would like to do so for things that persons ordinarily might not 
assume one would stand before the Congress, the country, if you will, 
and give such a commendation.
  I am honored to do this because I think Georgetown University is the 
supreme, superb example of what an institution should do that has had 
some association with the institution of slavery.
  I think that Georgetown University is a university that has set an 
example for the country, indeed for the United States of America 
itself, in terms of how we should respond to questions related to our 
association with the institution of slavery.
  Today, I want to honor Georgetown University, founded in 1789 by John 
Carroll, who was later appointed Archbishop of Baltimore in 1808. I 
honor this institution today because it took affirmative action to 
correct its association with the institution of slavery.
  In 1838, 272 enslaved persons worth about $3.3 million in today's 
dollars were sold in part to help pay off the school's debt. Obviously, 
this was not something that I would in any way celebrate. It is 
something that I find horrific.
  The question then becomes: How has Georgetown University responded 
since this occurrence? Well, in September 2015, Georgetown University 
formed a working group on slavery, memory, and reconciliation to 
explore this history that it has associated with slavery.
  In 2016, Georgetown created a department of African-American studies 
and set plans to establish an institute for the study of racial 
justice.

                              {time}  1245

  These two things alone are significant. The notion that a working 
group would be established for reconciliation, to explore it, to 
explore the memory, and to understand what slavery was all about as it 
relates to this institution, this working group has done an outstanding 
job.
  I also have to acknowledge the fact that the African-American studies 
program was something that would give young people the opportunity to 
better understand more than what happened at Georgetown. It gives them 
an opportunity to understand what happened to Africans in the Americas.
  Too often, this type of history is overlooked, and today, there are 
many who would erase this history. Significant work at the Georgetown 
Slavery Archive has been done.
  In 2017, Georgetown offered an apology. It was not an apology without 
something more, not just a: ``We are sorry it happened, and please have 
a nice day.'' It was an apology, and they held a liturgy of 
remembrance, contrition, and hope. It was a sincere apology.
  It was an apology that would lead to other things. The apology wasn't 
the end. It was the genesis of more things that would be done.
  In 2017, Georgetown dedicated two campus buildings to members of the 
descendant community--the ``descendant community'' would be descendants 
of slavery--dedicated two campus buildings to members of the descendant 
community.
  It didn't stop there. Georgetown went on, in 2018, at the request of 
descendant leaders, Georgetown, the Jesuits, and descendants began 
truth and reconciliation work with the Kellogg Foundation.
  This is the kind of work that has to be done so that we can get to 
the truth about what happened, so that we can have the transparency 
necessary to understand the history associated with slavery.
  It is not pleasant, but it has to be done. It has to be done because 
if we don't do it, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable to these things 
being repeated.
  Let's study this history. In 2019, Georgetown established a 
reconciliation fund that awards $400,000 annually for community-based 
projects within descendant communities--$400,000 annually.
  Georgetown did not simply give an apology with nothing more than ``we 
are sorry.'' Georgetown has taken upon itself to atone for what 
occurred and has done so by having a truth and reconciliation 
committee, worked with the Kellogg Foundation, and went on to establish 
a reconciliation fund that awards $400,000 annually for community-based 
projects within descendant communities.
  I think that Georgetown merits a special thank-you, and I, as a 
Member of Congress, intend to have a flag flown over the Capitol of the 
United States of America to be presented to Georgetown University for 
the way they have demonstrated that we can deal with the issue of 
slavery--demonstrated how to do this.
  They have been an exemplar of how to do it and how to do it with a 
degree of credibility such that someone would come to the Congress of 
the United States of America, stand here, and pay tribute to what they 
have done to commemorate the lives of those who helped create the great 
America that we live in today.
  They were the foundational mothers and fathers of this country. They 
were the persons who labored. They planted the grains, harvested the 
crops. They constructed roads and bridges.
  The Capitol itself has benefited from their labor. This very facility 
that we are in has benefited from their labor. The Washington Monument 
benefited from their labor. The White House benefited from their labor. 
Their labor has made a difference.
  I would have the country, the United States itself, follow the 
example of Georgetown University--follow the example. Let's have the 
truth and justice commission. We need it. The truth has to be told.
  Let's have the study for reparations. There ought to be some 
compensation for centuries of unpaid labor, labor without recompense, 
labor without compensation. There ought to be some atonement by the 
Government of the United States of America.
  Georgetown University is the exemplar. We should follow this example, 
and we should move expeditiously to correct, to the extent that it can 
be corrected, the injustice that was imposed upon human beings of 
African ancestry.
  I believe that we who have the opportunity to stand in the well of 
the House of Representatives, who can vote on questions of war and 
peace, who can vote to fund various projects around this country, ought 
to establish a department of reconciliation. We ought

[[Page H1686]]

to establish a department of reconciliation such that we will have a 
systemic and systematic methodology by which this problem, this 
egregious concern, can be addressed.
  It cannot be addressed in the term of any one President. It will take 
years, perhaps decades, to address the invidious discrimination that we 
have suffered in this country, but it can be done. We but have to have 
the will to do it.
  A department of reconciliation with a secretary of reconciliation, a 
department of reconciliation with a secretary and under secretaries and 
a budget that is indexed to the Department of Defense, such that it 
will always be funded because we will always fund the Department of 
Defense.
  If we do this, we can give this country and the world a sense of our 
wanting to atone for this 240 years of slavery that this country 
suffered, that people suffered, that people suffered and, in so doing, 
laid the foundation for America's greatness. They are the foundational 
mothers and fathers of this country.
  To Georgetown University, I thank you for what you have done, and I 
pray that this country will follow your example--follow the example. 
Let's have the necessary commissions so that we can get to the truth.
  Let's study the issue so that we can understand what recompense 
should consist of, and then let's make sure that this is all done by 
and through a department of reconciliation.
  I will close with this. Reconciliation cannot be limited to African 
Americans. Some things bear repeating: Reconciliation cannot be limited 
to African Americans. There are others who have suffered invidious 
discrimination, and they, too, have to have reasonable redress for the 
suffering.
  We have to address the Trail of Tears, how people were uprooted from 
their homes, forced to migrate across the country. Many died along the 
way. There has to be some recompense for the Trail of Tears.
  We have to consider what happened to others who were a part of this 
country when the persons from Europe arrived, how they were treated.
  All of this can be dealt with through a department of reconciliation.
  The persons who came here and constructed the railroads, the persons 
who were placed in these camps so as to, in theory, protect the country 
from persons during a time of war. These camps should never have been 
imposed upon people.
  We have to, at some point, give redress. This is what a department of 
reconciliation can do.
  This is a great country, but the greatness of America has not been 
achieved until America provides a means for us to have reasonable 
redress for the invidious discrimination that was imposed upon people 
who meant us no harm, did us no harm, suffered. In their suffering, 
America became the great country it is because they laid the foundation 
for America's greatness. They are the foundational mothers and fathers 
of this country.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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