[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 80 (Wednesday, May 8, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S3591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                 REMEMBERING DR. CECIL ``CHIP'' MURRAY

 Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate the life 
of the Reverend Doctor Cecil L. ``Chip'' Murray, who passed away on 
April 5 at the age of 94 after nearly five decades of commitment to his 
south Los Angeles community.
  Rev. Murray was born on September 26, 1929, in Lakeland, FL, and 
moved with his family to West Palm Beach at a young age. From seventh 
grade until the end of high school, he served as a junior pastor and 
led services and sermons, showing an early interest in the ministry. 
But his path to the pulpit wasn't always so clear: after high school, 
he enrolled in Florida A&M University, an HBCU, and majored in history, 
before serving in the Air Force.
  Rev. Murray would serve in uniform for a decade, training in fighter 
jets and working as a radar intercept officer in the Korean war, even 
earning the Soldier's Medal of Valor. After a life-threatening plane 
crash, Rev. Murray decided to pursue his doctorate in divinity from 
Claremont School of Theology in Southern California.
  His early career in the ministry began at Primm AME Church in Pomona, 
CA, delivering sermons to just a seven-member congregation, a crowd 
that would one day be dwarfed by the community he would build in south 
Los Angeles. After stops in Kansas City and Seattle, Rev. Murray 
eventually landed at the historic First AME Church in Los Angeles, 
where a congregation of a few hundred soon became a congregation of 
thousands.
  During his tenure at First AME, Rev. Murray would become host to 
leaders like President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush and 
officiant of funerals for stars like Ray Charles and Eazy-E.
  But to many, it was his leadership during crisis in Los Angeles that 
left the most memorable imprint on the city.
  Throughout his life, he had a profound understanding of racial 
tensions in America. He was the descendant of slaves, had been beaten 
as a child in the Jim Crow South, and would later be threatened by 
racists plotting to bomb his church. But for all the violence he 
experienced, at the height of racial tensions during the Rodney King 
riots of 1992, he preached peace. As fires engulfed the city, he served 
as a calming presence for the community, even raising $1.5 million to 
rebuild from the ashes in the aftermath of the riots.
  As countless Angelenos know, his service didn't end there. For 
decades, his church was at the center of the community: a lifeline 
providing food and clothing, affordable housing and home loans, 
economic and employment assistance, and even starting a private school 
and providing thousands of college scholarships to students.
  Looking back, whether in 1994 or 2024, one wonders what south Los 
Angeles would look like without the faith and leadership of Rev. Dr. 
Cecil ``Chip'' Murray. As we celebrate him alongside his son Drew and 
all the loved ones and community members graced by his life, we 
remember the difference he made for Los Angeles and the legacy he now 
leaves behind.

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