[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 185 (Thursday, December 12, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H7137-H7140]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLEMENCY FOR 1,500 AMERICANS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 9, 2023, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Green) for 30 minutes.
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, very proud to have
this opportunity to stand here and to address colleagues, persons who
are within the Chamber, as well as people who may be without who are
tuning in.
I am especially proud today, Mr. Speaker, because I have in my hand a
fact sheet. This fact sheet comes from the White House, and this fact
sheet is styled: ``President Biden Announces Clemency for Nearly 1,500
Americans.''
I am so pleased that the President has done this.
Mr. President, if you hear me or if someone informs you, I want them
to tell you that I support what you are doing. I have supported you as
President. I think you have made a tremendous difference in the lives
of a good many people in this country. I do believe history will be
kind to you. It will say to those who are not here at this time that
you made a difference within your lifetime. That means something to me.
I would like to read a few things from this fact sheet. Thereafter, I
will go into something that is related in a very tangential way, but I
would like to go into something more. First, I will read from the fact
sheet.
It reads: ``Today's announcement will commute the sentences of close
to 1,500 individuals who were placed on home confinement and will
pardon 39 individuals convicted of nonviolent crimes.
Today, President Biden announced that he is granting clemency to
nearly 1,500 Americans.''
Let me stop for just a moment. I will come back to this. 1,500 people
will now have the opportunity to, in a sense, begin life anew. They
will have a new promise that they can now address, and that promise is
you can have great opportunities in this country if you play by the
rules. This helps them to demonstrate to the world that they are
playing by the rules.
It reads, again: ``Today, President Biden announced that he is
granting clemency to nearly 1,500 Americans, the most ever in a single
day.'' I am sure that there are many Presidents who have desired to do
more. It is difficult to do all of the things that you want to do when
you have so many things to do.
This President has had many great things to accomplish. He did a
great job with the pandemic. He did a great job when it comes to the
infrastructure bill that eluded many others for years, perhaps even
decades. He did a great job in appointing people to positions: to the
United Nations, a female; to the Supreme Court, a female; a Vice
President who is a female, and he selected this person to run with him.
He has done things that will make those who look upon this time--when
they look through the vista of time back and see us at this time, they
will know that President Biden left great tracks in the sands of time
so that we can know that he came one way and then proceeded to do great
things in other ways.
He has done this, the most ever in a single day, to those who have
shown successful rehabilitation and a strong commitment to making their
communities safer.
The President is commuting the sentences of close to 1,500
individuals who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19
pandemic and who have successfully reintegrated into their families and
communities. He is also pardoning 39 individuals who were convicted of
nonviolent crimes. These actions represent the largest single-day grant
of clemencies in modern history.
Mr. President, I salute you, I commend you, and I honestly believe
that your desire is to do things that can benefit humankind. You have
demonstrated it in so many ways.
[[Page H7138]]
But, Mr. President, I have an additional request. I have called it to
your attention prior to this time, but I have this additional request.
I have made the request here on the floor of the House of
Representatives, and I make it again. I make this request because there
are some people who have not been given the special treatment that
others have received by virtue of the way they behaved.
These persons are persons who lived many years ago. They are persons
who suffered for some 246 years of enslavement. These are persons who
have not been treated fairly by our country, Mr. President. They have
not been treated fairly by this House of Representatives, Mr.
President. They have not been treated fairly by the United States
Senate, Mr. President.
I can say these things, Mr. President, because I am an unbought,
unbossed, unafraid, liberated Member of Congress. I want you to know
that these persons, the persons who were enslaved, commenced with us,
meaning the Colonies, in August of 1619 when the first 20 persons were
brought into slavery in the Colonies. They have not been treated
fairly, that first 20, nor have the many that followed, some more than
10 million. They have not been treated fairly. They have not been
respected.
I am asking for respect for the persons, these some 10 million
persons, whose lives were sacrificed--not willingly, I might add--whose
lives were sacrificed to make America the great country it is today.
{time} 1245
They were the economic foundational mothers and fathers of this
country. They planted the seeds and harvested the crops. They served in
the homes, they built roads and bridges, and they helped to construct
the White House. Their hands were involved in the construction of the
Capitol. They have not been respected for what they have done, Mr.
President. This House has not respected them.
By the way, when I say this House, that includes Republicans and
Democrats. There are people who seem to think that I am somehow myopic
and I only see what Republicans do and not do. There are Democrats who
have not respected them, as well.
One way that they could be respected would be to simply sign onto a
piece of legislation that would accord a Congressional Gold Medal to
these persons, a Congressional Gold Medal similar to what we did for
the Confederate soldiers in 1956, as well as soldiers who represented
the Union, similar to what we did for them. We could do this for them.
We can do this posthumously.
Mr. Speaker, this is not directed to you especially. I just want you
to understand the condition as I am speaking, Mr. President.
Posthumously it could be done, and this House could do it. Just
recently this House last week accorded some special treatment for the
victims of the Holocaust, those who were heroes of the Holocaust and
heroines of the Holocaust. They were accorded some special treatment. A
Congressional Gold Medal will be presented to them. We passed the
legislation to allow it to be done.
This is the right thing to do. We should do this for those who were
there to help the victims of the Holocaust. It is the righteous thing
to do. It is more than the right thing. It is the righteous thing to
do.
I salute those who had a hands-on experience with causing this to
happen. However, for 246 years, those who were enslaved have not
received a similar honor. Similar, not the same, because we are talking
about now persons who last week were the heroes who helped them. I am
talking about the people who were the victims now.
We have done things for the victims of the Holocaust that we have not
done for persons who were victims of slavery. These two circumstances
are not the same.
They are both great crimes against humanity. That is what makes them
similar. They are not the same. I don't say that the Holocaust is the
same as slavery, and I don't say that slavery is the same as the
Holocaust. They are two great crimes against humanity, but we have been
more generous with our treatment of those who were victims of the
Holocaust than we have been for those who were victims of enslavement
for some 246 years.
It is time for that to change. I don't see the House doing anything
to change it right away.
When I say the House, I am talking about Democrats and Republicans. I
don't see them doing anything right away.
However, Mr. President, there is something you can do right away. You
can accord those persons who suffered from the indignation and
humiliation associated with slavery with the harm, the pain, the
suffering, and the agonizing. You can do something for them.
This is not all that should be done, but if you do this, you will
show that their lives meant something to us, that it means something to
you, and here is what you can do. You have with the power of the pen
and the will to do it. Grant them the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
It has been done posthumously for many others. It could be done
posthumously for them. Let's show them that this country appreciates
their 246 years of sacrifice, that they didn't labor, forced into it I
might add, but that they didn't labor in vain, that somebody
appreciates the fact that they were the economic foundational mothers
and fathers of this country.
Somebody appreciates the fact that we stand on their labor. What they
did to lay the foundations for what we are today still benefits those
of us who are here today.
Mr. President, I would ask kindly and humbly and from the bottom and
depth of my heart and soul that you would give them the Presidential
Medal of Freedom. It would make a difference in terms of how they are
viewed.
Maybe if it is done, we can get people in Texas to cease with this
notion that the enslavement of some more than 10 million people was
somehow a benefit to them. There is no benefit to people to be
enslaved, but there are people in Texas who seem to think so.
If you would do this, it would help us to better understand that we
can now start to move forward to do the things that would show the
respect for them that we have shown for the victims of the Holocaust.
In Texas, for edification purposes, there may be some who don't know,
there are people who believe that the enslavement of these more than 10
million people was involuntary relocation.
Involuntary relocation is not what it was. It was kidnapping. It
wasn't involuntary relocation. It was placing people on ships and
treating them like cargo. Some of them were stripped and chained. It
wasn't involuntary relocation. It was forcing them against their will
to leave their families.
By the way, there were Africans who were involved in this trade, too.
I am leaving nobody out.
They were forced. They were taken away from their families by force.
Some of them were taken away by African people who then traded them
into slavery, and then they were traversed across the Atlantic. When
they arrived, they were not treated and welcomed with any degree of
dignity. Women were raped, and men were brutalized and lynched.
The Supreme Court in this country indicated that they had no rights
that a White man had to respect. They were disrespected by the Supreme
Court. They were disrespected by President Johnson when he decided he
would abandon the whole notion of some sort of recompense for them, and
they have been disrespected throughout history. To this day they have
been disrespected.
They were taken to various places and sold on the auction blocks.
Children were separated from mothers and fathers. Husbands were
separated from wives. They had no rights. You could do whatever you
wanted to them if you were the master. They have been disrespected.
Mr. President, I beseech you and I implore you to show them some
respect and grant them the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
I will still continue to bring to the attention of the Members of
this House the fact that they but only have to sign onto a document
that is necessary for the House to do what it can to grant them the
Congressional Gold Medal. I will continue to present it.
For those who would like to know who signed on, I have people ask me:
Why don't you announce who signed on and who hasn't?
[[Page H7139]]
I am not doing it, but the Record speaks for itself. For those who
would like to know, the Record speaks for itself. I am not trying to
make friends. I am trying to make sure that people are respected who
have earned the respect that they richly deserve. I want them to know
that there is at least one person who is going to fight for them. I
want them to know.
They are not here.
How can they possibly know?
Well, know in the sense that I believe that if I do this, that
somehow the times will change such that they will benefit. Even after
they have had their demise, they will still benefit from what we are
doing.
By the way, I am not alone. I said I am one person. I want to let you
know that there are others. We have 125 people who have signed on to
this request for the Congressional Gold Medal, 125 out of 435.
There are people who would prefer that the Al Greens of the world who
would bring these things to the forefront wait until they are ready to
see this happen. They have a timetable that they have set for it.
Sometimes in a timetable, it involves doing it maybe 20, 30, 40, 50
years from now. Let's just make sure we do it when the people who are
unbought, unbossed, and unafraid are not around so that they won't be
able to say: I was able to help get that done.
There is some notion that you don't have to do this until there is
some event that might occur in the life of the person who is presenting
it, and then you can do it afterwards. Well, I am not going to allow
that to cause me to believe that I should just wait and let things work
out and let it happen. I am not that kind of guy.
I want to see it happen in my lifetime. I want to see this happen
while I am still in this House of Representatives. If it can happen for
the persons who were victims of the Holocaust, meaning there are people
who can bring legislation and get it passed, then it ought to happen
for those persons who were enslaved. We ought to be able to bring
legislation that relates to them and get it passed, too.
For some reason, and I know what it is, we will do for the victims of
the Holocaust what we will not do for those who were victims of
enslavement in this country.
Now for the reason: It is easy to look through the window of life and
be critical because you are looking into someone else's life. In this
case, you are looking into another country when we are dealing with the
Holocaust. It is easy to do that, to look into the window of life and
be critical, to talk about what happened to our Jewish brothers and
sisters.
I am as critical as anybody in terms of what happened to them. It was
wrong. It should never have happened. I have stood and fought for them
to be properly respected. I have voted for the pieces of legislation
that relate to the Holocaust. I have gone to events. I have been to Yad
Vashem in Israel. I have been associated with the Holocaust Museum in
Houston, Texas. I believe it happened. I know it happened, and I know
that we will never be able to do enough to make sure that it never
happens again.
However, we do that by looking through the window of life.
When it comes to the enslavement of people in this country, then we
have to look into the mirror of life. The window of life is clear. It
is translucent. You can see into it clearly and through it into the
lives of others, but the mirror of life is blurred. We don't want to
see the reflection in the mirror of life because that reflection is us.
We are the people in the mirror of life, we have to now examine
ourselves.
We don't want to admit that slavery even occurred in this country. It
is easy to say that something happened in a horrific way someplace
else, but it is hard to acknowledge that it happened here in the United
States of America, the country that boasts liberty and justice for all,
the country that says bring your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free, come to these shores and enjoy that freedom.
It is not in those exact words. I am talking about the Statue of
Liberty and the words inscribed on that statute.
I am saying to you that we have to now look into the mirror of life.
We have to acknowledge that these things happened.
We can acknowledge that if we can look into that same mirror of life
and grant the Confederate soldiers who were the enslavers, if we can
grant them a Congressional Gold Medal, then surely we can do the same
for the enslaved.
It is difficult. It is difficult.
By the way, again, I am not talking just about Republicans. I am
talking about Democrats and Republicans who refuse to see into the
mirror of life the necessity to do for the victims of 246 years of
slavery, to see the necessity to do for them what we have done for
victims of the Holocaust, maybe not the same thing but similar things.
Similar things.
My hope is, Mr. President, that you can help us change this by simply
signing the necessary documentation to grant them the Presidential
Medal of Freedom.
I just hope that there is somebody who will take what I have said
today to the President. I have already delivered the message prior to
this, but I don't think you can deliver a message too many times when
it is something that is of necessity, and this is of necessity.
It is of necessity that the people in this country respect those who
were enslaved. We have not done it.
I would add: Respect them to the same extent, maybe in different
ways, but similar ways as we respect the victims of the Holocaust.
{time} 1300
It is time for the United States of America, all within, to examine
the mirror of life and critique ourselves for what we have done for 246
years. That was 246 years of enslavement, but it was followed by other
things, such as Black codes followed by convict leasing; followed by
lawful, legal segregation, which was another form of racism; followed
by invidious discrimination.
All of these things have taken place, and what happened on August 20,
1619, when the first 20 persons were brought here and placed into
enslavement, still has an impact on what is happening now because there
has been no recompense. There has been no justice for these millions of
people who have made America the country it is.
I say ``made.'' Someone will say, well, they didn't do it by
themselves. Let me just revise that and say, helped to make America the
great country that it is, but there is no question that millions
suffered. There is no question that the suffering lasted for more than
246 years. There is no question that we have disrespected them for what
they have done. I say ``for what they have done'' because there are
many people who see them as the culprits.
They see the enslaved people as the perpetrators. I don't understand
that mentality, but it exists, so they blame them for what they have
done for being enslaved. The only thing a good many of them did was
resist. Nobody wanted to be enslaved, but people will tend to blame the
victims.
For too long, we who have had the opportunity to do something about
it have been victims in the sense that we have bought into the notion
that this is not something that needs to be addressed now; this can be
addressed later on. For 246 years, it wasn't addressed while they were
enslaved, and it hasn't been addressed since that time.
In a sense, the people who are doing nothing about it have been
victims of a society that disrespects the victims of slavery. I am
sorry I have to be the bearer of truth, but somebody has to do what I
am doing currently. I regret having to say these things to people, but
people need to know from somebody that this is wrong. We ought to have
the courage to do something about it, as opposed to wanting to do
something about the messenger.
Rather than deal with the message, they would rather deal with the
messenger. Deal with the message. The messenger didn't create the
circumstance that requires the message to be brought to your attention.
Deal with the message. Look into the mirror of life.
Don't be a perfect victim yourself and be silent on something as
salient as this issue. This is one of the great issues of our time, and
it will be one of the great issues of our time until it has been
confronted.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand here. I am still proud to say that I
am
[[Page H7140]]
a citizen of the United States of America. I am proud to say that I
salute the flag. I say the Pledge of Allegiance. I sing the national
anthem. I stand for the national anthem. I stand to salute the flag. I
place my hand over my heart when I salute the flag.
I am not one of those people who hates this country. I love the
country. That is why I do what I do to make it a better country. I am
trying to live up to the more perfect Union that we all believe this
country can become.
Mr. Speaker, I want you to know that, as a person who is proud to be
a citizen of the United States of America, notwithstanding all the
things that have happened here and the things that it has done to me
personally when I was a son of the segregated South, and I had to go to
the back door and sit in the back of the bus, stand in the back of the
line, get locked up in the bottom of the jail were I arrested, sit in
the balcony of the movie, I want you to know that I still believe the
words we have seen and read in the Constitution, the Jeffersonian
Declaration of Independence, and the Madisonian Constitution. I think
these words can make a difference, and I am going to fight to use these
words to make a difference.
I believe, Mr. President, that you can do this. Please grant the
enslaved the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks
to the Chair.
____________________