[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2022-2032]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kerns). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2001, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones of 
Ohio) is recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, once again on behalf of the 
Congressional Black Caucus we rise to celebrate Black History Month. As 
we said yesterday, this is a continuation of presentations from 
yesterday. Black History Month is an excellent time for reflection, 
assessment, and planning. A full understanding of our history is a 
necessary and crucial part of comprehending our present circumstances 
and crafting our future.
  I want to recognize, if she chooses to be recognized once again, the 
Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, the gentlewoman from the great 
State of Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson.)
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, to my colleague, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones), let me thank you for leading this 
celebration series of speeches today. It is important that we at least 
once a year give notice to the history of the African Americans in this 
country.
  We especially think it is important this year, because we just had a 
very, very emotional, difficult experience with the past election, and 
the reason why we are so concerned about that is because we have had 
several turbulent periods in our history on our voting rights.
  As you know, we got them very early; then Reconstruction, we lost a 
number of people. We have fought and died for our voting rights, and, 
as I indicated before, as Santayana once said: ``Those who fail to 
learn from history are doomed to repeat it.'' We do not want to repeat 
the history we have had in this country, trying to gain equal respect 
and equal opportunity for casting votes as citizens in the United 
States.
  So it is indeed important that we bring attention to this issue and 
plead and pray for a solution. I thank the gentlewoman very much.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I thank the gentlewoman.
  Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure at this time to yield to my 
colleague, the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio for 
yielding to me, and particularly do I thank her for her initiative and 
leadership in organizing this Black Caucus commemorative on and during 
Black History Month.
  I want to congratulate the good gentlewoman from Ohio for the way in 
which she has hit the ground running. No grass grows under her feet. 
Her predecessor, the esteemed gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Stokes, left. We 
did not know whose feet would be big enough to fill his shoes. I am 
looking at her feet right now. They may not be big enough, but they 
certainly are filling them. They are not big enough because she is a 
lady, and that is not how a lady's feet operate. But this is only one 
indication of how the gentlewoman from Ohio operates.
  Mr. Speaker, it is an important occasion this year, because each year 
we, of course, come forward, we who are African Americans, and others, 
to commemorate Black History Month. It may be that we were in danger of 
having Black History Month become like George Washington's birthday. 
You do it every year, you know you are doing it because something great 
and important is being commemorated.
  But I must say, this year, all of us I believe have looked at Black 
History Month as a giant wake-up call for what it truly can mean and 
must mean in these times. This is no commemoration for African 
Americans or for America; this is a time for reflection and for action.
  I could go down a list of reasons why the country does not need to be 
in repose on its oldest issue, born as a matter of original sin, race 
and racism in our country. That ought to be clear, although I fear it 
is not. Rather, in the limited time I necessarily have, I would like to 
focus on three reasons why a wake-up call comes this Black History 
Month: one has to do with how long it has taken us to honor the Father 
of Black History; second has to do with Florida and its aftermath; 
third has to do with the most pressing voting rights challenge in our 
time.
  Dr. Carter G. Woodson, only the second black to get a Ph.D. from 
Harvard, a self-educated man until he went to the University of Chicago 
and got his masters, started the Association for the Study of Negro 
Life and History.
  This man, this brilliant and great American historian, almost single-
handedly uncovered suppressed African American history and started the 
process of challenging racist stereotypes throughout American 
historiography. Yet his house on 9th Street, the house where the 
association that he started and where he lived, has been boarded up for 
decades.
  I come to the House today to thank the House for passing my bill 
during Black History Month last year, finally passed by the Senate, 
which allows the Park Service to do a feasibility study, now under way, 
to determine whether or not Dr. Carter G. Woodson's house will become a 
national historic site.
  Carter G. Woodson started Negro History Week, which I always 
celebrated as a child in the segregated schools of the District of 
Columbia. It has evolved into Black History Month, now commemorated 
through the history and the world. It is time that we focused in on the 
man who began it all, began the process of correcting the history that 
we celebrate this month, the history, through its correction, that led 
finally to the historic civil rights acts themselves.
  Second, the wake-up call comes in no small part because of Florida 
and its aftermath. We, especially those of us who come out of the civil 
rights movement, thought that, at least with respect to the great civil 
rights bills, our

[[Page 2023]]

work could be said to be, if not done, well on its way. We certainly 
did not think there were major voting rights problems remaining in this 
country. We knew there were pockets; we knew of problems.
  What we now know is that nationwide there have been systematic 
violations of people's voting rights forever in this country, and if 
there had not been a close election, we never would have known it. The 
results in Florida were beneath the standards of American democracy. 
The great shame is the court to which we move to the side on political 
matters decided an election for the first time in American history. 
That alone must never happen again.
  Florida shows us that what African Americans struggled for in the 
1965 Voting Rights Act is no longer simply a black problem. There were 
many more people than blacks who were disenfranchised in Florida. We 
cannot go back to Florida, but what we can do is not make this year go 
by without putting in motion the apparatus and the funds to correct the 
voting rights mechanisms or the election mechanisms in the United 
States of America. We do need a commission, we do need to study some of 
the long-range effects, but we need to begin the process of correction 
before the next election is held.
  Finally, let me address what I said was the third great wake-up call, 
and that is the most pressing voting rights challenge in America today. 
That, of course, is the absence of congressional voting rights for 
almost 600,000 American citizens who live in the District of Columbia 
who have no voting representation on the floor of the House or the 
floor of the Senate, but on April 15th are expected to pay their 
Federal income taxes like everybody else.
  This is a situation that cannot go on much longer, as we hold our 
heads high as we preach democracy around the world. Residents of the 
District of Columbia are not going to let it go on much longer. It has 
gotten to the point of civil disobedience. I myself testified at a 
trial yesterday regarding some civil disobedience that occurred here 
during the last appropriations period.
  D.C. residents have been very patient. They do not seek to correct 
this by civil disobedience, the way we did in the civil rights 
movement. They seek to use the processes of this House in order to get 
the voting rights to which they are entitled as American citizens who 
pay their Federal income taxes every year.
  So, for those for whom this month of commemoration has become just 
that, a commemoration, let me leave you with a notion that the way to 
commemorate this month is to think of what is still outstanding on the 
American agenda that most affects African Americans.

                              {time}  1545

  I believe that a small but important matter is making sure that 
Carter G. Woodson's home becomes a National Historic Site, and I 
believe that is under way. I come this afternoon to thank the House for 
what the House has done and what the Senate has done to make that 
possible.
  There is Florida and its aftermath, which I think is only beginning. 
We will know if we have gotten anywhere by whether or not this year's 
budget and specific legislation has moved this issue forward this year, 
not this session but this year.
  Finally, on that agenda must be the outstanding issue of taxpaying 
residents being left without voting rights in the Congress of the 
United States, and those taxpaying residents do not live in some far-
off corner of our country. Those taxpaying residents live right under 
the nose of the Congress.
  In their name, in this month of black history, particularly since the 
majority of them are African-Americans, I ask that the Congress move 
forward to grant voting rights in the Congress of the United States to 
the residents of the District of Columbia.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the 
District of Columbia.
  For the record, I support voting rights for the District of Columbia, 
as many of us do, and we are going to continue to work this year in 
this Congress to see that each of the residents of the District of 
Columbia have a vote and a voice.
  Mr. Speaker, let me just read a quote from the last black to leave 
Congress back in 1901, George Henry White, from North Carolina. He 
stood up on this very floor and declared, ``You have excluded us. You 
have taken away the right to vote, and so I am the last one to leave. 
This, Mr. Chairman, is perhaps the Negro's temporary farewell to the 
American Congress. But let me say, phoenix-like, he will rise up some 
day and come again. These parting words are on behalf of an outraged, 
heartbroken, bruised and bleeding but God-fearing people, a faithful, 
industrious, loyal people, rising people, full of potential force.''
  With that quote, I yield to my colleague, the gentleman from the 
great State of Illinois (Mr. Rush). Just like the phoenix rising, he 
represents one of 37 African-American Members of the Congressional 
Black Caucus.
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I certainly want to commend the gentlewoman from Ohio 
for her leadership and her outstanding work on behalf of the entire 
Congressional Black Caucus, and also on behalf of American citizens who 
are minorities, who are dark-skinned citizens, all across this Nation, 
as she led the charge on this day and on yesterday to bring before the 
Congress of the United States the celebration of Black History Month.
  Mr. Speaker, for as long as I can remember, Black History Month was a 
time of joyous celebration as the Nation took note of the 
accomplishments and achievements of black Americans throughout the 
history of this Nation, acknowledging their contributions, not only to 
the upliftment of this Nation, the progress of this Nation, but indeed, 
to acknowledge their accomplishments and achievements on behalf of 
nations throughout the world.
  Indeed, the world is a better place because of the contributions of 
black Americans, and we honor and celebrate them during the month of 
February.
  However, Mr. Speaker, this month of February is a month that the 
celebration is somewhat hollow. We are celebrating with less enthusiasm 
than we have celebrated past Black History Months. The reason for this 
is singularly the fact that just a few months ago there was an election 
for President of the United States, and, Mr. Speaker, that election, in 
the opinions of a significant number of American citizens, and I would 
say, indeed, the majority of black American citizens, that election was 
stolen from the rightful winner.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I am here today to talk about a stolen Presidential 
election and the disenfranchisement of African-American voters during 
this last election.
  As we speak on the floor today, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 
on which I serve, is holding a hearing on the television network's 
coverage of last November's Presidential election. That is a hearing 
that I also have mixed feelings about because, whereas I understand and 
appreciate and am also concerned about the fact that the coverage, the 
network coverage of last November's election, left a lot to be desired, 
I feel as though that hearing is just tinkering along the edges. It is 
not really getting to the essence of the issue.
  I and the voters of the First Congressional District, along with 
millions of American voters across the Nation, heard the results of 
Florida's Presidential balloting announced, then revised, then 
reversed, then rescinded by the networks.
  The impact of those faulty projections and the havoc which they 
wreaked is still being felt today, not only by the individual who was 
defeated, Vice President Gore, but also by tens of thousands of 
American voters who believed then and believe now that their votes in 
Florida and in many States, like my State, the State of Illinois, were 
not counted.
  Mr. Speaker, we have spent many, many years, and I have spent most of 
my adult life, fighting to ensure that African-Americans have the right 
to

[[Page 2024]]

vote and that their vote be counted. I spent most of my political 
career fighting a dastard machine in the city of Chicago that moved 
with adroitness and skill on every election to suppress the African-
American vote within the city of Chicago, within the State of Illinois.
  Mr. Speaker, on election night in Chicago, and also in Cook County, I 
want to bring it to the attention of the American people that 
antiquated voting machines in Chicago and Cook County resulted in 
thousands of African-American voters' ballots being disqualified. Yet, 
in the rich suburban, Republican collar counties surrounding Cook 
County, where the population is not primarily minority, there were 
state-of-the-art voting machines in place which allowed for the smooth 
disposition of defective ballots, and for citizens to be recorded 
accurately right then and there.
  Can Members believe it, in my State, in the State of Illinois, in 
Cook County, where a majority of minority citizens are, we had old, 
antiquated machines, that if in fact a ballot was put or entered into 
that machine, it was kicked out and that person lost their vote? But 
just a few miles away, in the Republican part of the State of Illinois, 
in the collar counties surrounding Cook County, they had up-to-date 
machines where once the card was entered in that machine, if in fact 
there was a mistake by the voter, it was immediately rejected and the 
voter right then and there, at the same time, could correct their 
mistake and enter that card once again into that machine and their vote 
would be counted.
  So 125,000 African-American and minority voters in the County of Cook 
were denied their right to vote as a result of this duality of this 
double standard, of these two different machines, one antiquated, being 
utilized inside Cook County, and one up-to-date state of the art, being 
utilized outside of Cook County.
  More than 200 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African-
American voters are still today being denied their rights, particularly 
their right to vote. It is incumbent upon us as Members of Congress to 
safeguard the rights of African-Americans and all voters, no matter 
what their race, color, or creed. There are lingering questions, many 
lingering questions, about this last Presidential election that need to 
be answered.
  Mr. Speaker, I call upon Members of this Congress, Members of the 
107th Congress, I call upon the leadership of this Congress, to get to 
the bottom of why, why did African-Americans and other minorities, why 
were they denied their right to vote? Why were their votes not counted? 
Why was there intimidation and harassment, and indeed, in some 
instances, faulty arrests of African-Americans on their way to the 
polls?
  Why, Mr. Speaker, in the County of Cook, were there two different 
types of machines, one with faulty equipment, antiquated equipment, and 
the other one state-of-the-art equipment? Why were those two different 
types of machines used in the State of Illinois in a Presidential 
election?
  The American people deserve the right to know that, to know the 
answer to those questions. African-Americans deserve the right to know 
the answer to those questions. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, we all deserve the 
right to know the answer to those questions.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois 
very much, and I yield to my colleague, the gentleman from the great 
State of Maryland (Mr. Wynn).
  Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me. 
Moreover, I thank the gentlewoman for her outstanding leadership in 
this special order commemorating Black History Month. She has done a 
marvelous job over these two days, and we certainly appreciate her 
efforts.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. If the gentleman will allow me to interrupt the 
gentleman, due to the large amount of people we have coming, I am going 
to ask my colleagues to try to restrict their comments to 3 to 5 
minutes, please, and I thank the gentleman very much.
  Mr. WYNN. Yes, I will be happy to do that. But as I say, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio has done a magnificent job, and we all appreciate 
it.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise on the occasion of Black History Month to speak 
about electoral reform. There was a saying that those who do not learn 
the lessons of history are destined to repeat them. I want to comment 
for a few moments about a relatively ugly episode in American history, 
the disenfranchisement of African-Americans.
  Return first to the era known as Jim Crow, an era in which African-
Americans were legally and systematically denied the right to vote. 
They were, in essence, denied democracy. They were denied full 
citizenship. They were denied the very things that make us proud to be 
Americans.
  Techniques such as poll taxes, literacy tests, requiring African-
Americans to recite the Constitution, physical harassment, the denial 
of jobs for those people who chose or decided they wanted to vote, all 
of these were mechanisms that were used to systematically 
disenfranchise African-Americans during this period of our history 
known as Jim Crow.
  In the sixties, and as a result of the civil rights movement, we saw 
a major mobilization as people of good will of all colors, races, and 
creeds came together to mobilize against this disenfranchisement and 
begin the movement known as the voting rights effort.
  Unfortunately, in 1964, three such individuals, Michael Schwerner, 
James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman were killed while working in 
Mississippi to protect that fundamental aspect of American democracy, 
the right to vote.
  But even more recently, a decade ago in New Jersey, under the thinly-
veiled notion of ballot security, a program was instituted to actively 
discourage African-Americans from voting with physical intimidation and 
the presence of off-duty law enforcement officers designed to 
discourage people from voting.
  This brings us to the present day and what I would like to call ``the 
fiasco in Florida.'' Now, there are a lot of people who say to the 
African-American community, ``You need to get over it. The election is 
over.'' Let me emphasize that this is not about the Gore campaign. This 
is not about who won that election, although that is certainly 
important.
  What this is about for the African-American community is that the 
incidents we saw occurring in Florida recalled the incidents of the Jim 
Crow era; recalled the incidents surrounding the deaths of Schwerner, 
Chaney, and Goodman; recalled the so-called ballot security programs. 
So this is not just a matter of who won or who lost, this is a matter 
of a threat to what we believe are our fundamental rights.
  What did we see in Florida? The use of identification requirements to 
discourage voters, requests for photo identification, which is not 
required in the law. Suddenly police checkpoints sprung up in African-
American communities, discouraging people who might be on their way to 
vote and then to work.
  We found voters turned away, being told they were not in fact 
registered when in fact they were. College students, eager, 
enthusiastic about voting for the first time, were turned away. There 
were allegations that the motor-voter program did not effectively 
register people. People who in fact had their voter registration card 
in hand were turned away by election officials.

                              {time}  1600

  Of course, as you heard from the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush), 
my colleague, faulty detective voting machines were disproportionately 
located in African American communities. All of these incidents bring 
to mind a very, very ugly episode in our history, and we are determined 
not to relive the mistakes of the past. We are determined to, in fact, 
learn the lessons of history.
  To that end, I would say we need to do three things. First, we need 
to have a full Justice Department investigation of voting rights 
violations in Florida. That would give the administration an 
opportunity to truly prove that they want to extend the knowledge base 
and ensure that everyone has fair access to the voting process.

[[Page 2025]]

  Second, we need legislation, legislation that would provide money to 
States so that they can buy modern voting machines and we can have 
uniform voting technology.
  We also need to protect disputed ballots so people who believe they 
are registered could vote on a temporary basis and have that vote 
preserved until the legitimacy of their voting status could be 
determined.
  Let me take a brief moment to mention another item that ought to be 
corrected by this Congress. Individuals who are convicted of crimes, 
served their sentence and served their parole, ought to have their 
voting rights restored. They have paid their debt to society.
  Our prison system has said they have been rehabilitated, they ought 
not be denied that fundamental rights to vote.
  Mr. Speaker, when I began I said that those who do not learn the 
lessons of history are destined to repeat them. I think the final 
lesson we need to learn on the occasion of Black History Month is that 
continued vigilance is necessary to protect our right to vote. We 
cannot take it for granted.
  We need to register more voters. We need to educate voters as to 
their rights, and we need to protect the voters who come out and want 
to vote. We need to protect voting rights. I believe we have learned 
the lessons of history.
  We have been reminded by virtue of what happened in Florida, and I 
hope as we reflect on the meaning and the history of African American 
History Month, that we will take to heart these ideas and ensure that 
never again in America will our citizens of any color be denied the 
right to vote.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Wynn) for his comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of 
Illinois (Mr. Davis).
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to also thank the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Davis), because it was through his work that we were able to 
secure the hours to be able to have this Black History Month special 
order.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman 
from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) for her outstanding work and for yielding to me.
  I rise, joining my colleagues, on this day during Black History Month 
to discuss two critical issues that impact every American citizen, 
voting rights and the need for reform.
  Mr. Speaker, it is one of the great historic truisms that our right 
to vote, the ultimate expression of the empowerment of the people and 
the bedrock of our democracy, is also perhaps the most hard-won right 
accruing to Americans.
  The battle to extend the right to vote to every citizen, especially 
women and African Americans, has shaped much of our Nation's history, 
and along with the battle to protect the vote has, and continues to, 
shape and reshape our notions of democracy.
  Events in Florida this past November remind us that this is no mere 
intellectual exercise. Unfortunately, events in Florida during the 
election reflect the fact that we leave the 20th century facing an 
assault with great parallels to the events which ushered in the 
century.
  After the Civil War, our Nation witnessed great movement towards 
democracy. Swept along by a powerful movement for African American 
equality, Congress passed the 14th and 15th amendments to the 
Constitution.
  The movement for equality rapidly grew into a movement to claim a 
fair share of political representation. Some two dozen African 
Americans were elected to the Congress, and some 700 African Americans 
to State legislatures in the South.
  The response was a wave of terrorism and oppression followed by a 
storm of political and legal repression.
  One of the most horrific and shameful symbols of that wave of terror 
came in the summer of 1908, when in the town of Springfield, Illinois, 
my home State, home to President Abraham Lincoln, America learned of a 
race riot of mass terror against African Americans which lasted for 
days and which killed and wounded scores of African Americans and which 
drove thousands from the city.
  Those riots led directly to the founding of the NAACP by W.E.B. 
DuBois and other brave and far-sighted individuals and to the unfolding 
of a century of struggle for political and voting rights.
  The landmark cases, Smith versus Allwright giving African Americans 
the right to vote in primary elections in Texas, Thornburgh versus 
Gingles ruling that redistricting to dilute the voting strength of 
minorities is illegal, Chisom versus Roemer ruling that the Voting 
Rights Act applies to the election of Judges, were driven by the 
unrelenting determination of mass struggles and marches, boycotts, sit-
ins and voter registration drives, and by the great political victories 
including, in the first place, the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  Second only to the 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th and 24th amendments to the 
Constitution, no tool has been more powerful in breaking the bonds 
which denied political representation to African Americans and other 
minorities, and especially even to women.
  The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the ACLU and a host of peoples' 
organizations wielded this tool with great effectiveness.
  As a result, our democracy was expanded and enriched, our political 
institutions regained credibility, our government's effectiveness was 
redoubled.
  However, those that thought full equality would come on its own had 
not fully appreciated the words of Frederick Douglass, when he said 
that power concedes nothing without struggle.
  The 20th Century ended with the beating of Rodney King, the dragging 
death of James Byrd, the assassination of Ricky Byrdsong, and the 20th 
Century ended with renewed Supreme Court attacks on affirmative action 
and voting rights. With cases such as City of Mobile versus Bolden and 
Shaw versus Reno, the Supreme Court reflecting the political events of 
the last quarter of the century, began to dismantle generations of 
hard-won gains in the battle for equality and justice.
  Gone were the days of overt racism. In its place was a new paradigm, 
one which shed crocodile tears for fairness and democracy, all the 
while ruthlessly ripping at African American voting rights.
  It was not long ago that America responded to the demands of 
protests, wrapped her strong arms around the impervious suffrage 
movement led by African American leaders and other leaders and relieved 
trepidation of an abused who longed to take an active role in shaping 
our democracy.
  On August 6, 1965, our Nation matured and took a giant leap forward 
towards equality. On that day, America witnessed the passage of the 
Voting Rights Act of 1965. This historic act enforced the right that no 
voting qualification or prerequisites to voting or standard practice or 
procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political 
subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United 
States to vote on account of race or color.
  This landmark event, among other historical moments in American 
history, unified our country and together we began building a bond of 
comradeship and brotherhood. By voting, thousands of citizens began to 
speak a common language, democracy.
  Ironically, this great achievement has been overshadowed by recent 
developments. According to the NAACP, despite a record level voter 
turnout among African Americans during the November 7 general election, 
black voters were confronted with a multitude of nonuniform election 
practices which impeded their ability to vote.
  So when a private company, ChoicePoint, gave Florida officials a list 
with the names of 8,000 ex-felons to scrub from their voting lists, and 
it turned out that none on the list were felons, that is a new and 
deadly threat to democracy.
  It makes no difference that the source of the list was the State of 
Texas. It makes no difference that Florida officials made an attempt to

[[Page 2026]]

restore some of those purged. It makes no difference that the company 
dismissed the error as a minor glitch, less than \1/10\ of 1 percent of 
the electorate.
  The fact is that 8,000 votes is some 15 times the margin of victory 
in Florida, a margin which determined the Presidency of the United 
States. The fact is that in Hillsborough County, Florida, the number of 
African Americans on the list of felons was 54 percent while African 
Americans make up only 11.6 percent of Hillsborough's voting 
population.
  The fact is that ChoicePoint is only a small part of a system which 
denies African Americans the right to vote and to have their vote 
counted in Florida, a system which includes, according to suit filed by 
the NAACP, arbitrary and racially disparate adverse impact on the 
electoral systems, racial disparity in election administration, 
wrongful purging of eligibility voters, failure to timely and correctly 
process voter registrations, improper procedures for change of 
residence and unequal access to the inactive list.
  And so you see, Mr. Speaker, what happened in Florida is a mirror of 
what is happening all over America. Now is the time for America to say, 
not only will we renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but we will be 
serious in our efforts to make sure that each and every American, no 
matter where they live, no matter what their race, creed, ethnic 
origin, background, income status, they will have the right to 
participate effectively in the making of decisions in this great 
democracy, anything less than that makes a mockery of our understanding 
of what democracy really is.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Davis) for his comments.
  Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to yield to the gentlewoman 
from the State of North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton).
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman (Mrs. Jones) for 
yielding to me, and I thank her for the leadership and making time 
available so that members of the Congressional Black Caucus can have 
this opportunity to speak today.
  Mr. Speaker, it is important, and it is also very appropriate during 
Black History Month, for us to reflect upon and recall the struggles 
this Nation has experienced in our continuing quest to ensure that all 
our citizens are able to freely exercise their fundamental act of 
citizenship, voting.
  In 1776, our Nation's founders made a remarkable beginning of a 
struggle to establish a more perfect union, a union which the 
government derived its power from the consent of the government. Our 
founders correctly, albeit, with some elitism, established voting as a 
foundation of our democratic republic. Voting was a process by which 
the will of the people would be expressed.
  At first, the only people that mattered, those who enjoyed the 
privilege of voting, were white men who owned property. Through 
painful, sometimes bloody, often deadly struggles and sacrifices of 
many American heroes, the shackles of racial and gender discrimination 
have been shaken off. It is fitting that we take time to pause and to 
recall and to honor those great Americans and their contributions to 
our Nation, a Nation that shines like a beacon to other people around 
the world who also yearn to be free.
  Mr. Speaker, after the Civil War, the signing of the Emancipation 
Proclamation and passage of series of amendments to the United States 
Constitution, the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, African Americans, 
former slaves and sons of former slaves no longer were excluded from 
the great American experiment of self government. As a result, black 
men were elected to public office, especially in the South, in large 
numbers.
  Women continued to be excluded from voting until the passage years 
later of the 19th amendment. In South Carolina, the State legislature 
had a black majority; in North Carolina, at least four Afro-Americans 
served in Congress before the turn of the century, including Mr. John 
Hyman, Mr. James O'Hara, Henry Cheatham and George H. White.
  Then, the forces of hate, nullification and bigotry surged and our 
Nation entered the awful period called Jim Crowism, a period in which 
some whites, with the tacit or overt support of others, exerted power 
through a combination of terrorism, economic oppression and legalized 
separation of the races.
  The terrorism included bombings of homes and churches, jailing of 
black men for minor, often presumed violence violations of law, 
beatings and lynchings. For years, African Americans were beaten and 
jailed for trying to register and to vote.

                              {time}  1615

  Foreign visitors commented about the strange fruit seen in the trees 
in many southern communities, the barriers imposed to black voter 
participation were widespread and severe. The barriers also included 
poll taxes and literacy tests, often given by white people who, 
themselves, could not read.
  The struggle to overcome this horrible chapter of American history 
brought us to the modern civil rights effort of Thurgood Marshall, the 
architect of the litigation strategies of the NAACP; and Dr. Martin 
Luther King, who directed SCLC which, along with young John Lewis, now 
a Member of Congress; and many other individuals in the organization 
led protests and demonstrations to end racial discrimination that 
excluded African Americans from getting service at hotels and 
restaurants, from attending public schools with white children, from 
living in certain neighborhoods, from being considered for employment 
and college admissions, and most fundamentally, from registering to 
vote.
  In 1957, Congress passed a Civil Rights Act that made it a Federal 
crime to interfere with a citizen's right to vote, and created the 
Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of the law.
  White politicians and white supremist groups intensified their 
resolve to prevent blacks from voting. Black applicants seeking to 
register to vote were made to wait for hours, voter registration places 
were open for very limited times and often suddenly closed when blacks 
tried to register, and their applications were lost or discarded.
  Before the Voting Rights Act was passed 35 years ago, there were five 
African Americans in Congress. Today, there are 40. The important role 
of Federal enforcement of voting rights is clear. The recent voting 
irregularities in Florida and other States serve as a painful reminder 
of the need for a Federal presence and effective enforcement remedies 
as a safeguard against unfair, discriminatory State action.
  We cannot go back, Mr. Speaker, to the period of disenfranchisement 
of segments of our population. This Nation paid a dear price for that, 
in broken lives and deferred dreams of generations of African 
Americans. We paid in the form of loss of national credibility and 
moral standing in the eyes of the world. We paid in the form of lost 
opportunities to achieve our national quest for a more perfect union, 
one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
  We must learn from the lessons of history and take seriously the 
challenges presented by the recent Florida elections disaster. We must 
move forward to heal the Nation and to fix the problems in our voting 
procedures and machinery.
  Congressman George White from North Carolina spoke from the floor in 
1900. He knew he could not be reelected because of unfair voting 
practices taking place all across the country, including North 
Carolina. He was the last African-American Member of Congress during 
the Reconstruction era. Like a voice from the wilderness, he called on 
the Congress to pass legislation that would prohibit lynching. Congress 
refused to act. Congressman White told his colleagues that he was 
leaving the Congress but that African Americans, like a phoenix, would 
rise again and return to the Halls of Congress. Years passed before Mr. 
Oscar DePriest, from Illinois, was elected in 1928. Nearly a century 
passed before the gentleman

[[Page 2027]]

from North Carolina (Mr. Watt) and I, in 1992, were elected to succeed 
George White from North Carolina.
  Mr. Speaker, I know there are those who cannot appreciate the depth 
and pain of the deprivation suffered by many of our citizens for so 
many years, they must recognize the contradiction between our ideals, 
that all of our citizens' votes count in a democracy, and our tarnished 
history, years of unjust, legalized exclusion from voting of certain 
segments of our population.
  We must work together, both Democrats and Republicans, black and 
white, Hispanic, Asian and Native Americans, to protect and promote 
voting and to ensure that all votes are indeed counted. Our government 
must be elected by the people for the people.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Clay).
  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, in keeping with the spirit of the many great 
men and women we honor each year during black history month, I rise 
today to join my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus in 
calling for meaningful election reform that will ensure the voting 
rights of all Americans.
  I want to commend the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) for her 
leadership on this matter and for scheduling this special order at this 
time.
  We as Americans cannot afford to allow a repeat of what transpired 
during the last Presidential election. Although our Constitution 
guarantees every citizen the right to vote, what we witnessed last 
November was an electoral system so flawed and outdated that it caused 
the disenfranchisement of thousands, if not millions of eligible voters 
across our country.
  The essence of our constitutional freedom itself is founded on the 
inalienable right of every eligible American citizen to cast his or her 
vote without obstruction or intimidation.
  When this right is denied, whether by design or simple neglect, 
democracy itself suffers. Like Florida, in my own district in St. 
Louis, Missouri, thousands of citizens were turned away from the polls 
and denied their right to vote. The result of a failing system that was 
ill prepared to deal with the large voter turnout.
  Such a situation cannot and must not be tolerated. That is why it is 
incumbent on those of us in Congress to work together to ensure that 
every eligible citizen in our country be afforded the unobstructed 
right to vote. And just as important, every vote cast also must be 
counted.
  To do this, we must modernize our Nation's failing electoral system 
by creating one that is accurate, efficient, and tamper proof. To do 
any less, we risk forfeiting the rights and protections guaranteed to 
all Americans by law.
  We must not allow partisan differences to prevent us from resolving 
the critical problem, and the public demands that we do not. Because if 
the people do not have confidence in the electoral process, how can we 
expect them to have faith in our government?
  I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) very much for this 
opportunity to participate in the special order.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the 
great State of Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, if I might welcome the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnum), it is a delight.
  I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio for her kindness, and I am 
gratified that we have been allowed this time in our Nation's history 
to be able to recount the many contributions of Americans.
  And I stand before you today to emphasize the word ``Americans'' in 
America, for I might think that there may be those who may be listening 
who may have some consternation or some difficulty with Members of the 
United States Congress rising to the floor, to be able to emphasize 
both our difference and our commonality. The common core that joins us 
together is that we are Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, I salute in this month the many heroes and leaders and 
activists and spokespersons and quiet people who, in their own way, 
have offered to contribute to the fundamental right of the right to 
vote. February happens to be the month we commemorate the contributions 
of African Americans to this great Nation, but it also gives us a time 
in 2001 to be able to reflect upon a journey that none of us thought 
that we would travel and that is a time that sunshine shown very 
brightly on a Democratic system frankly that is broken.
  So I rise today to recount for those whose memories may have faded, 
Birmingham and Selma and Montgomery, North Carolina and South Carolina, 
Georgia and Mississippi and Texas and names like Martin King and Rosa 
Parks and Josiah Williams and Andy Young; but yes, those names that are 
yet not recorded, names of thousands upon thousands of young college 
students from all walks of life, all religions and races and creeds, 
that walked in the sixties to be able to reestablish the fundamental 
right to vote.
  Mr. Speaker, I thought it was important, and I want to thank the 
Congresswoman from Ohio and the chairperson of the Congressional Black 
Caucus, that you hear us emphasize the need for refocusing on the right 
to vote. For you to understand that it was not easily secured, either 
by women, either by those who were without property, or either by those 
who look first and came first to this Nation in the bottom of the belly 
of a slave boat.
  The real focus of the right to vote sort of jelled in the late 1950s 
and early 1960s as one began to expand this whole concept of civil 
rights. We all know about Rosa Parks. We pay tribute to her; and the 
concept of her movement was about accommodation and riding on buses and 
being able to eat in restaurants and hotels. It was the simple dignity 
of being able to use your money as any other American citizen.
  But as we moved into the 1960s and as Martin King laid out the agenda 
for us in his 1963 ``I Have a Dream,'' he began to realize that the 
political empowerment of a people was crucial to take one's role and 
one's right. And so we began to move after 1963 to emphasize over and 
over the right to vote. That right to vote bore fruit in 1964 in the 
Civil Rights Act and in the 1965 Voter Rights Act that said no one 
should be discriminated against in the right to vote.
  Mr. Speaker, yet after signing that legislation, constantly 
throughout the decade of the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s and 1990s, we 
have found instances where: One, there has been voter intimidation. 
Two, votes have been thrown out. Three, minorities have lost elections 
for a variety of infractions that never rose to the level of national 
concern.
  And yet in this election in 2001, although we recognize that it is 
finished, I believe the ultimate fact that a decision had to be made at 
the Supreme Court level of the United States, that people felt that 
they were turned away from the polls, that young college students who 
were dutifully registered to vote whose names were not on the polling 
list and who were then instructed to be turned away because there was 
not enough knowledge to know that you could affirm and testify to the 
fact that you had registered, there is need for electoral reform.
  We should not let the tragedies of Montgomery, of Selma, and all that 
went before go on any further without solving the problem of allowing 
one vote, one person. The history of this Nation is embedded in the 
fact that each voice should be counted, but all too often people do not 
vote. People are disenfranchised, frightened, or turned away or their 
votes are not counted.
  So in tribute to African American History Month, I believe the 
tribute should be forthright and forward-going. It should be a 
recommitment that, in fact, we will allow no intimidating force to ever 
keep us away from voting. We will answer the question of racial 
profiling. We will answer the question of blockades at polls. We will 
answer the question of antiquated voting equipment in certain areas of 
our community. We will lift up the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which 
reinforces the

[[Page 2028]]

opportunity for people to be represented by people who will represent 
them in the best way.
  Mr. Speaker, I do believe that our Declaration of Independence says 
it all. We all are created equal with certain inalienable rights of 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the pursuit of such 
liberty, it is imperative that our vote is counted. As we proceed to 
improve on the voting system, let it be in tribute to all of those who 
marched, who sung, who spoke, who lost their lives, all Americans with 
particular emphasis and tribute on African Americans who did not have 
the ultimate right to vote in the 1960s.
  Mr. Speaker, let this African American History Month be a tribute of 
going forward, never to repeat again the days of Florida and the days 
of this last election where anyone, no matter who you are, new citizen 
or not, failed to vote because someone closed the door in your face.

                              {time}  1630

  There is much that I could say, and as my colleague well knows, when 
we are moved to speak on these issues, we are moved to speak. But I 
would only say that the Constitution charges us with the importance of 
ensuring that everyone has a right to vote.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with great enthusiasm and appreciation that I join 
my colleagues of the House in recognition of Black History Month.
  It is ironic that we are celebrating the first Black History Month of 
the new millennium, yet we must make so much more progress, my friends. 
The disenfranchisement of thousands of African American voters, along 
with countless others who's votes were not counted, opened many wounds 
in the recent election.
  After the heated battles of the Civil Rights movement and the 
sacrifices of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, as well as countless 
others, including the four little girls who were killed at the 
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, I believed that 
we had indeed made progress. Today, African Americans know that we have 
not yet overcome the weight of not being treated as full citizens of 
this great nation.
  The seminal catalyst for voting rights was reflected by Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr. when he began a peaceful and historic march for black 
voting rights from Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965.
  When the peaceful marchers attempted to leave Selma they were beaten 
by law enforcement officers as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
  Two weeks later, under the protection of the Alabama National Guard, 
Dr. King was able to lead the march successfully, and in August of that 
same year President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 
1965. This was a civil rights victory because African Americans 
understood all too well the barriers to suffrage.
  Today, I must say that history does and can repeat itself, if we are 
not vigilant. We have not been vigilant enough in keeping the spirit of 
the United States Constitution alive. We have not been vigilant in 
ensuring that every American has the right to freely exercise their 
franchise. We have not been vigilant in keeping a watchful eye on those 
who administer elections at the local, state, and national level.
  We know that the hands of justice for black people in this country 
moves slowly all too often. After all, it was only last summer that men 
were indicted to face trial in the nearly forty year-old murders of 
African American girls who were killed one Sunday morning by a bomb 
while they participated in services at the 16th Street Baptist Church. 
This terrible act galvanized the civil rights movement and began a call 
for justice, which may at last be answered in a court of law as two Ku 
Klux Klansmen in Alabama's Jefferson County are finally being brought 
to justice for the 1963 bombing.
  I am here to say that we as a nation cannot wait forty years to get 
our election system right. We are on a clock and it is fast approaching 
the mid-term elections in 2002 and the next Presidential Election Day 
in 2004. We must learn from the mistakes made and empower African 
Americans so every vote counts.
  It is our nation's credo that all men, the human species both male 
and female, are equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the 
Pursuit of Happiness. We as a nation was founded on the premise that to 
secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving 
their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, which is expressed 
by our nation's founders in the Constitution of the United States. 
Thomas Paine's work titled the ``Rights of Man,'' ably wrote ``[T]hat 
men mean distinct and separate things when they speak of constitutions 
and of governments . . . A constitution is not the act of a government, 
but of a people constituting a government without a constitution, is 
power without a right.''
  The people of this nation at its inception said, ``We the People of 
the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish 
Justice, insure domestic Tranquility provide for the common defense, 
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to 
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution 
for the United States of America.''
  It is understood that the preamble to the Constitution of the United 
States is not a source of power for any department of the Federal 
Government, however, the Supreme Court has often referred to it as 
evidence of the origin, scope, and purpose of the Constitution. In 
Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905), Justice Harlan wrote ``Although that 
preamble indicates the general purposes for which the people ordained 
and established the Constitution, it has never been regarded as the 
source of any substantive power conferred on the government of the 
United States, or on any of its departments. Such powers embrace only 
those expressly granted in the body of the Constitution, and such as 
may be implied from those so granted.''
  Our Constitution, like all constitutions, is the property of a 
nation, and not of those who exercise the government. It is our belief, 
as Americans, that this democracy was and continues under the direct 
authority of the people of this nation.
  All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. In 
America, the beginning of power is found in the Constitution, but in 
the history of mankind power has found two sources where it may either 
be delegated or assumed. There are no other sources of power other than 
the consent of the governed. All delegated power is trust, and all 
assumed power is usurpation. Time does not alter the truth or veracity 
of this statement. It only makes its truth clearer to those who can see 
and to those who learn the enlightened history of this great nation.
  Our Constitution grants separately the power to legislate, to 
execute, and to adjudicate, and it provides throughout the document the 
means to accomplish those ends in a manner that would allow each of the 
branches of government to avoid ``blandishments and incursions of the 
others.'' The beauty of this document is its goal, which was to frame a 
system of federal government by conferring sufficient power to govern 
while withholding the ability to abridge the liberties of the governed. 
To this reason, I share Henry David Thoreau's view that ``Government 
does not keep the country free.'' Mr. Speaker, we as citizens must do 
our part in preserving the fundamental freedoms of our country.
  The longstanding theory of elaborated and implemented constitutional 
power is grounded on several principles chief of which are: the 
conception that each branch performs unique and identifiable functions 
that are appropriate to each; and the limitation of the personnel of 
each branch to that branch, so that no one person or group should be 
able to serve in more than one branch simultaneously.
  Thomas Paine argued that Government is not a trade which any man or 
body of men has a right to set up and exercise for his own emolument, 
but is altogether a trust, in right of those by whom that trust is 
delegated, and by who it is always resumable.
  Unfortunately, evidence from the resolution of the election reveals 
that a breach of trust has occurred. The United States Supreme Court, 
sworn to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, did 
not act as one might have expected. I share the disappointment of 
millions of Americans with the Court handling of Bush v. Gore. The 
unfortunate aspect of politics was meshed with the law in a way that 
erodes the public's confidence in our judicial system. Now, the Court 
must repair any institutional damage done.
  The Supreme Court has more cases presented than it can possibly 
review and for this reason has over time applied two rules to judge the 
appropriateness of review the Standing Doctrine and the Ripeness 
Doctrine.
  Standing is composed of both constitutional and prudential restraints 
on the power of the federal courts to render decisions. In Valley Forge 
Christian College v. Americans United (1982), Justice Rehnquist wrote 
that ``The exercise of judicial power under Art. III is restricted to 
litigants who can show ``injury in fact'' resulting from the action 
that they seek to have the court adjudicate. The Doctrine of 
``standing'' has a core constitutional component that a plaintiff must 
allege personal injury fairly traceable to the defendant's allegedly 
unlawful conduct and likely to be redressed by

[[Page 2029]]

the requested relief. The concepts of standing present questions that 
must be answered by reference to the Art. III notion that federal 
courts may exercise power only in the last resort and as a necessity, 
and only when adjudication is consistent with a system of separated 
powers and the dispute is one traditionally thought to be capable of 
resolution through the judicial process.
  The case brought before the Court in Bush v. Gore did not establish 
the fine points of standing because no injury had been incurred by then 
Governor Bush. It was only the presumption of impending injury that 
prompted the court's action. The Court's decision had the real impact 
of stopping the counting of votes in the State of Florida, a decision 
that had a direct effect on the outcome of the election.
  Just as the question of standing has importance in the life of 
judicial review, so does the Ripeness Doctrine, which defines when a 
case may be brought before the Supreme Court for review. In the case of 
United Public Workers v. Mitchell, the Court declared that it could not 
rule in the matter because the plaintiffs ``were not threatened with 
actual interference with their interest,'' there was only a potential 
threat of interference of their interest. The Court viewed the threat 
hypothetical and not ripe for review by a court of law.
  In a dissenting view in Bush v. Gore by Justice Stevens joined by 
Justice Ginsburg and Justice Breyer argued that the ripeness issue 
presented to the Court had already been assigned to the States by the 
Constitution. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution defines that 
each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may 
direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and 
Representatives to which the State may be entitled for the purpose of 
choosing the President and Vice President of the United States.
  In addition, Mr. Speaker, we cannot deny that all voters do not use 
the same method of voting. The condition of the Florida election was 
the fruit of this disparity in that the variations in the methods 
voting lead to different methods of tallying votes and different 
success or failure rates in the accuracy of those tallies. The more 
modern pencil mark to fill an oval on a paper ballot that is feed into 
a computer to tally votes was found to only hold a three percent error 
rate while the punch card method of tallying votes had a fifteen 
percent error rate.
  It is clear that the injured party in this matter are the voters of 
Florida who had to suffer through the biased actions of a Secretary of 
State who campaigned for then Governor Bush. The voters struggled to be 
heard in the face of repeated challenges and disruptions designed to 
end an orderly process of discerning voter intent when the machine 
failed in that determination. Let us remember today that a constitution 
is the property of a nation, and not of those who exercise the 
government. All the constitutions of America are declared to be 
established on behalf of the authority of the people.
  For this reason I introduced H.R. 60, the Secure Democracy for All 
Americans Act, which would create a commission to address all of the 
problems associated with last year's election. We can do better Mr. 
Speaker.
  The result of this infamous decision is that African Americans were 
shunned by the country where we were enslaved and died for our nation 
on the battlefields. I do remember the cries from Republicans and 
Democrats after it was learned that military service men and women 
votes cast by absentee ballot were under threat of not being counted, 
because I joined them in that outrage. The cry that we should not 
disenfranchise these Americans was shared by all who appreciate their 
dedication and service to our nation. My pain was at the lack of 
concern that those who were veterans of past conflicts were not given 
the same level of concern that their votes not go uncounted because 
they resided in Palm Beach County, and Miami County Florida.
  We can and will do better if we adopt electoral reform that enable 
all Americans to have their vote counted. We can accomplish that in a 
bipartisan way, Mr. Speaker.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas.
  I now call on my colleague, the gentlewoman from the great State of 
California (Ms. Lee).
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Ohio for her 
leadership and for bringing us all together to celebrate Black History 
Month over the last couple of days.
  As we celebrate Black History Month, we are reminded that the 
struggle continues in our country for equality and justice for all. The 
recent Presidential election reminded us that voting rights, the very 
essence of our democracy, must be protected and enforced. Many African 
Americans discovered that equality and justice did not apply to them. 
America has unfortunately repeated a very sad chapter in our history, 
and we must never repeat it again.
  African Americans had to wait almost 100 years after the formal birth 
of our country to receive the right to vote. One of the major turning 
points came after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Less than 3 
years later, the 13th amendment was ratified ending slavery. In 1870, 
the 15th amendment was ratified stating that the right to vote could 
not be denied in this country based on race, color or previous 
conditions of servitude. Many blacks were elected to Congress, two to 
the Senate from Mississippi, Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce, and 20 
Congressmen.
  Just as the black community began to enjoy some newfound political 
freedoms in the post-Civil War era, most of their legal rights 
diminished after the Presidential election of 1876. The Democratic 
candidate, Samuel Tilden, won the popular vote and only needed one 
additional electoral vote to win the Presidency. However, his opponent, 
Rutherford Hayes, made a deal with the Democratic Party and the white-
controlled South to remove Union troops from the South, which meant the 
end of enforcement of black rights in that part of the country, 
including the right to vote.
  Hayes won the election and millions of blacks lost the new rights 
that they barely had time to appreciate as the South ushered in the 
period of Jim Crow. 120 years later, in the 2000 Presidential election, 
one candidate won the popular vote and another won the electoral vote. 
Many African Americans reported numerous problems trying to exercise 
their constitutional right to vote.
  Just as in the 1876 election, Florida was one of the States at the 
center of the voting controversy. In a county in Florida a police check 
was set up which intimidated voters. Others reported that they were 
told that they were purged from the voting polls, even though they were 
indeed registered to vote and had their voting cards with them. Still 
others were told they could not vote because they were felons, when in 
fact they were not. Voting irregularities occurred outside of Florida 
as well, and so the 2000 elections showed us that the need to still be 
vigilant about this very important right remains.
  Many men and women died for the right to vote. This is part of black 
history, it is a part of American history. We will not take the hard-
fought right to vote for granted. African Americans had to wait almost 
200 years for the full legal and enforced right to vote in this Nation. 
We will not see those rights taken away.
  In closing, let me just say to my colleagues and to all here today 
that we want to remember and to thank the Congressional Black Caucus 
for this Special Order because it is so important that we focus on 
Black History Month and remember the long hard battles many African 
Americans and other Americans have fought for basic civil rights in our 
country. We should learn from our history so that we are not doomed to 
repeat some of the major miscarriages of justice.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks on and to include therein extraneous material on the 
subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Putnam). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentlewoman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I want to take my last minute to 
wrap up.
  This has been a great pleasure for the past 2 days to have an 
opportunity to host a Special Order for Black History Month. We decided 
this year to focus specifically on the whole issue of voter reform and 
the history of voter disenfranchisement that has occurred in this 
country.
  If I have 30 seconds left, Mr. Speaker, I want to yield to the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters).

[[Page 2030]]


  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much. I would 
like to share with her how appreciative I am for the time that she has 
taken to organize this Special Order for the Congressional Black Caucus 
and others who wanted to participate.
  We did focus on election reform. It is extremely important. We have a 
very rich history in this country of making sure we correct the wrongs 
and we open up this country to participation by all of those who would 
wish to participate in this democracy. When we see a problem, we move 
to correct it. This focus today on election reform is about that.
  We will be working to make sure we correct the problems in the 
system.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, not only during Black History Month 
but appropriately, as we continue to celebrate Black History Month for 
2001, the Congressional Black Caucus is using this time and the voice 
that is afforded to us as members of this body to come before the 
country and its leaders to re-issue our call to reform the election 
system.
  The Presidential election of 2000 will be remembered by many of our 
citizens for not living up to the promise of ``Democracy for all''. It 
is therefore clear that our election system must be fixed as it relates 
to the election of the President--but equally important, to ensure that 
all Americans are afforded their right to use.
  Last November, many Americans, especially African-Americans, either 
saw their legally cast votes not counted or encountered a mire of 
obstacles that prevented them from being able to vote.
  What occurred in the state of Florida last November, as well as in 
many other places in our country and which has occurred in election 
after election--must never be allowed to occur again.
  According to the NAACP, irregularities ranging from the ridiculous--
such as calls being made to primarily Black and Hispanic communities 
suggesting that the NAACP was calling to urge people to vote for 
President Bush--to specific complaints, from the time the polls were 
opened until they were closed, about police stops, actual polling 
places being moved, or the young and old being told that they weren't 
registered to vote when clearly they were.
  We in the CBC will live up to our reputation as the ``conscience of 
the Congress'' and ``the fairness cops'' of the nation.
  Tomorrow, Democrats will announce the creation of a Special Committee 
on Election Reform to investigate all the flaws plaguing our system and 
take swift action by submitting recommendations to Congress on how to 
fix the election process. In this vein we must: modernize the machinery 
of voting and provide better training for poll workers and voter 
education; enforce the National Voter Registration Act and the Voting 
Rights Act to ensure that more Americans have greater access to 
democracy; explore structural reforms like expanded time for voting, 
uniform poll closing times and easier access to voter registration; and 
provide models of election systems that work and promote these best 
practices.
  We pledge to do all that we can to move forward swiftly and pass the 
best and most relevant recommendations into law soon.
  Mr. Speaker and colleagues, as we focus on the election reform we 
must not lose sight of the fact that equal justice includes struggling 
for voting rights. To this end, the lack of voting rights for my 
constituents and those of my colleagues from the other U.S. Territories 
and Commonwealths must also be addressed. The fact we are not allowed 
to directly participate in the choice of who will be our Commander-in-
Chief is fundamentally undemocratic. The people who live in the 
Territories are Americans in every respect except, that by virtue of 
where they live, they don't get to vote for President or to have voting 
representation in the Congress.
  We should be ashamed, that as the only remaining superpower in the 
world and the biggest promoter of democracy abroad, that we afford 
citizens in our territories less voting rights that Canada--our 
neighbor to the north--provides to their citizens in the Yukon 
Territory or than France does to the citizens in their remaining 
overseas territories.
  And so, in the spirit and goal of Black History Month, I am committed 
to working with my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus to urge 
Congress as a whole, as well as President Bush, to expeditiously come-
up with and put in place the critically needed election reforms that 
will be developed by the Special Committee on Election Reform of the 
Democratic Caucus and by this Caucus, including providing voting rights 
to the people of the Territories.
  In closing, I want to commend my colleague, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 
for organizing this Special Order tonight.
  Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, seventy-five years ago, Dr. Carter G. 
Woodson, a noted African American historian and scholar, founded Negro 
History Week. He wanted to create an occasion for African Americans to 
remember, honor and celebrate the accomplishments and achievements of 
their ancestry.
  As I stand before you on this diamond anniversary, all that I can say 
is--what a great tradition this has become.
  African American Heritage month is important because it provides an 
opportunity for all American families and communities to come together 
and reflect upon the contributions African Americans have made to this 
great country.
  Earlier this week, I invited one of my colleagues and close friends--
Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. of Tennessee to join me at my 2nd annual 
African American Heritage Month Celebration.
  This year's celebration was dedicated to African American Economic 
Development and empowerment in the New Millennium.
  Everyone who attended the event that evening had a good time. Each 
year, I enjoy celebrating this great tradition and look forward to it.
  African Americans have such a rich heritage and culture. Neither my 
district, the Seventh Congressional District of New York nor this 
country would be what it is today without the rich contributions of 
African American heritage and culture. I am proud to say that I 
represent the district that both Louis Armstrong and Malcolm X lived 
until the very last days of their lives.
  In the aftermath of the 2000 Presidential election, many African 
Americans throughout this country find themselves engaged in another 
struggle.
  While the civil right's movement ended some time ago the struggle for 
equal justice and equality still continues.
  After this past election, too many people of color felt that the 
votes they cast were not counted.
  Some even felt that there was an organized effort to disenfranchise 
their votes and keep them from the polls.
  The problems of this past election are far too reminiscent of the 
problems African Americans had to face prior to the passage of the 
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  So while we celebrate, we must remember that the fight for equal 
rights, justice and equality must continue.
  I believe that all leaders, regardless of their party affiliation, 
race, religion or creed must do all that they can to ensure all 
Americans are protected under the laws of this great nation.
  As I stand before you here this afternoon, I pledge to do all that I 
can to ensure that these rights are protected for African Americans and 
all Americans regardless of their race, religion or creed.
  I would like to thank my colleagues in the Congressional Black 
Caucus, especially Representative Tubbs Jones for allowing me this time 
this afternoon.
  Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Black History 
Month with my colleagues. As we approach the 45th Anniversary of the 
arrests in which many of Montgomery's African American leaders, 
including the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were indicted, 
tried, and convicted under an old law prohibiting boycotts, it is 
important for us to remember that the quest for civil rights is an 
ongoing journey.
  The Montgomery Bus Boycott officially began on December 1, 1955, when 
Rosa Parks, a seamstress and civil rights activist, was arrested for 
disobeying a city law that required blacks to give up their seats when 
white people wished to sit in those seats or in the same row. After 
this arrest, a chain of events unfolded that had an undeniable impact 
on American society.
  African-American community leaders quickly urged all blacks to stay 
off the city buses on the day that Parks' case was due in court. Dr. 
King later wrote, ``a miracle had taken place'' when all the buses in 
Montgomery were empty the following morning.
  Capitalizing on the boycott's initial success, local ministers and 
civil rights leaders met to organize themselves as the Montgomery 
Improvement Association. As important as the founding of the 
organization itself, the group elected King as president, and the group 
quickly moved on a unanimous vote to continue the boycott indefinitely.
  Bus boycotts had been held before for short periods of time in other 
Southern cities, so local authorities were not expecting the Montgomery 
boycott to last very long. However, the resolve shown by the community 
was extraordinary. The Montgomery Improvement Association even 
organized a ``private taxi'' plan,

[[Page 2031]]

under which blacks who owned cars picked up and dropped off blacks who 
needed rides at various points throughout the city.
  Maintaining the boycott was not easy. Local leaders had their homes 
bombed, and private taxi drivers were arrested on trumped up traffic 
charges. Each day that it continued, attempts were made to break the 
boycott, which had hurt downtown businesses considerably.
  In court, black residents of Montgomery pushed hard for complete 
integration of the city's buses. Because the Brown versus Board of 
Education decision said that the ``separate but equal'' doctrine had no 
place in public education, Montgomery's residents argued that the 
doctrine had no place in any public facilities. On November 13, 1956, 
the United States Supreme Court declared bus segregation 
unconstitutional. Montgomery's black residents returned to the buses 
after the Supreme Court mandate had been enacted in December of that 
same year--a full 382 days after the protests began.
  Trying to put the Montgomery boycott into perspective is not an easy 
task, but I would argue that there are three key points to be made when 
discussing its legacy. First, the ascension of Dr. Martin Luther King 
as a leader is of the utmost importance. The boycott gave Dr. King a 
leadership position within the national movement, and he quickly became 
an international symbol of tolerance who worked tirelessly for the 
advancement of civil rights.
  It should also be noted that the work of Dr. King was extraordinary 
because of his effectiveness at drawing support to the movement. He 
built a groundswell of support by recruiting like-minded people 
throughout the South across the normal barriers of race, age, and 
religion. A good example of this is the creation of the Student Non-
violent Coordinating Committee in 1960, where King recruited both black 
and white college students to lead boycotts, sit-ins, and marches for 
the cause of civil rights.
  Secondly, the Montgomery boycotts are an important aspect of 
America's history because they caught the attention of the entire 
nation. The massive scale and duration of this protest was widely 
reported, heightening public awareness to the lack of the civil rights 
of African-Americans.
  As the first organized mass protest by blacks in Southern history, 
the Montgomery boycotts also set the tone for the rest of the movement. 
The boycott's effectiveness demonstrated the power of nonviolent direct 
action in the quest to end Southern segregation. Similar nonviolent 
protests and actions, including the important luncheon counter sit-ins 
that took place throughout the South at segregated stores and 
restaurants, can be traced to the Montgomery boycotts.
  Lastly, honoring the history of the Montgomery boycott reinforces the 
fact that civil rights require our attention at all times. We must be 
vigilant at all times, to ensure that no person is ever discriminated 
against on the basis of the color of his or her skin. It may not always 
be easy, but the path has been laid out clearly for us. Collectively, 
we must commit ourselves to the protection of each person's unalienable 
rights to ``life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.''
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentlelady from Ohio, 
Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, for convening this critically 
important special order today. It is very appropriate that Members of 
the Congressional Black Caucus take this time to honor Black History 
Month, and more specifically, our nation's ongoing struggle to fulfill 
the promise of democracy.
  When I first ran for Congress in 1964, I ran on a platform of ``Jobs, 
Justice and Peace.'' I never thought at that time that the fundamental 
plank of justice, the right to vote, would remain the primary issue 
before us 37 years later. I never would have thought then that there 
would be cases of voter intimidation, disenfranchisement and confusing 
ballots in the 21st century.
  Like most Americans, I wanted to believe that our system of justice 
would do all that it could under current laws to ensure the right to 
vote, particularly the right of African Americans and other 
historically disenfranchised voters will be protected. Unfortunately 
this was not the case in the 2000 presidential election.
  Therefore I have joined with several of my colleagues in the Congress 
to begin the painstaking task of looking at reform of our system of 
voting from the top down and from the bottom up.
  So, as we celebrate the history of African-Americans, we should 
commit ourselves to fight harder for the future of all of America. This 
Congress and the current Administration, must make real, true election 
reform their top priority.


Democratic Caucus Special Committee and Congressional Special Committee

  Today, Democratic Leader Gephardt announced the formation of a 
Democratic Caucus Special Committee on Election Reform, chaired by 
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and Co-chaired by myself, Steny Hoyer and 
a number of our colleagues who have committed themselves to this task. 
The Democratic Caucus is committed to working on solutions, not 
rehashing the past.
  We are hopeful that Speaker Hastert will appoint a Congressional 
Special Committee soon and look forward to working with him and all of 
our Republican colleagues on a nonpartisan basis.


                national roundup of voter irregularities

  From reports that flawed felony voter ``purges'' may have erroneously 
disenfranchised thousands of African-American voters to allegations of 
voter irregularities across the nation, we agree that the razor-thin 
margin in the 2000 Presidential election illuminated serious flaws in 
our electoral system.
  Here are just a few of the problems encountered by voters in the past 
election:


                          problems in florida

  The Problems in Florida are well known. From butterfly ballots that 
no one could understand, to police roadblocks near polling places, to 
overbroad felony voter purges, Florida showed the system is broken.


         the problem was not just in florida--it was nationwide

  In Georgia, ``Lines too long'' was the single most commonly heard 
complaint from voters. Citizens in some communities waited at the polls 
for two hours or more, and some metro Atlanta voters did not cast 
ballots until after 11:00 p.m.--a more than four-hour wait. 
Contributing factors in some polling places were poor layout, a 
shortage of well-trained poll workers, and a shortage of poll 
locations.
  In Louisiana, people who claimed that they were prevented from voting 
because their voter registration at local driver's license bureaus 
under the ``motor voter'' law never got processed. According to the 
Registrar of Voters, dozens of voters in Jefferson Parish alone found 
themselves with no designated precinct to go to. On the west bank of 
New Orleans, there were 75-100 calls from people who claimed to have 
changed their address, but were not in the Registrar's records. And in 
St. Tammany, Registrar of Voters M. Dwayne Wall said that approximately 
100 people called because of apparent problems with the Department of 
Motor Vehicles registration process.
  In Missouri, it was contended that many registered voters were 
inaccurately stricken from the rolls after a mail canvass. They also 
allege that procedures for re-registering those ``inactive'' voters 
were too cumbersome, and that many polling places were understaffed or 
had no telephone contact with the board's downtown headquarters.
  And in my home state, voters complained that the polling places had 
undertrained administrators and long lines.


                    stories of election day problems

  In New Orleans, voters were not allowed to vote because their voter 
registration at local driver's license bureaus under the state's motor 
voter law never got processed. Leslie Boudreaux moved from one precinct 
and registered. However, she was turned away at her polling place.
  In Portland, Maine, it appears that as many as 15,000 voters were 
illegally purged from voting rolls and were forced to wait in long 
lines at City Hall to register again and vote. One voter forced to 
stand in line, Shirley Lewellyn, said she was ``mad as hell'' about 
having to stand in a long registration line when she wanted to be with 
her husband, who was undergoing minor eye surgery. ``I've voted for 20 
years at [my precinct], and when I went there this morning, they told 
me I wasn't on the list.''
  In Columbia, South Carolina, some registered voters said they were 
turned away from the polls, while others said they were intimidated by 
poll workers and NAACP poll watchers were asked to leave poll sites.
  In Boston, Mass, a volunteer who was giving voters rides to the polls 
received a call from an amputee for a ride to the polls. The caller 
stated that he had attempted to vote at the polling place he had voted 
a year before and was turned away. The volunteer drove the man to four 
different poll sites and were turned away each time. Only at the last 
poll site were they told that the first poll site, the one the man had 
visited initially, was the correct one.


                          there are solutions

  Most importantly, we must address the instances of voter 
intimidation, such as police checkpoints near polling places, and the 
widespread problem of overbroad felony voter purges. The best voting 
machines in the world won't do any good if they don't let legal voters 
vote.

[[Page 2032]]

  We should have more vigorous investigation and enforcement of civil 
rights laws and government aid to states should be contingent upon 
affirmative steps by states to comply with those laws.
  The most obvious problem for states and localities has been an 
inability or unwilliness to fund 21st Century election technology. The 
federal government needs to step in and provide assistance to states to 
replace old voting machines.
  But we need to help states do more than that. States need better 
trained poll workers and better educated voters.
  We need to ensure that polling places are accessible to persons with 
disabilities. More than that, it is unthinkable in the year 2001 that 
we have not implemented technology that allows a seeing impaired person 
to cast an independent secret ballot. The federal government can 
provide financial assistance and encouragement in this area as well.
  We need to use federal dollars to encourage states to make democracy 
easier, by implementing same day registration procedures.
  And there is a ``data gap.'' No unbiased entity is testing voting 
machines. There has been no rigorous study of whether other 
innovations, such as an election day holiday, are needed. We need to 
study these issues very carefully and very quickly.
  In short, Congress needs to act and it needs to act soon before these 
incidents are repeated in the 2002 elections.
  Together we have fought to end voting disenfranchisement and secure 
racial justice in the electoral arena. Today, the fight continues. The 
voice of each American must be allowed to be heard in our democracy.

                          ____________________