[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4729]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, ``O, let America be America 
again, the land that never has been yet, and yet must be; the land 
where every man is free. The land that's mine, the poor man's, 
Indian's, Negro's, me, who made America, whose sweat and blood, whose 
faith and pain, whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, must 
bring back our mighty dream again.''
  Mr. Speaker, those eloquent words of celebrated African American poet 
and writer Langston Hughes resound today as we celebrate Black History 
Month 2003. On February 1, 2002, Mr. Hughes joined the other 24 
prominent African Americans distinguished by having a stamp issued in 
their honor as part of the United States Postal Service's Black 
Heritage Stamp series.
  There was certainly a time in our not-so-distant past when this would 
not have been possible, issuing stamps depicting prominent African 
Americans. Indeed, this was the case in February 1926, when renowned 
African American educator and scholar Carter G. Woodson, founder of the 
Association for the Study of African American History and Life, 
designated a week in February coinciding with the birthdays of two 
great Americans, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, as Negro 
History Week. Mr. Woodson hoped that the contributions of African 
Americans would be studied as integral to our shared American history. 
Fifty years later, in 1976, the observance was expanded to embrace the 
entire month of February, and here we are again today commemorating yet 
another Black History Month.
  In 1926, the landscape in this country for African Americans was 
demonstrably different than it is today. At that time, separate but 
equal, a doctrine that afforded Black Americans second-class 
citizenship, was the law of the land, albeit an immoral one. Through 
the heroic efforts of many Americans of all races, legalized 
discrimination became a thing of the past. This body passed landmark 
legislation, most notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting 
Rights Act of 1965. However, the story of racial discrimination did not 
end in 1965.
  Here we are in 2003, and we must continue to ask the question: Is 
race still a factor in quality of life in America? And is racism dead? 
African Americans, despite our robust laws, face a daily dosage of 
humiliation as a result of racism. Thousands of African Americans and 
other racial and ethnic minorities have been the victims of racial, 
ethnic or national origin profiling: targeted, identified, stopped, 
questioned and searched by law enforcement officials under the guise of 
committing a crime, when in reality the only crime was the color of 
their skin or their country of origin. Young black and Latino men are 
particularly prone to DWB, driving while black or brown. And since 
September 11, law-abiding Arab-American citizens have been targeted for 
profiling by law enforcement officials.
  Racial profiling violates the equal protection provisions of our 
great Constitution. Not only is it un-American, it is also bad law 
enforcement. Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership 
Conference on Civil Rights, states that most Americans think that the 
most blatant forms of discrimination and segregation have ended; that 
we are now dealing with a much more complex, often more subtle, form of 
discrimination. Yet incidents like the ones we are discussing now seem 
to belie that point. They seem to suggest that even the more blatant 
forms of discrimination, though not as institutionalized as they once 
were, are still occurring, and I think stand in mockery of the 
perception that America has become a color-blind Nation.
  Since June of year before last, the End Racial Profiling Act of 2001 
has been pending in this body. This 108th Congress could put an end to 
racial profiling by passing this act and sending it to the President 
for signature. Then we would have another dimension as we celebrate 
Black History Month and as we come closer to ending racial profiling.
  So I end, Mr. Speaker, as I started: Let America be America again, 
the land that never has been yet, and yet must be. The land where every 
man is free, the land where every man and woman has his or her chance, 
his or her golden opportunity to become whatever their manhood or 
womanhood talents and ambitions combine to make them. That, Mr. 
Speaker, is the promise of America, and that is our hope as we end the 
observance of this Black History Month celebration.

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