[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 8828]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    IN SUPPORT OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Burgess). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very 
much. I will not take all the time. I would like to be able to yield to 
the gentleman and to a number of our colleagues on the floor, but I 
note that we are blessed by the presence of some of the warriors that 
were engaged in the heroic and historic day on April 1, 2003.
  What I wanted to encourage with the chairman of our august body here 
is to restate I believe the willingness of members of this caucus and 
Members of this House to be able to be on the campuses of these 
outstanding students who have taken up the challenge, the bloodstained 
banner, if you will, to be able to be on their campuses, pronouncing 
our commitment that we will never go back, and to restate what has been 
stated by all of you, that affirmative action is not a handout, it is a 
hand up, and to clearly indicate that what we have occurring to us, 
meaning opportunities, is not to deny others.
  So I hope that we will be able to, if you will, make it very clear 
tonight that this is not the last time that we will be engaged in this 
discussion, debate, but that we will be out at the campuses surrounded 
by or hand in hand with these outstanding new civil rights activists of 
the 21st century.
  I want to thank the distinguished gentleman and thank the 
distinguished gentleman from Georgia and would be happy to yield to the 
distinguished gentleman or yield to the gentleman from Florida to 
comment.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the 
gentlewoman for her comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings).
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, let me just say in regards to what the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) just said, just this evening, Mr. Speaker, we 
held a conference, a teleconference, with student leaders from all over 
the country. And it was such an exciting event. We have already come to 
an agreement that we are going to take all of that energy that they had 
back here on April 1 and we are going forward.
  As our first Vice Chair has said, we will be traveling from campus to 
campus and organizing here in Washington and across the country, 
because we realize that all of our young people, that one day it should 
not end there, but it must go forward. So we will be doing that.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would say to 
the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), Mr. Chairman, I want to 
thank you for what you are suggesting, your recommendation and your 
plan of action. It reminds me of another period in our history when we 
just got out there and did what we had to do.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will allow me, there is a 
saying I love. It says, ``In our time, in our space, we will make a 
difference, with God's grace.''
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek).
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to say that not only 
all of the Members here, but the Members who could not be here that did 
place information in the Record, it is such an honor to be here, coming 
from Florida. So many of you were involved in that effort there to save 
and work towards a better affirmative action in Florida and this 
country.
  Words are inadequate to even describe the kind of work that is going 
to have to be done for the understanding of this country of how 
important affirmative action is. I tell every American, if you have a 
daughter and a mother, and obviously we all do, you are for affirmative 
action.
  I commend those individuals that came before us, and the NAACP and 
other organizations that organized to get them here. I look forward to 
working with the gentleman and the members of the Congressional Black 
Caucus as we continue to work with these young people and younger 
people that have done so well for us.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, we will work 
together and pull together and push together to make it all happen.

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