[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16548-16549]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     A TRIBUTE TO W. HORACE CARTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McIntyre) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McINTYRE. Madam Speaker, on April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson took 
the field as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team and broke 
the color barrier as the first African American to play in the major 
leagues. His courage, determination and integrity have served as an 
inspiration to generations, and opened the door to thousands to play 
our national pastime. Rightly, our Nation stopped recently to celebrate 
the 60th anniversary of this historic milestone.
  However, as many of us know, the practice of discrimination and 
racism continued for many years, unfortunately, even after Mr. 
Robinson's historic first game. Indeed, there were other courageous 
individuals who joined in the fight for equality and justice for all.
  One such man was W. Horace Carter of Tabor City, North Carolina. On a 
July night in 1950, thick with the heat and humidity of the deep south, 
Horace Carter watched as Ku Klux Klansmen made their violent way 
through his hometown of Tabor City, North Carolina. One hundred 
Klansmen in 29 cars robbed and terrorized this small community of 
farmers and merchants with threats and racism.

[[Page 16549]]

  Although just 29 years old at the time and the new publisher, editor 
and newsman for the Tabor City Tribune, Mr. Carter knew this was his 
moment of decision. He wrote, ``I searched my soul that evening and on 
into the next week. Was it worth sacrificing our happiness, shattering 
the tranquil life of running a little newspaper in a small town, taking 
part in Red Cross drives, church covered-dish suppers and annual yam 
festival promotion, just because I believed in a principle? Was it 
worth the risk that the print shop might be burned, our home dynamited? 
I could be dragged from our house with the frantic screams of my family 
ringing in my ears. I might suffer a brutal lashing by a band of masked 
hoodlums or even death if I dared to oppose them. Is it the time to 
stand up for principles, even before I am fully aware of what this Klan 
proposes,'' he wrote.
  ``I didn't want to sound pious or self-righteous,'' he said, ``but I 
reasoned that if I were ever to campaign against this Klan 
reorganization, I should do it from its inception. That was now. I sat 
down at my used $15 Royal typewriter with my experienced hunt-and-peck 
typing skill and I wrote an editorial.''
  Thus began a 3-year crusade Horace Carter took against the Klan in 
the editorial pages of this small, southeastern North Carolina 
newspaper. Mr. Carter's courage, determination and words helped in the 
convictions and prison time for Ku Klux Klansmen. From his doing the 
right thing, Mr. Carter catapulted the Tabor City Tribune into national 
prominence, which received the Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Community 
Service, the most prestigious of the Pulitzers.
  Madam Speaker, Jackie Robinson once said, ``A life is not important 
except in the impact it has on others' lives.''
  Well, Mr. Carter's life has continued to be one of honor, leadership 
and service. And although Mr. Robinson didn't know W. Horace Carter, 
there is no doubt that his words were about persons just like him.
  Mr. Carter was elected mayor of Tabor City in 1954 and was a judge in 
the weekly city court. He served as president of the Tabor City Chamber 
of Commerce, the Tabor City Rotary Club, the Columbus County Economic 
Development Commission, the County Library Board, Tabor Industrial 
Development, Inc., Tabor City Recreation Commission and a Sunday school 
teacher in the Baptist Church.
  A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a 
World War II Navy veteran, Mr. Carter and his wife Lucille have three 
children: Rusty Carter, Linda Carter Metzger and Velda Carter Hughes.
  May God's blessings continue to shine upon this most special man and 
his enduring legacy, a man who stood for equality, a man who stood for 
justice.

                          ____________________