[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9879]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 CHAIRWOMAN JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2007, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker and Members, I come to the floor today to 
join with my colleagues in recognition of a public servant who served 
in this august body, who served in the California State legislature, 
who served the city of Compton as a city councilwoman, who served as 
head of the NAACP in the city of Compton, who was a community activist, 
a legislator and not only a committed servant but a woman who was 
determined to make sure that she did everything possible to bring about 
justice and equality, not only for our people but for all people.
  I have known Juanita Millender-McDonald for over 35 years. I knew her 
before she was the president of the Compton chapter of the NAACP. She 
contacted me when she became the president and we worked on some 
projects together. We went on to work on many projects together. When 
my son ran for the California State legislature, she was involved with 
his campaign. When her son made an attempt to get back into 
professional football, my husband who was a professional football 
player, having played for the Cleveland Browns, helped to connect him 
with some recruiters in order to get him into professional football. 
And so we have interacted on a professional level, on a personal level 
and in so many ways for such a long period of time.
  We have been involved in some of the same kind of issues over the 
years. I can recall, it was not so many years ago when it was revealed 
that perhaps our government had known about drugs that were being 
transported from Nicaragua into south central Los Angeles, and, of 
course, that revelation kicked off a firestorm in this country. Juanita 
McDonald invited the head of the CIA to come to south central Los 
Angeles to speak to the people and tell them what he knew about the 
Contras and about the Sandinistas and our involvement with the drug 
trade, this government. Did this government turn a blind eye while 
drugs were being transported across our borders?
  It was an unusual event. Never had the head of the CIA been to a 
community to speak with the people, and people were everywhere. The 
FBI, the CIA, everybody was standing on roofs all over the place. It 
was a spectacular event. But that was her style.
  Juanita McDonald and I not only worked on that issue in different 
ways. We have been involved in trying to save Martin Luther King 
Hospital for a number of years now. This has been a tough, tough 
battle. This hospital was born out of the ashes of the insurrection of 
1965 in south Los Angeles. This is an institution that is so very much 
needed but is such at risk at this point. This institution has been 
threatened by the Federal Government to withdraw all of its Federal 
funds and we have fought day in and day out, month in and month out, 
year in and year out to maintain the funding from the Federal 
Government so that that hospital could stay there for people who need 
it so desperately.
  Juanita McDonald has organized many meetings. She has interacted not 
only with CMS and the Federal Government but all of the county 
officials. Time after time we have sat before the board of supervisors, 
imploring them to do everything that they could to straighten out the 
problems at Martin Luther King Hospital, to work harder, to make sure 
there was the management and the supervision.
  Juanita McDonald cared about health issues. Not only was she involved 
with trying to save Martin Luther King Hospital, she organized an AIDS 
walk that took place every year. She and her women's group organized 
and each year they went to one of the stadiums in the south Los Angeles 
area and they held their walk. It got a lot of attention, but this was 
her way of saying to the community, not only do I care about AIDS, I'm 
willing to put some quality time and attention on this issue. I want 
you to get tested. I want you to get involved in learning how you can 
protect yourself from being infected with HIV/AIDS. And so it is just a 
small example of the care and commitment that she has demonstrated over 
the years, whether we talk about health care or education or voting 
rights that she was so very much involved in before she took her leave 
of absence.
  She cared about justice. She cared that this democracy would truly 
act in ways that supported the proposition that everybody has the right 
to a decent quality of life. Everybody must be protected by the 
Constitution of the United States of America. Everybody must enjoy the 
benefits of living in this great country. And she reached beyond with 
care for the mother continent of Africa. She was involved in those 
issues, also.
  And so I stand here today to say, Juanita McDonald has taken her 
place in history and she did it her way. Sometimes we did it different 
ways, but she knew what she was doing and why she was doing it the way 
that she did. Her husband can be proud. Her children can be proud. And 
we can all be proud that we had the blessing and the opportunity to 
live and work with a woman of substance, a woman who cared, a woman who 
gave of herself and a woman who left us with dignity, a woman who never 
complained, a woman who never said, I feel bad, I have pain, I can't do 
it today. She worked right up until she took a leave of absence just a 
few days ago.
  I am proud to stand here and say that I knew her, that I worked with 
her, that I have appreciated everything that she has contributed to our 
great society.

                          ____________________