[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9880]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2007, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 3 minutes.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to send condolences to 
the family of my colleague, Chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, and 
let them know that they are in my heart and in my prayers. I also want 
to send condolences to the people of the 37th Congressional District of 
California who placed their faith and trust in the strong, dedicated 
and elegant Juanita Millender-McDonald.
  You have heard from some of my colleagues about the many firsts that 
Juanita achieved here in the Congress of the United States, including 
serving as the first African American woman to chair a full committee 
in the United States House of Representatives. But I just want to take 
a moment to reflect upon an aspect of her strength that was not readily 
apparent but clearly on display long before she came to Congress. While 
some of us have focused on the life that she lived, I want to talk 
about the Juanita Millender-McDonald who did not believe in self-pity 
but believed in using what she had to make a difference.
  While many of my colleagues will come to this mike and talk about the 
life that she lived and her service to a grateful Nation, Juanita 
Millender-McDonald taught us something about character in her 
transition. No self-pity. Not a single Member of Congress knew that 
Juanita was ailing and that her ailment was terminal. Juanita did not 
want to walk around the House of Representatives and have Members of 
Congress feeling pity for her or feeling sad for her or making special 
speeches or concessions to her. She wanted all of us to recognize that 
we live our lives as if life is certain and death is uncertain, when in 
reality it is death that is certain and life that is uncertain. And, 
therefore, each of us is under an obligation to do the very best that 
we can with the time that God has given us on this Earth and in this 
world.
  The Bible talks about serving this present age. ``O may all my powers 
be engaged to do my Master's will.'' Clearly the type of ailment that 
ailed our colleague and our close and dear friend, Juanita Millender-
McDonald, was not the kind of ailment that strikes one suddenly. She 
knew about it for quite some time and chose not to share it with 
Members of Congress. That is a statement about her dignity. It is a 
statement about her commitment to public service. It is a statement 
about character. And it is a statement about her strength under 
extraordinarily life-threatening odds.
  Juanita Millender-McDonald was married, she raised five children, and 
then went to college to launch an impressive and inspiring career at an 
age when many people start slowing down. She combined higher education 
with her native Alabama wisdom and she set out to show women and men in 
life and in death that no matter where you came from, you can go where 
you want to go. She was a living example of the power of not only 
keeping your eyes on the prize but putting in the old-fashioned elbow 
grease to earn it.
  No self-pity. She didn't want people looking down on her or feeling 
bad about her or seeing her physical ailments. No self-pity. She 
possessed the necessary tough-mindedness combined with the 
tenderheartedness that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about. She 
understood, and Dr. King wrote, ``There is little hope for us until we 
become tough-minded enough to break loose from the shackles of 
prejudice, half-truths and downright ignorance. The shape of the world 
today does not permit us the luxury of soft-mindedness. A nation or 
civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men and women 
purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.''
  I am proud to have had the opportunity to serve with Juanita 
Millender-McDonald, and once again I send my condolences to those who 
loved her. The House and the Nation have lost a dedicated public 
servant and someone who in life and death has taught us the meaning of 
character.

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