[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 2453]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TOM LANTOS PASSES HUMANITY'S TORCH

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                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 25, 2008

  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, this House lost one of its finest 
Members with the passing of Tom Lantos. He was a dear friend, who 
taught me a great deal about human rights and a life dedicated to 
service, and I will miss him. One of my favorite memories of our 
service together is the day I was arrested alongside Tom in front of 
the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC, protesting the continuing 
genocide in Darfur.
  I would like to bring to the attention of my colleagues an article 
from the February 22, 2008 edition of the Boston Herald that urges 
everyone to emulate Tom's legacy of service and devotion to human 
rights. Written by Anthony Barsamian with the Armenian Assembly of 
America and Michael Ross, the son of a Holocaust survivor, it expresses 
what we all feel about Tom's commitment to ending man's inhumanity to 
man.

              [From the Boston Herald, February 22, 2008]

                   Tom Lantos Passes Humanity's Torch

                (By Anthony Barsamian and Michael Ross)

       Humanity lost one of its greatest voices this month. No one 
     lived up to the promise of the words ``never again'' better 
     than Rep. Tom Lantos. As the only Holocaust survivor to have 
     served in Congress, he dedicated his career to working on 
     behalf of others.
       Those who survive genocide live with complexities that few 
     can understand--post-traumatic stress, feelings of guilt for 
     having survived, a victim of man's most diabolical 
     incarnation, a witness to history--to name a few. On the one 
     hand, a survivor must rectify his tragic past while on 
     another, he must make sense of a stunted future. With great 
     strength and determination, survivors and their families move 
     forward and rebuild their lives, for a second time.
       To start a life anew is difficult enough. To do so as a 
     U.S. congressman is nothing short of miraculous. Only in 
     America--as Lantos would say.
       For Holocaust survivors and their families, Lantos was a 
     source of pride. For those who searched for a voice of 
     justice, in him they found their greatest friend.
       Tom Lantos spoke out against genocide in Darfur, at one 
     point being arrested for protesting outside the Sudanese 
     Embassy along with four other Democratic lawmakers, including 
     Bay State Reps. Jim McGovern and John Olver.
       One of his final acts was a resolution that would recognize 
     the slaughter of innocent Armenians for what it was--
     genocide. As chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, 
     Lantos refused to be part of a campaign of denial and looked 
     beyond the politics of convenience by passing the resolution.
       During a PBS interview last October, Lantos said, ``This is 
     one of those events which has to be settled once and for all: 
     1.5 million utterly innocent Armenian men, women and children 
     were slaughtered. And the Turkish government, until now, has 
     intimidated the Congress of the United States from taking 
     this measure. I think it's important, at a time when 
     genocides are going on in Darfur and elsewhere, not to be an 
     accomplice in sweeping an important genocide under the rug.''
       The resolution has yet to be acted upon by the entire 
     House--something, no doubt, Lantos, would want.
       Lantos understood what it meant to stand up for his fellow 
     man, much in the same way someone helped him when he needed 
     it. An otherwise ordinary bureaucrat, Raoul Wallenberg, chose 
     to become an extraordinary person when, over the course of 
     his diplomatic career, he found a way to save 100,000 
     Hungarian Jews. Lantos was among them.
       As people who have inherited a legacy from our families, we 
     have an obligation to recognize man's inhumanity to man 
     regardless of whether it is convenient to do so. We have an 
     obligation to properly recognize an injustice by its name, 
     regardless of the political discomfort or cost. And, like 
     Lantos, we have an obligation to live by the words ``never 
     again'' and to remind the world when those ominous words are 
     back in play.
       In Tom Lantos' passing we lost the sentinel on humanity's 
     gate. We owe it to those he protected to speak the truth, no 
     matter the cost.

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