[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5897]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




SHARING THE CARIBBEAN'S APPRECIATION FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA'S INAUGURATION

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                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 25, 2009

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to share the optimism of the 
Caribbean people in response to the historic inauguration of Barack 
Obama on January 20th, 2009. The New York CARIB News has deemed the 
44th presidency ``a watershed, a significant departure from where we 
once were as a nation.'' What a great feeling it is to know that when 
Mr. Obama put his hand on the Bible used by Lincoln to vow to uphold 
the nation's constitution, it was well received by people of the 
Caribbean and around the world. I share the sentiment expressed by the 
reporters of New York CARIB that it was a moment to savor. A news 
article in the publication titled, ``U.S./Caribbean-Relations: On the 
Verge of a new Chapter in America and World History,'' makes the case.

             [From the New York CARIB News, Jan. 20, 2009]

       On the verge of a New Chapter in America and World History

       As a soldier in the civil rights movement of almost half a 
     century ago, a person on the front line of the battle for 
     equality has lived through and has helped to break down the 
     barriers that have opened the flood gates to next week's 
     historic event.
       Naturally, John Lewis, a Congressman from Georgia and a 
     sharecropper's son who shared the stage of the ``March on 
     Washington'' in 1963 with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., quite 
     clearly understands the monumental significance of the 
     official swearing in Washington on January 20th, the 
     inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of 
     the United States and the nation's first Black Commander-in-
     Chief. It has been a long time in coming. The road to the 
     inauguration was soaked in the blood, sweat. and tears of 
     millions, both Black and white, who like John Lewis, Marcus 
     Garvey, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Roger Wilkins, 
     and a long list of thousands of major iconic figures in 
     American history, had a vision of what was possible in a 
     country in which race was at the core of public policy.
       ``Without the Emancipation Proclamation, the sit-ins, the 
     Freedom Rides, the march on Washington, there may not be a 
     Barack Obama,'' was the way John Lewis summed up the set of 
     building blocks, which have placed us on the cusp of a new 
     chapter in America's history. It signals the promise of more 
     than a new way of thinking but a fresh and inclusive approach 
     to decision-making in a nation whose influence affects almost 
     every corner of the globe.
       ``It's the pinnacle,'' said Roger Wilkins, a former 
     university history professor in Washington, as he reflected 
     on the impact of Obama's November 4th victory at the polls. 
     It stands to reason, therefore, that as we look forward to 
     Tuesday's momentous step we cast our minds back to the days 
     when in 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark Dred 
     Scott case decided that Blacks ``had no rights which any 
     white man was bound to respect.'' Next, it took President 
     Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on 
     January 1, 1863 to free all slaves in Confederate States.
       Just in case, you think we are delving into ancient history 
     to prove a point, just remember that it was about 50 years 
     ago, George Wallace, Alabama's most notorious segregationist 
     Governor, vowed ``segregation today . . . segregation 
     forever.''
       Less than 20 years before that, African American servicemen 
     and women defended this country during the Second World War 
     fighting or serving in segregated units. Who could have 
     imaged back then that we would have lived to see the day when 
     Colin Powell, a Black man with Caribbean family roots, would 
     in less, than 40 years, become the Chairman of the Joint 
     Chiefs of State and much later the U.S. Secretary of State.
       And it was during Obama's lifetime, when he was two years 
     old that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became the law of the 
     law, officially removing the stain of racial prejudice from 
     our lives. It would take decades and scores of legal tests at 
     the highest levels of our state and federal judicial systems 
     to ensure that the Act was accepted by most Americans.
       Small wonder, then, that President Bill Clinton once 
     described racism as ``America's curse.''
       That's why when Chief Justice Roberts administers the 
     presidential oath of office and Obama puts his hand on the 
     Bible once used by Lincoln to vow to uphold the nation's 
     constitution that people everywhere, not simply in the 50 
     states and in the U.S. territories would fully appreciate how 
     far we have traveled and where the country is heading.
       But his mere presence in the White House wouldn't be enough 
     to make the nation what we hope and dreamed it would be: a 
     place where all persons would be judged on their merits and 
     not on the color of their skins.
       Undeniably, America is not the same. Obama's election and 
     his inauguration are like a watershed, a significant 
     departure from where we once were as a nation. As a matter of 
     fact, he couldn't have captured the presidency without the 
     support of four of every 10 white voters who cast their 
     ballots for him, alongside the 95 per cent of Blacks and the 
     more than 60 per cent of Hispanics.
       On Tuesday, people of all ethnic groups, sizes and shapes, 
     not only in the United States but around the world will savor 
     the moment and thank God, Allah, Jesus, you name the supreme 
     being, that they have lived long enough to see it.
       It's a feeling like no other.

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