[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14828-14829]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           CIVILITY IS NEEDED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, thank you for your 
indulgence.
  We were in a Judiciary Committee hearing on the importance of 
protecting this Nation from weapons of mass destruction and then in a 
hearing on the Homeland Security Committee, on which I serve, in trying 
to ensure that we secure this homeland and also respect the privacy of 
our citizens. I believe that is a very important challenge.

                              {time}  1110

  I wanted to come to this floor to call for civility and 
understanding. Those are two conflicting terms. But as a member of the 
Judiciary Committee, having the privilege to oversee the Constitution 
of the United States, I hold very dear the idea of the Bill of Rights, 
which allows our citizens the right to the First Amendment, the right 
to association, and the right to freedom of religion.
  But sometimes you have to call upon your right to explain or to 
express your abhorrence with ugly speech.
  So I want to say that over the past couple of days, we have had 
Herman Cain shouting out about brainwashing of a certain population of 
people, African Americans, who I guess he suggests that we are not 
educated persons and as different as any other population of Americans. 
The greatness of Americans is that we are mosaic, we are diverse. 
Though I may challenge the philosophy of the Tea Party and have great 
abhorrence of their views, I would never suggest that those individuals 
didn't thoughtfully think about who they wanted to associate with. So 
again to Mr. Cain, get your vocabulary straight and understand that we 
have a brain as well and make choices on our interests.
  Then my good friend Hank Williams, who I guess professes to be one of 
America's great philosophers, when he was posed a question about the 
President of the United States and the Speaker of the House attempting 
civility through what a lot of Americans do, playing golf, he chose to 
use a, what I think was both an unhelpful and disgraceful comparison. 
Now, I don't know who he was calling what, but he used the phrase that 
it would be like the Prime Minister of Israel meeting with Hitler.
  And one would have to argue, am I defending the Speaker of the House 
or the President of the United States? I'm defending the idea that ugly 
speech should be called out any time it is utilized. Mr. Williams, you 
might stick to the penning of a new hit that you haven't had for a long 
period of time, although I'm sure you have many fans, for you to 
characterize any leader as the dastardly and heinous person that Hitler 
was, the dastardly and heinous and horrific acts that he perpetrated on 
people who were innocent. From those who happened to be of the Jewish 
faith to Polish people to people of many different backgrounds that 
lost their lives in this disgraceful era that was led by Hitler during 
the time that Germany was led by the Nazis.
  What a disgraceful statement.
  So I would ask that we understand that America is a great country 
because people view us as being tolerant of so many different things.
  And I conclude by suggesting that those who are watching those on 
Wall Street who have gathered now, 700 of them were arrested, college 
students may be out of their classes at 12 noon, and I say hurray for 
people who are standing up and asking the question, where is my country 
going?
  I want to take it back. I do believe in saving Medicare, Medicaid, 
and Social Security, Pell Grants that are on the cutting board. I want 
a job, and I want banks to be able to give access to credit to small 
businesses. Of the five that I visited over my time in my district, and 
more that are coming as I go to many others, I hear over and over 
again, are we going to respond to the needs of small businesses or are 
banks going to continue to crush the backs of small businesses by not 
lending them credit? People have a reason to be upset. But we don't 
have to use ugly talk.

[[Page 14829]]

  But don't judge people because they're out in the streets. I disagree 
with the Tea Party because of the stranglehold that they have on this 
Congress that doesn't allow us to come together in a civil manner and 
come together on behalf of the American people. But at the same time I 
recognize their constitutional rights, recognize the constitutional 
rights of those that Wall Street and other places have chosen to be 
arrested because they don't like what is going on in this Nation. They 
don't like the fact we are in an obstruction form of government, that 
we would take from those who need us most and we would use them to 
balance the budget.
  I'm going to stand with the people who are out in the streets and 
say, you are right--and tell Hank Williams to try and write another 
song that might get him a hit so he doesn't have to talk so much.

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