[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15109-15110]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                DO NOT ISSUE CONFEDERATE LICENSE PLATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. There are many times that we come to the 
floor to address our current plight. I do wish to say to the American 
people that we're well aware of the importance of jobs and the focus of 
creating those jobs, and I would offer to you that most economists will 
say that job creation is a public and private partnership. That is a 
very important issue.
  I rise today, however, as, again, those who seek the Republican 
nomination for the Presidency of the United States will come before the 
American people this evening. They will present a number of issues. 
This time it will be jobs. I hope they will present themselves in a 
manner that acknowledges that anyone who has the privilege of serving 
serves on behalf of the American people. And the American people come 
from all backgrounds, and I respect that.
  In particular, I'm going to ask the Governor of the State of Texas, 
in his good vices and his beliefs in the equality of all, to reflect 
upon a decision that is about to be made in the State of Texas, and 
that is a decision in 2011 to issue a Confederate license plate. 
Confederate--the same group of individuals who opted to secede from the 
Union.
  I am here as someone who applauds and appreciates the sacrifice that 
any person in uniform makes. I will not step away from the idea that 
much blood was shed in the Civil War. But what I am offering to say is 
that in 2011 it would be a disgrace, it would be outrageous, to uplift 
the Confederacy on a license plate in the State of Texas. Let me tell 
you why.

[[Page 15110]]

  First of all, one of the most heinous tragedies of this great 
country's history was the holding of slaves. More importantly, millions 
of slaves destined for the United States and the Americas died in that 
dark passage before they even got to this soil. The brutality of 
slavery is without doubt and without question. The State of Texas 
continued slavery for 2 years longer than any other place in the United 
States because we did not get notice for 2 years after President 
Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation. Who wants to ignite and 
remind you of that kind of devastating history?
  And so, as the Texas Motor Vehicle Department makes a decision, I beg 
of their members to recognize that this is not a uniting action but a 
dividing action, because the action will be a State-issued plate that 
would affirm the brutality against African Americans, against slaves, 
against the ancestors who paid with their life to build this country. 
There was no debt ever paid for the 400 years of slavery, for the 
dividing of families, the brutality against children, the hanging and 
brutality that continued even into Jim Crow.
  And as we look to the honoring of the monument of Dr. Martin Luther 
King this coming week, I beg of my fellow Texans on this board to 
recognize that this is a national issue. It is a national issue of 
prominence because to issue a Confederate license plate is to go and do 
what many States have undone--the removing of the symbols of the 
Confederacy, the taking away of the ``Rebel'' name for the University 
of Texas. Why? Because they believe in moving America forward and 
focusing on such things as bringing our troops home and honoring them, 
focusing on such things as creating jobs. And how heinous would it be 
for the State of Texas, one of the largest States in the Nation, to 
have its young men who are of African American heritage on the front 
lines of Iraq and Afghanistan to come home and have to look at a 
Confederate license plate.

                              {time}  1220

  This is not free speech. This is not freedom of speech. Because 
anyone who desires to promote that particular life and legacy, they are 
so allowed to do so. They may print anything in the privacy of their 
home, wear anything, put anything on their front yard, their back yard, 
but not a State-issued plate with Texas dollars embedded inside of that 
particular symbol. America is greater than that.
  I love this country. All of us are patriots because we love this 
Nation no matter what side of the aisle. And I might remind you, Madam 
Speaker, that a Republican state senator--I want to thank him--has 
indicated that we should not have this kind of symbol in Texas.
  I beg you, Mr. Perry, tonight to speak to your higher angels and talk 
about bringing us together. Do not issue a confederate license plate in 
the State of Texas for God's sake. And God bless America.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks 
to the Chair.

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