[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 7032-7033]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              RESILIENCE OF THE CITY OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I represent the Tennessee Ninth 
Congressional District, which is Memphis. Memphis has been in the news 
quite a bit these past few weeks, and partly it's been for a bad 
reason: a flood, the greatest flood since 1937 on the Mississippi 
River. There has been a massive flow of water across lands and into our 
downtown and other areas, and it's affected a lot of people. I have 
toured the damage. There are at least 1,500 people whose homes have 
been lost. They are in shelters. They have lost possessions.

                              {time}  1020

  But the city of Memphis is coming together with a lot of volunteerism 
to help those people, and the Federal Government, through FEMA and the 
Corps of Engineers, is doing all it can to protect property and protect 
people and offer them shelter and food. And because it's a disaster 
area, we'll be helping them get back on their feet once again. It's a 
tragedy for those people and a tragedy for a lot of other people up and 
down the river.
  But the fact is the city of Memphis is open and open for business, 
and most of the city of Memphis is not affected by the flood. Contrary 
to what you might see on the news, the entire city is not underwater. 
The business sections, most of the city, are totally dry, and people 
are going to work, flying Federal Express planes all over the world to 
deliver packages. International Paper and all the businesses that are 
there are fully operational.
  Our Memphis Grizzlies are still alive and playing tonight in the NBA 
Western finals, and the people of Memphis are filling the FedEx Forum 
when they play and cheering them on and bringing the city together in 
the spirit that Memphians have come together for years.
  The city of Memphis has had problems over the years. A yellow fever 
epidemic in the 1870s almost destroyed the city, but it didn't. The 
city came back and came back even stronger.
  The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King on the 4th of April, 
1968, was an awful moment in our city history and one we had to 
overcome. But the city did. And on that site, the Lorraine Motel, has 
been built a great civil rights museum, the National Civil Rights 
Museum, like a phoenix from the ashes telling the story of the civil 
rights movement and the movement out of slavery and out of Jim Crow 
into an era where an African American could and has been elected 
President of these United States.
  The city of Memphis and the people have an indomitable spirit. They 
have come back from problems in the past and will continue to do so.
  Yesterday, the city of Memphis received great news when President 
Obama announced that of all the schools that applied in this Nation in 
the Race to the Top program to be recognized and to be honored by his 
presence as the commencement speaker for graduation, that Booker T. 
Washington High School, a high school created in the 1800s, a Jim Crow 
school, an African American school in the 1800s, which has done 
spectacularly well in academics, increased their graduation rate from 
the fifties into the 81st percentile, best in the State on algebra 
scores and other scores, and great improvement and shown innovation, 
was chosen as the school in the country to have the President come to 
their graduation. He will speak at the Booker T. Washington High School 
graduation next Monday in Memphis. It will be his first visit to 
Memphis, and the city of Memphis has looked forward to his visit. I 
look forward to his visit, and have encouraged the President to come to 
Memphis, and I hope he'll come more times after that.
  But for those students and other students who need to have 
inspiration and hope, particularly at this time when there is flood and 
many people have been dispossessed, it's so important that the 
President be there and give those students hope and encourage them to 
continue to make good grades and to lift themselves up.
  Many of the students at Booker T. Washington lived in housing 
projects, Cleaborn Homes, which was recently demolished to make way for 
a HOPE VI project, the fifth of six in the city of Memphis, which has 
gotten rid of projects but given people private residences or 
apartments and a better way of life. Those students saw their homes 
destroyed, but they've worked hard in their school and stayed at Booker 
T.

[[Page 7033]]

Washington High School and will be honored by the President's visit.
  They, like everybody else in Memphis, cheer for the Memphis 
Grizzlies, and the Grizzlies cheer towel is one that I bring you today. 
``Believe Memphis.'' Believe Memphis has carried the Grizzlies, an 
eighth-seeded team, to the championship game. The city believes. The 
city is strong. We urge you to come to Memphis, have some ribs, have 
some music and enjoy our hospitality.

                          ____________________