[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11996-12003]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous materials into the Record on the subject of this 
Special Order.

[[Page 11997]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor and my privilege once again 
to anchor this CBC Special Order where, for the next 60 minutes, the 
members of the Congressional Black Caucus will have an opportunity to 
speak directly to the American people on the important issue of race in 
America. Where do we go from here?
  The events of the last several weeks have startled many throughout 
this country; most recently, the verdict down in Florida where Mr. 
Zimmerman was acquitted and the result that shocked many all across 
this country, a verdict that was viewed by many as unjust.
  A few weeks prior to that, the Supreme Court struck down an important 
provision of the Voting Rights Act, an act that had been the most 
effective piece of civil rights legislation in this country which has 
helped to bring our democracy to life and is designed to make sure that 
all Americans, regardless of race, have an opportunity to participate 
in our democracy in a meaningful way.
  The debate over the farm bill that has left many people troubled by 
the fact that the SNAP program, in an unprecedented fashion, was left 
out; and if we don't come to an agreement here, our failure to step up 
and help those who are hungry will disproportionately have an effect on 
many in the African American community.
  These are just some of the recent events that have come together to 
put us in a position where, as the President has recently indicated, 
it's time for us to have a meaningful conversation on race--a direct 
conversation, a forthright conversation, an honest conversation. That's 
why the members of the Congressional Black Caucus are here today.
  We have made tremendous progress in America. We've come a long way in 
this great country, but we certainly still have a ways to go. The road 
to equality is still under construction, and we're here today to try 
and lay out a roadmap for how we can get closer to a more perfect union 
here in America.
  I'm pleased today that we've been joined by the chairwoman of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, the distinguished gentlelady from Ohio (Ms. 
Fudge), who has been such a tremendous, eloquent, forceful leader in 
her position as chair of the CBC.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio.
  Ms. FUDGE. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I want to thank you, Congressman Jeffries, for leading the 
Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour on this very important 
topic tonight, a topic that has once again captured national attention 
and sparked a dialogue in communities across this Nation.
  On Friday, President Obama helped provide context to the emotion 
Americans--and particularly African American men--have had around the 
tragedy of Trayvon Martin. Over the weekend, people of all ages and 
races gathered at Federal Government buildings in their cities to stand 
together, to rise up for justice and in honor of Trayvon.
  To many, the verdict we all heard on Saturday, July 13, was a 
miscarriage of justice, a consistent failure of our system that we've 
seen in this country one too many times. But tonight, I want to broaden 
this conversation on race and justice in America. I want to talk about 
how the emotion and discontent we are seeing from the average community 
and people of other races in this country is about much more than the 
Zimmerman verdict.
  Much of the emotion we are seeing is in response to the continual 
attack on the rights and the closing of doors to opportunity for 
millions of individuals in this country. I'm not just talking about 
African Americans tonight. I'm talking about people who come from poor 
families, who are trying to find their way out of a cycle of poverty. 
I'm talking about students who are doing all they can to pay for 
school, but who have to choose between being in the classroom or paying 
back loans that are becoming a source of profit for the government to 
help decrease the deficit.

                              {time}  2015

  I'm talking about thousands of students from Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities who had to leave school because of changes to 
loans their parents took out to help them get an education. These 
changes were made without any consideration of how they would hurt 
these young people. I'm talking about tonight, Mr. Speaker, immigrants 
of Hispanic, African, Asian, and European descent who are working in 
this Nation but have no rights. I'm talking about people in communities 
across this Nation who must now fight harder to have their voices heard 
in our democracy because others will use subversive, and now 
permissible, tactics to make it harder to vote.
  And, yes, to the Supreme Court of the United States, this is still a 
problem. You see, what we are experiencing and talking about right now 
is not just about Zimmerman. It is not just about race in America. It 
is about a system that should be just in creating and protecting the 
conditions for everyone to succeed, but instead it continues to favor 
some over others.
  Since its inception in 1971, the Congressional Black Caucus has stood 
against injustice in our society so that inequity in treatment and 
opportunity under the law comes to an end so that all people are 
treated equally. Today, we continue that fight and ask America to join 
with us, not so that one group of any particular race can win, but so 
that, in the end, we all win.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished chair of the CBC.
  Our objective here today, as part of our mission in the Congress, is 
really just to make sure that all Americans, regardless of skin color, 
have access to the American Dream, have an opportunity to pursue life 
and liberty and happiness here in America, unencumbered by any barriers 
connected to the color of their skin. That's our hope in America. That 
will make America all that it can be, this great country even better, 
in the quest toward a more perfect Union.
  I am pleased that we've been joined by the distinguished gentleman 
from New York, the lion of Lenox Avenue, a legendary Member of this 
great institution, Congressman Charles Rangel.
  Mr. RANGEL. Let me thank my friend and colleague from the great 
Borough of Brooklyn, city of New York, and my colleagues, for coming 
down to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, when we started the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971, 
I guess most people said: Why do you need a Black Caucus? Thirteen of 
you of color have been able to break the walls of racism and 
discrimination to reach the Halls of the United States Congress. 
Obviously, you don't have to say that you're Black.
  What we tried to do then, and I guess we are still involved in that 
struggle, is to try to make certain that there's absolutely no need for 
any group of people to have to identify themselves for protection and 
for aggressiveness on programs because of their color.
  I tell the gentleman from New York--I guess you were about born when 
we started the Caucus--I wish by the time you got here and you were 
looking for the Congressional Black Caucus, I would be able to say: 
Hakeem, that's all over. That's when we were not treated as full 
Americans. That's ancient times, the same way I had thought that poll 
taxes and things of that nature that the late--my predecessor--Adam 
Clayton Powell had been able to overcome.
  So now comes the question where people feel so awkward to say race 
was a factor in the killing of young Mr. Martin. Why would they feel so 
awkward? It is so easy to understand if two people have a problem, one 
was minding his business, the other was stalking him, one had a gun and 
the other ended up dead, and he had already described to the police who 
he was following and it was a person of color. I don't think I've heard 
anyone challenge if the colors were reversed it wouldn't take all of 
the weeks, days and weeks that it took just to arrest somebody.
  The reason that we are asking for the Justice Department to examine 
this is

[[Page 11998]]

because the Justice Department has been successful in examining a whole 
lot of criminal activity where the local community somehow didn't see 
it. And George, as the family in Sanford calls him, obviously was a 
part of that family. I would think anybody would like somebody that's 
not a part of that family to go in and see what happened to Trayvon.
  But having said that, if you want to know where do we go from here, 
we don't have to explain why Blacks are killing Blacks. If we say 
that's an epidemic, if we say that's a sickness, if we say that's a 
disaster, I ask my fellow Americans: What the heck do you do when you 
find a disaster? I think one of the things that you do is try to stop 
it from spreading and find out what do these areas have in common.
  First of all, why is it that members of the Congressional Black 
Caucus have more of these than other Members in the Congress? We don't 
want to talk about color. Color is not an issue, right? Right.
  But are we talking about the poorest communities that we have in the 
United States of America? Well, what's that got to do with it? Are we 
talking about communities that have the lousiest education system in 
the United States of America?
  Rangel, I don't see why you are bringing that up. Are we talking 
about sick people physically, where they have mental problems they call 
them crazy instead of disoriented?
  Rangel, you're going way off now. Are we talking about legislation 
that actually, in an investment of the United States, less money goes 
into these communities than communities of wealth?
  Listen, you put all this together, Rangel, that doesn't explain why 
people shoot each other.
  Well, I don't know why people shoot each other, but I know one thing: 
Who doesn't shoot each other? Our young kids that are inspired. They've 
got education. They've got families. They've got a country that's the 
wind behind their wings that want to make a contribution to this great 
country. They can walk anywhere, talk anywhere, and nobody is going to 
be following them talking about, ``You look like someone that may hurt 
somebody.''
  Now, we can't solve the problem unless we talk about it. If you are 
talking about Hurricane Sandy, if you are talking about fires, if you 
are talking about disasters, why can't we talk about this? This is 
costing America human beings. It is costing lives. It is costing money. 
It is costing us embarrassment.
  We are losing in terms of having stronger productivity. We are losing 
in terms of competition. It is not just the communities and their 
families that are losing. America is losing, the same way we would not 
hesitate to reach out to any village or any town or any State that has 
any type of an epidemic.
  So don't just look at the color. Look at the economic circumstances 
that are in the community that has it. If you want, you might want to 
look up and see what Member of Congress represents this.
  They say that sometimes we look to cut our districts. Well, take a 
look. We didn't look to cut our districts. Our districts looked for us 
to represent them. The day we become color blind is the day the 
Constitution should say we walked out of this body.
  Our job here is to give this Congress sight. ``Color'' isn't a dirty 
word. It could be one of the most beautiful words that we have in the 
United States of America. Different colors, different cultures, 
different languages, different ways that we can enjoy being with each 
other, learning from each other.
  So if we have a problem in Chicago, in Dallas, in Harlem, let's share 
that problem. Whenever there is a problem anyplace in these great 
United States, that all of us can come together and try to bring people 
up so that this country doesn't have to take a back seat to anybody 
when it comes to saying: This is the land of the free; this is the home 
of the brave. And when you shoot someone down, you don't have to look 
at the color of the victim or the perpetrator, justice shall rein and 
discrimination and color shall not be a cause for lack of justice.
  Let me thank my gentleman from Brooklyn for giving us this 
opportunity. We've taken a death. I was with the family this weekend. 
The mother said she lost her son but will dedicate her life to make 
certain she does all that she can so that no mother and father would 
lose their son. She didn't say ``Black''; she didn't say ``White.'' The 
President said that you have to walk in his shoes. Anybody that's a 
father that loses a teenage son, the more that son looks like you, the 
more pain that you suffered.
  I am about to take my seat, but I was just reminded when I went to 
Korea and we were going up the lines, we saw all kinds of dead people: 
South Koreans, communist Koreans, North Koreans, and our colleagues 
that were White soldiers that had died before we got there. But my 
colleague from Brooklyn, before we got up to the lines, two trucks, the 
catafalios flew off them because of the speed that they were driving, 
and in those cars were Black dead soldiers in our uniform cross-length, 
like they were logs on the way to grave registration. I don't have to 
tell you we felt a lot different in looking at those people who looked 
exactly like us.
  Thank you so much for this opportunity.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from New York for 
his very insightful, passionate, and wonderful remarks as they relate 
to the situation that we in America find ourselves in today, the way 
forward, as well as an understanding of why we have arrived in this 
position.
  Before I turn the floor over to the distinguished gentlelady from 
Texas, I just want to thank the Congressman from Harlem for mentioning 
the fact that we here in America do have a capacity, I think, to 
address multiple problems at the same time. We can multitask.
  It's wrong when a child is killed in the inner city. It's wrong when 
a child is killed, 17 years old, walking home down in Sanford, Florida. 
We have an ability to address all of these problems, but there are some 
in this country that criticize those of us who raise problems of 
injustice in America by immediately pointing out that in inner cities 
all across this country--in Brooklyn, in Harlem, in Houston, in 
Chicago--there's Black-on-Black violence. We understand that it is our 
children who are dying. That is why the CBC, this Friday, will be in 
Chicago convening a summit to discuss the problem of violence in the 
inner city communities in places like Chicago, Illinois. But that 
doesn't mean we turn a blind eye to injustices that exist in other 
parts of the system.
  We are pleased that we've been joined by the distinguished gentlelady 
from Houston, Texas, who has been working hard on this issue, on many 
issues of concern and injustice here in America. So let me now yield to 
Representative Sheila Jackson Lee.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Let me thank the distinguished gentleman from New 
York and let me thank our chairperson, the Honorable Marcia Fudge, and 
all my colleagues that are on the floor tonight to accept the challenge 
that has been given over the airways by many people.
  I want to thank Mr. Jeffries for pointing out--as I stand here as a 
mother, I would make the argument of a son, of a Black son. I can 
affirm that any child's life is of great value. In fact, we spent the 
weekend in Houston reaffirming the value of a child's life.
  I want to cite and compliment Bishop James Dixon and Pastor Kirbyjon 
Caldwell, Pastors Henderson and Nash and Lawson and many other pastors 
that were there, who obviously joined with so many, including my 
colleague who is here on the floor of the House, Congressman Al Green. 
I heard nothing but an affirmation of the value of life.
  I'm delighted as a lawyer and as a legislator that you reaffirm that 
African Americans do not coddle crime of any kind, a crime that happens 
to be between two African Americans or, in essence, two Caucasians. It 
is noted, if my facts are correct, that 84 percent of the crimes 
perpetrated on White Americans are done by White Americans.

[[Page 11999]]



                              {time}  2030

  Eighty six percent of the crimes done on Black persons, on Black 
Americans, are done by Black people.
  It might be that it speaks again to the isolated, segregated 
neighborhoods that we travel in, but the one thing, Mr. Speaker, that 
is unique is that you can count on the fact that those African 
Americans who perpetrated crimes are incarcerated over and over again 
at a higher number than any other population in this Nation.
  Their lives, the premise of much of what we are discussing tonight--
and I would hope that as I finish that it will also be a pleading that 
we have a discussion on race. Let me just cite these numbers since I 
started out with the idea of incarceration. Incarceration is not an 
equal opportunity punishment.
  For example, incarceration rates in the United States by race were as 
follows: 2,468 per 100,000 are Black; 1,038 per 100,000 are Latinos; 
409 per 100,000 are White. The United States locks up its Black males 
at a rate 5.8 times higher than what previously has been known as one 
of the more racist countries in the world, which is South Africa. Under 
apartheid in 1993, Black males were only 851 per 100,000. In 2006, 
Black males were 4,789.
  I would say to my colleagues and to the Speaker and to my colleagues 
here: What are we to think when the scales of justice are unequally 
balanced?
  As my friends have said, it is the pain that we felt at the loss of 
Trayvon Martin and the simplicity of an arrest and then ultimately, 
with a Sanford jury in a State trial, that we could not even find with 
much evidence to prove that there was not enough commonality of 
cultural connection and that they could not see that something should 
have valued the loss of an innocent child who simply was walking to get 
home.
  Maybe it is the words of Frederick Douglass that he said on April 16, 
1883:

       It is a real calamity in this country for any man, guilty 
     or not guilty, to be accused of a crime. We are all upset 
     when that happens--guilty or not guilty, perpetrator or not--
     but it is an incomparably greater calamity for any colored 
     man to be so accused. Justice is often painted with bandaged 
     eyes. She is described in forensic eloquence as utterly blind 
     to wealth or poverty, high or low, White or Black; but a mass 
     of iron, however thick, could never blind American justice 
     when a Black man happens to be on trial.

  I would say to my colleagues that that is something we have to move 
beyond in America.
  In an E.J. Dionne article, he said:

       The dignity and grace of Trayvon Martin's family should 
     inspire all of us to keep our eyes on the future. We should 
     not blind ourselves either to the persistence of racism or to 
     our triumphs in pushing it back.

  It does not help when those who are not like those of us who are on 
the floor--members of the Congressional Black Caucus--want to push back 
and call those of us who raise questions of justice--which, by the way, 
if you impact and correct the criminal justice system, you're going to 
impact Whites and Latinos, and you're going to impact African 
Americans. If you address the question of mandatory minimums, if you 
address the question of rehabilitation funding, if you address the 
question of providing housing and opportunity for work for those who 
have come out of prison--no matter from where they come out, the 
Federal system or, in fact, the State system--you make it better for 
all. But every time we raise the question of improving issues of 
justice, we get called or get labeled as being racist.
  So I want to say to America and to our friends: Can we not be called 
``Americans''? Because that is what the Congressional Black Caucus 
stands for.
  In 1997, John Hope Franklin finished a report that called itself 
``One America in the 21st Century: Forging a New Future.'' I will read 
one sentence:

       America's greatest promise in the 21st century--which we're 
     in right now--lies in our ability to harness the strength of 
     our racial diversity.

  We have not done that, and that is why the Congressional Black Caucus 
is here on the floor of the House to be able to accept the challenge 
that the President made as he indicated to America, unabashedly and 
without fear: that it's not only that Trayvon may have been my son, but 
that he may have been me.
  The President said something very powerful. He said that we must, all 
of us--Members of Congress and Governors and pastors and plain 
civilians and young people--do some soul searching, and that we must as 
families and churches and workplaces find the possibility of being a 
little bit more honest and at least ask yourself your own questions: Am 
I wringing as much bias out of myself as I can? Am I judging people as 
much as I can based not on the color of their skin but on the content 
of their character? That, I would think, would be an appropriate 
exercise in the wake of this tragedy.
  So tonight, Mr. Speaker, in joining with my colleagues, I'm going to 
stand unabashedly and ask for that kind of discussion. I want it for 
those who were standing on the street corners yesterday in Houston, 
Texas, shouting out that people were racist because they were concerned 
about a court decision that they didn't think was fair. I am concerned 
that all of those people who were marching would be labeled across 
America, in all the cities in which they were--peacefully without 
arrest or incident--as ``un-American.'' That's when we have to wring, 
if you will, our souls and find that we take from it the bias that we 
might perceive to be blocking us from understanding the richness of our 
diversity.
  So I would argue that we are blessed because we have Asians, blessed 
because we have White people, blessed because we have Latinos, blessed 
because we have African Americans, blessed because of the diversity in 
sexual orientation, blessed because we have people who are short and 
tall, blessed because we have people who are wealthy and middle class, 
and blessed because as a Congress we can work on those who are 
impoverished, and we can stop the devastation of the SNAP and provide 
the opportunity for those individuals who are impoverished to do 
better.
  Finally, let me say this. This past week, we honored an icon who 
moved me because of the diversity of those who were honoring--from 
Senator Cornyn from my State and Senator McConnell, organized by Maxine 
Waters and Eric Cantor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
Senator Durbin, and on and on and on, Leader Pelosi and Clyburn and 
Hoyer--and I'm sure I've missed many others--our chairwoman and Eleanor 
Holmes Norton. What a vast diversity of individuals who rose to honor 
Madiba, Nelson Mandela.
  Nelson Mandela said something that should be potent as we look to fix 
the inequity of self-defense laws, as many of us look at racial 
profiling, which exists extensively in this country, as evidenced by 
the heinous crime that generated the hate crimes legislation in our 
State of Texas--the killing of James Byrd, an individual who was 
dismembered, who was an African American male who was minding his 
business while walking along a lonely rural road. Another man was 
killed in Mississippi, who just came to a hotel and went out to his 
car, and was killed tragically just because of who he was. The numbers 
of cases that we've had are that impact that we have not yet 
understood--the greatness of America.
  So we've got to change stand-your-ground laws, and I intend to 
introduce that legislation this week. I look for bipartisan support 
because, as Senator McCain said, maybe we need to look and to review 
federally what stand-your-ground laws are doing, not the Castle laws, 
but the extension of those that then carry this power out into the 
public where you do not have to retreat.

  But I read these words of Mandela's. They say:

       Our struggle has reached a decisive moment. We call on 
     people to be able to intensify the struggle on all fronts.

  He had another quote that I'd like to read:

       Honor comes when you pursue and are determined in your 
     struggle.

  He mentioned the fact that, even with humiliation, even with insults 
and even with defeat, if you continue in your struggle, then there is 
honor due.
  Let me thank Mr. Jeffries for laying out the opportunity for the 
Congressional Black Caucus to answer the

[[Page 12000]]

question: the road to equality is under construction. Also, let me 
thank him for allowing us to rise to the floor.
  I go to my seat by saying that equality will come when school 
districts like North Forest Independent School District will not be 
destroyed and closed in Houston, Texas, when we raise up education; 
equality will come when we focus on ridding this Nation of poverty by 
making sure that we have the kind of economic programs; and equality 
will come when we recognize that justice should roll down on all of us, 
and that we address the question of the criminalization of African 
American males and others so that justice is equally applied but, as 
the individuals return and have done their time, that they will come to 
a place that is welcoming so that they can serve their Nation.
  For that reason, I yield back my time with a great hope of the same 
message that came in the treatise by John Hope Franklin. He chaired the 
committee on race and said that America's greatest promise is in her 
diversity.
  I call upon my colleagues, my friends in Texas, my friends in my 
district: let's sit down at the table of harmony. Let's talk about race 
as we embrace each other and love each other, because that's what 
America is all about. Thank you to the Congressional Black Caucus for 
its vision and its leadership.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlelady from Texas for her 
very thoughtful and eloquent remarks.
  We in the CBC simply want a justice system that is color blind. That 
should be our goal, our objective, our mission here in America. We 
can't have a set of laws unequally applied--over-enforced with one 
group that looks a certain way and under-enforced with another group 
that looks a different way. That's not the type of America we want.
  One of the reasons so many folks were troubled with the verdict down 
in Florida was that it appeared that the stand-your-ground defense 
seemed available for a self-appointed vigilante who shot down a 17-
year-old in cold blood but, apparently, was not available for a 
battered woman who simply fired a warning shot against someone who had 
had a history of abusing her. We just want a set of laws equally 
applied to everybody.
  We are pleased that the distinguished gentlelady from New York--my 
neighbor back at home--who has been a fighter for justice here in the 
Congress over the last 6-plus years, has joined us. Let me now yield to 
Representative Yvette Clarke.
  Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from Brooklyn, my 
closest colleague in the New York State delegation--both of our 
districts being in the borough of Brooklyn--for leading us in this 
Special Order hour today: Race in America--where do we go from here?
  For more than a year, many people have tried to give voice to Trayvon 
Martin and to present his perspective into the debate concerning the 
injustice of the criminal justice system in Black males. With his 
remarks on Friday, President Obama provided Trayvon Martin a voice. By 
sharing his experiences, he offered America a perspective on the 
experiences of other African American men, women, boys, and girls, and 
he gave voice to millions of Americans who felt the pain of the Martin-
Fulton Family as their own.
  When President Obama introduced racial profiling into the 
conversation, he held up a mirror to the faces of all of us as 
Americans--to a truth that some commentators have tried to ignore and 
that many more are in deep denial of--for, despite the promises of 
equality in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, our 
practices have been inadequate to our ideals. Our beliefs, the best 
traditions of our Nation, have not become a reality for millions of 
Americans of African descent. The tragic death of our young man Trayvon 
Martin, followed by the acquittal of the man who pursued him and killed 
him, has reminded us that, although it may seem as if African Americans 
and other minorities have achieved full equality in our civil society, 
we are still victims of racial profiling--in violation of our laws and 
our morals.
  The lives of Black men and women are not accorded the same value as 
the lives of White Americans. This is the reality for far too many 
Black Americans. Compounding the 21st century's divisive racial tone is 
the reality of knowing that our lives have been devalued, our exercise 
of the liberties to which Americans have been entitled have been 
devalued and diminished, such as the right to vote. With millions of 
Americans, I was deeply disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision 
to prevent the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. We cannot forget 
that prior to the enactment of voting rights that democracy did not 
exist in many parts of the Nation, with the deliberate denial of the 
right to vote to Black people.

                              {time}  2045

  Mr. Speaker, while the Supreme Court's recent decision and the 
Trayvon Martin case are crucial to this conversation, they cannot fully 
address the problem of racial inequality without a discussion of racial 
profiling, the structural discrimination of our judicial system, the 
disintegration of the educational system, and the lack of jobs and 
economic opportunity, especially for the African American community.
  Tonight I want to just quickly hit on the issue of racial profiling 
and our justice system. In a June 2013 report from the ACLU, ``The War 
on Marijuana in Black and White'' demonstrated that even as rates of 
marijuana usage between Blacks and Whites are comparable, Blacks are 
nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.
  In my district in Brooklyn, and all over New York City, African 
American young men are harassed simply because of the color of their 
skin. The excessive use of Stop-and-Frisk, known in New York City as 
the Stop-and-Frisk program, it has been proven that this program 
disproportionately targets African Americans and Latinos, these two 
groups comprising 87 percent of all stops while only about 50 percent 
of the City's population.
  According to the New York City Civil Liberties Union, the number of 
stops of young Black men neared the entire population of young Black 
men, 133,119, as compared to 158,406 in the population in the year 
2012. That means that there were some young men that were getting 
stopped more than once
  Commissioner Kelly increased the number of stops 600 percent since 
2002 when he became Commissioner, reaching a peak of almost 700,000 
stops in the year 2011.
  They have almost a 90 percent fail rate. Only 12 percent of the 
number of massive stops result in an arrest or a summons and have been 
less effective in getting guns off the street than random searches of 
all New Yorkers would. It is a clear violation of civil rights and 
civil liberties of African American and Latino men.
  So where do we going from here?
  Well, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have introduced and 
sponsored legislation on racial profiling, and that will represent a 
comprehensive Federal commitment to healing the rift caused by racial 
profiling and restoring public confidence in the criminal justice 
system at large.
  I want to encourage my colleagues to take a look at this legislation, 
because this is where the conversation can begin, and this is where the 
healing should start. This can be done through the changing of policies 
and procedures underlying the practice of racial profiling and through, 
like the President said, working with the State and local governments 
on training that helps enforcement officials become more aware of 
potential racial and ethnic bias.
  I urge my colleagues to go back to their districts and to hold town 
hall meetings and discussions on race. Speak to your constituents. 
Speak to your families and friends. Have conversations at home and in 
your neighborhoods.
  We must not sit back and watch the progress gained by those who came 
before us who worked diligently and

[[Page 12001]]

often made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom and the rights that we 
all enjoy today, we cannot permit their sacrifices to be forgotten or 
erased from history. Today we must take a stand against further racial 
injustice of all kinds. Enough is enough.
  You know, it's ironic, because when I think about my age and having 
come of age in the 1970s in the United States of America, there was 
just a lot more optimism about us becoming a more perfect Union. And to 
arrive in the House of Representatives in the 21st century and see the 
type of digression that is taking place in our Nation, to know that my 
nephews that are millennials are going through some of the same issues 
that young men in the 1950s and 1960s were facing in a desegregated 
Nation is extraordinarily painful.
  We are an enlightened civil society, and we have an obligation to do 
what we can to make sure that all Americans are worthy of all that this 
Nation has to offer. And that means that we have to have an honest 
conversation about the inequities, the racial injustices that continue 
to persist. While not as blatant as they were in the 1950s and sixties, 
they still fester and continue to be a blight on a Nation that is 
poised for greatness.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlelady from New York.
  The conversation on race is not an easy one, but certainly is a 
necessary one here in America and one that should be embraced because 
the diversity of our society, as the gentleman from New York, 
Congressman Rangel, pointed out, is one of our greatest strengths here 
in America.
  We've been joined by a classmate of mine, the distinguished gentleman 
from New Jersey, Representative Donald Payne, not only one of the 
sharpest dressed Members of Congress, but he's got one of the sharpest 
minds. And so I'm pleased to yield to him such time as he may consume.
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from New York. It 
is really an honor and a privilege to stand here with him as one of the 
freshmen Members in the 113th Congress to discuss an issue that has 
plagued this Nation for centuries.
  I am here tonight to talk to you about an issue that has interested 
me for most of my life, and it is the issue around people having 
respect for one another, irrespective of their racial makeup.
  I grew up in Newark, New Jersey, which is a town, the largest city in 
the State of New Jersey, with many suburbs surrounding that metropolis, 
and our travels in and out of those communities were fraught at some 
times with peril for young men. So that was 40 years ago.
  But fast-forward to the past 18 months, and what do we have? We have 
the same situation still before us. A young boy armed with a bag of 
candy and a drink is profiled and followed. The car follows him, and 
then the individual gets out of the car and follows the young man on 
foot.
  Now, at 17, I wonder how I would have felt if a car had followed me, 
a grown man gets out of the car and continues to follow me. It is a 
situation that I have thought about over the past 18 months because of 
my triplet children. Two are boys who just turned 15, so they're right 
around Trayvon Martin's age. And I wonder: Have I taught them enough to 
be safe? Will they find themselves in this position?
  And on hearing the outcome of the verdict that Saturday evening, one 
of my young sons texted his mother to say what had happened and why had 
that happened, because we taught them in this Nation that justice 
prevails. And how the victim becomes the guilty party in a situation 
like this I still cannot understand, because it became about who and 
what this young man was and what he had done and what he had been doing 
rather than the perpetrator following him.
  I was fortunate to be in New York during the time of the 100 rallies 
across the Nation in finding justice for Trayvon Martin. I proudly 
stood with Trayvon Martin's mother on Saturday, a dignified woman.
  In all of this crisis and sorrow there must be in her heart, she's 
remained a dignified individual and only asked for justice for her son; 
not that people should act out in a manner in which the masses thought 
that they would, but to have a peaceful demonstration about the 
injustices that came out of that case.
  Stand your ground. Did Trayvon Martin have the right to stand his 
ground? He was the one that was being followed. He was the one being 
profiled. When did he lose the right to defend himself?
  We are in a difficult time here in this country, but it seems like we 
always get to this point at some time and we start the conversation, 
but we never finish it. We need to have an open discussion about the 
conditions that we find ourselves in as Americans, all of us. We need 
to understand both sides of the issue, all sides of the issue so we can 
move forward with this great experiment called the United States of 
America.
  It is the greatest Nation in the world, it is true, and many come 
here to live the American Dream. Many nations emulate the United 
States. But we have a long way to go in this Nation as well. The 
injustices that we're facing are widespread and threaten some of the 
most fundamental rights of this country.
  So I ask my colleagues, let's have that discussion. I ask the 
citizens of the United States, let's have that discussion so we can 
form that more perfect Union.
  I have had situations in my life where I've found myself not in the 
exact situation of Trayvon Martin, but issues of racism that were 
perpetrated on me. But I'm not bitter towards an entire population. 
Those were individuals. We have to come to grips with prejudging people 
in this country.
  And I'd just like to end with something Dr. King said:

       In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, 
     but the silence of our friends.

  And my father, the late Congressman Donald Payne, who was a great 
teacher, humanitarian, and felt all people deserved the right to 
freedom, justice, and equality, taught me a poem very early on in my 
life, and I will end with that. It said:

     Whether you have blonde fleecy locks or black complexion,
     It cannot forfeit nature's claim;
     Skin may differ in black and white,
     But it is all just the same.
     Were I so tall as to reach the poles,
     Or span the oceans with my hands;
     I must be measured by my soul,
     The mind is the standard of a man.

  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank Congressman Payne for those very eloquent 
remarks and for noting the conversation that he had with his young son, 
conversations that have been taking place in the aftermath of this 
verdict in households all across this country, with parents and their 
young sons and daughters trying to make sense of an inexplicable 
verdict in the eyes of many.
  Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have remaining in this Special 
Order?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 10 minutes remaining.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I'm going to now turn to the distinguished gentlelady 
from the Virgin Islands, Dr. Donna Christensen.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you for yielding.
  And it's my pleasure to join the CBC for another Special Order, and 
thank you for bringing this issue of race in America before the 
American public tonight, because racism in America is so pervasive in 
so many aspects of our lives. Its impact, of course, was most recently 
and painfully felt in the killing of young Trayvon Martin, as we've 
spoken about this evening, and of course the insensitivity, the slow, 
the poor, and the racially influenced response of the justice system to 
his death.

                              {time}  2100

  Our prayers, our thoughts, and our support are with his parents and 
loved ones, and all of our families who face the same fears for their 
children.
  But I want to speak just briefly about how race in America affects 
health care of African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color. 
According to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, despite the existence 
of civil rights legislation, equal treatment and equal access are not a 
reality

[[Page 12002]]

for racial-ethnic minorities and women in the current climate of the 
health care industry. Many barriers limit both the quality of care and 
utilization for these groups, including discrimination.
  Just in the last National Health Care Disparities Report of 2012, it 
reported that Blacks received worse care than Whites, and Hispanics 
received worse care than non-Hispanic Whites for about 40 percent of 
quality measures. American Indians and Alaskan Natives, worse care than 
Whites for one-third of quality measures. Asians received worse care 
than Whites for about one-quarter of quality measures. And it goes on 
and on and on.
  But just to be very brief, I want to just show you one example of how 
racism affects health care of African Americans and Latinos. Because I 
think this is a stark example of how it happened.
  This is an emergency mortality rate. It's a study done by a doctor 
not too far from here. You can see that whether they're insured or 
uninsured, African Americans and Latinos arriving at an emergency room 
with the exact same injuries are more likely to die. In fact, when 
compared with an uninsured White patient, Black patients with 
equivalent injuries but without insurance had a 78 percent higher risk 
of dying; uninsured Hispanics, a 130 percent higher risk of dying. So 
even if Trayvon Martin had lived, you wonder what would have happened 
if he had arrived at the emergency room.
  And so I just wanted to add the impact of racism in American, which 
continues to this day, and how it affects the health care and the lives 
of African Americans and Latinos. The Affordable Care Act, as we talk 
about where do we go from here, has begun to change this by providing 
coverage and access to care.
  We really have to find ways to change the heart of America. And we 
can't do that by legislation. We thank the CBC for all of its efforts, 
like the efforts that will take place in Chicago and across the 
country.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlelady for those very 
powerful remarks and observations.
  I now yield to the distinguished gentleman from Houston, Texas, a 
fighter for civil rights and equality prior to arriving in the Congress 
and during his tenure here in this great institution, Representative Al 
Green.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. I thank you very much for the opportunity to 
speak. I do want your constituents to know that you have been an 
awesome Congressperson from the awesome Eighth District. And if they 
are as proud of you as I am, you shall have an opportunity to continue 
to serve them. I wish you much success in Congress.
  I would like to thank the President of the United States of America 
for his comments on this issue of Blacks--especially Black males--in 
America. I believe that the President understands that although the arc 
of the moral universe is long, it bends toward justice. But it doesn't 
bend toward justice without some assistance. It doesn't have the 
kinetic energy to do so without some help from mortals. I think the 
President went a long way toward bending the arc of the moral universe 
toward justice with his comments as they relate to the plight of 
African American males. I'm grateful and I'm thankful.
  With reference to the Trayvon Martin trial, we live in a world where 
it's not enough for things to be right. They must also look right. And 
it doesn't look right when a 17-year-old boy leaves home to go to the 
store, and on his way back home, unarmed, encounters a person with a 
firearm, is killed--and it is done so with impunity. It may be right, 
but it does not look right. And because it doesn't look right, we have 
to understand that although you can have a fair trial, you may not have 
justice as the outcome.
  I believe that this trial was fair to Mr. Zimmerman. I don't believe 
it was fair to Trayvon Martin. And I don't believe that we can say that 
this was a just decision.
  Now there are people who would differ with me and say that you 
shouldn't say this. Many of these same people would say that O.J. 
Simpson had a fair trial but that he didn't get a just verdict from 
that court. And the same people who don't want me--us--to protest, you 
have to understand that if it was right for the farmers to come here in 
their tractors and protest the conditions related to farming, then it's 
right for me to protest. If it was right for the veterans after World 
War I to come up here and set up a tent city in protest, it's right for 
me to protest. If it was right for the Tea Party to come to Congress 
and stand along the way across from one building to another and 
protest, then it's right for me to protest. And by the way, I think it 
was right for them to come to Congress to protest. I support their 
right to protest.
  If you think it's wrong for me to protest, then you've got to change 
the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of 
America. We have the right. We must exercise the right because an 
injustice has taken place.
  Because time is short, and there is at least one other speaker, I 
want to mention this as my closing remark. There's something bigger 
than Trayvon Martin and Mr. Zimmerman that's taking place in this 
country, indeed, in the world. There is something bigger than us as 
individuals and individual cases.
  J. Patrick Kinney has appropriately put this together. He has a poem 
styled ``The Cold Within'' that addresses something that we have to 
confront--this coldness that's so pervasive. This is his poem:

     Six humans trapped by happenstance
     in bleak and bitter cold.
     Each one possessed a stick of wood,
     or so the story's told.
     Their dying fire in need of logs,
     the first man held his back
     for of the faces round the fire
     he noticed one was Black.
     The next man looking 'cross the way
     saw one not of his church
     and couldn't bring himself to give
     the fire his stick of birch.
     The third one sat in tattered clothes.
     He gave his coat a hitch.
     Why should his log be put to use
     to warm the idle rich?
     The rich man just sat back and thought
     of the wealth he had in store
     and how to keep what he had earned
     from the lazy shiftless poor.
     The Black man's face bespoke revenge
     as the fire passed from his sight.
     For all he saw in his stick of wood
     was a chance to spite the White.
     The last man of this forlorn group
     did nought except for gain.
     Giving only to those who gave
     was how he played the game.
     Their logs held tight in death's still hands
     was proof of human sin.
     They didn't die from the cold without,
     they died from the cold within.

  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Texas.
  We, unfortunately, are approaching the close of this Special Order. 
To close us out in the remaining time we have Representative Marc 
Veasey from Dallas, who's done a tremendous job as a Member of this 
freshman class.
  Mr. VEASEY. Thank you, Congressman Jeffries. I appreciate you letting 
me talk about this very important topic because we need to talk more 
about equality and have a conversation on race and injustice in this 
country.
  I really liked a lot what Representative Clarke, your colleague from 
New York, said when she talked about the over-enforcement of African 
American males, particularly when it comes to stop and frisk, and other 
Members that talked a lot about the verdict in the Trayvon Martin trial 
that really did discourage a lot of people that were really starting to 
gain hope in our criminal justice system and thought that things were 
getting better.
  I'm concerned about what is going on right now with voting. Because 
in my own State of Texas, there's been so many laws that have been 
enacted, laws that have attempted to be enacted that would scale back 
many of the gains that African Americans have made when it comes to 
exercising our suffrage--discriminatory practices that I didn't grow up 
with when I was a young man but that many people that were before me 
had to deal with and thought that we had made the progress.
  And so at some other point in time I do want to continue to talk 
about this. Because whether it's Trayvon Martin, whether it's over-
enforcement of African Americans and the disproportionate number of 
African Americans

[[Page 12003]]

that end up as part of the criminal justice system, or protecting our 
Voting Rights Act, we need to talk about it more because I, too, 
believe that we can do better as a country and a Nation.
  I want to thank you for holding this hour and also everybody in the 
Black caucus that talked about this very important topic this evening.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Texas. We've 
come a long way in America. But we, of course, still have a ways to go.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate the 
150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th 
anniversary of the historic March on Washington, a new fight for the 
preservation of equal protection and justice under the law has emerged.
  Just last month, the United States Supreme Court overturned a 
critical component of the decades-old Voting Rights Act, effectively 
exposing millions of Americans to discriminatory voting practices. Our 
inability to protect American citizens from discrimination while 
exercising the right to vote brings into question our ability to 
implement other aspects of the law without regard to race.
  In fact, there is significant evidence that we have much more work to 
do to create a non- discriminatory justice system. The recent court 
decision involving Trayvon Martin's death is the latest injustice 
suggestive of discrimination throughout this system, which is further 
exemplified by the harrowing statistics as they pertain to minorities. 
For example, African Americans account for only thirteen percent of the 
U.S. population, yet they represent more than 28 percent of all 
arrests. Further, while more than half of all the individuals on death 
row are people of color, 42% are African American.
  Mr. Speaker, we must reflect on our values and determine what kind of 
future we would like to see for our children. Do we want to leave 
behind a divided nation where the rule of law applies only to select 
groups of individuals? Or do we want to live in a nation united under 
equal opportunity and justice for each and every American? I choose to 
support an equal and just America, one that is built upon 
uncompromising pillars of democracy, and I would urge my colleagues to 
do the same by speaking out against this blatant discrimination.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and 
subsequent acquittal of his killer by an all white jury is an echo of 
this nation's past that the African-American community is shocked to 
experience in the 21st century. It harkens back to the words of 
interposition and nullification, waking the ghosts of Emmet Till and 
Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman.
  It is simply the nightmare of every parent of an African-American 
male. Anyone who lacks empathy for Trayvon's parents or who has never 
experienced the indignity of being held suspect due to his race should 
take careful note of what this trial will mean for the nation. That 
issue brings the CBC to the House floor this evening: Where do we go 
from here. . . .
  This weekend, tens-of-thousands across the country rallied for the 
cause of justice for Trayvon Martin. These crowds included people from 
across all ages and racial lines. Following King's path of nonviolence 
protest, they asked for simple justice. Here in Congress, we have been 
advised that the Department of Justice has an open and active 
investigation to determine whether Federal charges will be filed in the 
case. Notably, two African-American men, Attorney General Eric Holder 
and President Barack Obama, have sought to assure all Americans that 
justice will be served in the case.
  Some have tried to criticize the President and Attorney General for 
their comments, saying that they are politicizing the case or 
grandstanding for the black community. I would disagree. Their comments 
were measured and to the point, seeking to reassure a nation transfixed 
by the powerful images attached to the incident and trial.
  The more interesting point is how a nation, led by two such powerful 
men, can still hold young black men as a suspect class. When you look 
at the stop & frisk number in New York, there really is no serious 
question about whether racial profiling is a reality in America. When I 
introduced data collection legislation during the 105th Congress, the 
phenomenon of driving while black was well known in the African-
American and Latino communities.
  However, some commentators still tried to deny the credibility of 
people who came forward to tell stories about their treatment by the 
police. But as the litigation mounted and data was collected, it became 
obvious that the nation had a serious problem with the use of race by 
law enforcement. These attitudes, however, were not a product of 
policing, but rather a product of society. No matter who is in the 
White House, it seems that race never takes a holiday.
  So, where do we go? At the official policy level, we can address the 
suspect use of race by law enforcement through legislation. This week, 
I will re-introduce the End Racial Profiling Act. Based upon the work 
around that legislation, by September 11, 2001, there was significant 
empirical evidence and wide agreement among Americans, including 
President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft, that racial 
profiling was a tragic fact of life in the minority community and that 
the Federal government should take action to end the practice.
  Moreover, many in the law enforcement community have acknowledged 
that singling out people for heightened scrutiny based on their race, 
ethnicity, religion, or national origin had eroded the trust in law 
enforcement necessary to appropriately serve and protect our 
communities.
  The End Racial Profiling Act is designed to eliminate the well 
documented problem of racial, ethnic, religious, and national origin 
profiling. First, the bill provides a prohibition on racial profiling, 
enforceable by declaratory or injunctive relief. Second, the bill 
mandates that training on racial profiling issues as part of Federal 
law enforcement training, the collection of data on all routine or 
spontaneous investigatory activities that is to be submitted through a 
standardized form to the Department of Justice.
  Third, the Justice Department is authorized to provide grants for the 
development and implementation of best policing practices, such as 
early warning systems, technology integration, and other management 
protocols that discourage profiling. Finally, the Attorney General is 
required to provide periodic reports to assess the nature of any 
ongoing discriminatory profiling practices.
  We should be clear, however, that legislation, like ERPA, can only go 
so far. After all, Trayvon's killer was not a sworn law enforcement 
officer. Consider legislation the starting point for societal change. 
His death demonstrates that racial profiling remains a divisive issue 
that strikes at the very foundation of our democracy. Though not the 
result of a law enforcement encounter, the issues of race and 
reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct in this case were so closely 
linked in the minds of the public that his death cannot be separated 
from the law enforcement profiling debate.
  Ultimately, Trayvon Martin is one of too many individuals across the 
country who have been victimized by a perception of criminality, simply 
because of their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. These 
individuals are denied the basic respect and equal treatment that is 
the right of every American. Until we address those broadly held views 
through important dialogues like this one, too many parents will 
anxiously await the safe return home of their sons.

                          ____________________