[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 263]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      ISSUES CONFRONTING CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of issues that are 
confronting this Congress as it returns to serve the American people 
here in the United States Capital. What a wonderful place of democracy 
and freedom. It gives me a sense of ownership on these values on behalf 
of my constituents in celebration that we live in a nation that admires 
and respects and finds a way to disagree without being disagreeable 
but, more importantly, that we understand that violence against one 
another is not the solution.
  Tragically, I stand to mourn with the people of France as they have 
experienced a heinous terrorist act, the first, I believe, in a decade 
that follows the tragedies in Canada and Australia. So we have to 
define ourselves in somewhat of a different way. The commentary 
indicated, How would we know?
  As a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee, I challenge 
all of us to say we have to know. We must find a way to balance our 
civil liberties and the respect for our Constitution with protecting 
the American people, and in a two-road process, try to hinder those who 
would come to do this violent harm on our soil. But more importantly, 
we have to begin in a societal confrontation through diplomacy on 
stopping the radicalization of young people using sources such as the 
Internet. It is real and we must address it. I look forward as a member 
of the Homeland Security Committee to begin looking legislatively and 
pointedly at how we address this question to protect the American 
people.
  I want to step aside for a moment and just speak on two local issues.


                      Riverside Hospital, Houston

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, Riverside Hospital, Houston, quite 
different from my earlier comments, is a local hospital in my community 
founded by the family of a deceased World War I veteran. It has a 
special place in the hearts of African Americans because it was the 
only hospital where Negroes could go in the 20th century. It has fallen 
on difficult challenges.
  And so my question and my inquiry is to the new, incoming Governor 
for the State of Texas, Governor Abbott, to find value in this medical 
facility because of its historic relationship. It once housed the only 
outside posttraumatic stress disorder center in Houston outside of the 
veterans hospital system. It was well attended by veterans who loved 
the idea of a center that was away from the massive hospital system. It 
serves people who are poor in the neighborhood and seniors. It has 
helped those who suffer from substance abuse, and I believe that it 
needs and desires and deserves a new start.
  I will be working with a variety of agencies to do that, and will not 
be ashamed that unfortunately tragic or, let me say, misbehavior of 
some caused this unfortunate turn in this hospital. Its history is 
worth saving. I thank the Cullinan family, whose son died in World War 
II, for providing the initial funds for us to be able to have this 
Negro hospital.


                     Saluting Wheatley High School

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, then I want to salute Wheatley High 
School and those who have attended it. It was named after Phillis 
Wheatley. It was an African American high school in the great city of 
Houston in the fifth ward. Two of its many graduates were the late 
Congressman Mickey Leland and late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, and 
obviously many other great Americans who went to that high school.
  Unfortunately, the original Wheatley High School--over the valiant 
efforts of Wheatley graduates because ``everything new'' seems to be 
the direction we want to go--was torn down. But I believe there is a 
way to find common ground, and I am going to encourage HISD to meet 
with these valiant former alumni to find a common path of preserving 
that history in the new school and bringing the community together.
  We look forward to meetings forthcoming, for HISD to lend a hand out 
to people who want to preserve history, to tell the story of a school 
that was built in 1927 out of a material that in fact actually lasted. 
And when African Americans could not go to any other school, when those 
who went off to World War II and Vietnam couldn't go elsewhere, they 
had the Wheatley High School that sits proudly in the fifth ward. There 
is a Wheatley High School that was modernized, but the original 
building of terra-cotta material--so beautiful if you had seen it--
could have been restored.
  I would like to stand here and say don't condemn those who wanted to 
hold that piece of history alongside of educating children today and 
give them the kind of technology they needed. We can do this together. 
I want to salute those who fought hard, and we can find a common path 
by working together.

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