[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 952-960]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            AN HOUR OF POWER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be 
given 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and add any 
extraneous materials relevant to the subject matter of this discussion.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor and a privilege for me to 
rise this evening as co-chair, along with my distinguished colleague 
who represents the Eighth District of New York, Congressman Hakeem 
Jeffries, for this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour, an 
hour of power, addressing the state of our Union, Dr. King's dream, and 
today's African American message.
  Congressman Jeffries is a scholar, a distinguished member of the 
Judiciary Committee. He continues to be a tireless advocate for social 
and economic justice, working hard to reform our criminal justice 
system, improve the economy for hardworking Americans, and to make 
college more affordable for all. Most importantly, he is someone that I 
am proud to follow and he is my colleague.
  Today we come to educate and to discuss some of the many 
contributions and accomplishments in American history that African 
Americans etched into the cornerstone of this America, Mr. Speaker, 
that they helped change. The Congressional Black Caucus is and 
continues to be a part of that change.
  As we reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose holiday we 
recently observed, thanks to our Congressional Black Caucus colleague, 
Congressman John Conyers, the dean, who worked tirelessly to have the 
day observed as a Federal holiday, we pause to reflect on our progress 
and our history not only to remember, but to acknowledge, our 
unfinished work.
  Congressional Black Caucus members and other colleagues with 
constituents across the country participated in holiday services, 
programs, marches, and many other events last week. This was not a day 
off, Mr. Speaker, but a day on in the spirit of Dr. King's legacy.
  Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to join some 4,000 constituents in 
my district in Columbus for the Nation's largest Martin Luther King 
breakfast celebration.

                              {time}  1930

  As I sat there, I was reminded of his words that we live by and that 
we are guided by: ``Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't 
see the whole staircase.'' Later I had the opportunity to join hundreds 
of folks to march in freezing weather, singing ``We Shall Overcome.''
  Today we also mark the beginning of the observation of Black History 
Month, to celebrate giants in civil rights, in the civil rights 
movement, as well as labor and education, transportation, the arts, and 
the service movement.
  As we reflect on Dr. King's dream, just a few weeks ago President 
Barack Obama from this House floor, Mr. Speaker, delivered his final 
State of the Union Address. In his address, the President delivered a 
speech filled with hope and optimism, reminding us that we, the 
people--emphasizing all people--want opportunity and security for our 
families. It was a message of a better future, fairness, and democracy 
for 


[[Page 953]]

all Americans because we rise or fall together, Mr. Speaker.
  President Obama continues to remind us that ours is a nation bounded 
by a common creed and that our American values of equality, fairness, 
and justice should be available to all, not just a fortunate few. Far 
too long people and communities of color continue to be left behind 
when we discuss equality, fairness, and justice.
  In the 48 years since his death, while we have made some strides in 
confronting injustices and ending unequal treatment, there is still 
work to be done. Our Nation is still plagued by the vestiges of 
segregation and unequal laws and policies, evident today in Flint, 
Michigan, and its lack of clean drinking water; in it being harder, not 
easier, to exercise the constitutional right to vote through voter 
disenfranchisement; Black men being killed in Ferguson, Baltimore, 
Chicago, and my State of Ohio; inequities in health care, poverty, and 
in our failing schools.
  But, Mr. Speaker, the time is now for us to work together to protect 
the most at risk among us, to defend the foundation of our democracy, 
and to expand opportunity for all people.
  However, Republican leadership fails to act and refuses to bring up 
Voting Rights Advancement Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation, for 
an up-or-down vote.
  Tonight, Mr. Speaker, we will hear from our Congressional Black 
Caucus colleagues on the state of our Union and where we go from here. 
I welcome the dialogue and the debate.
  Mr. Speaker, it is now my honor and privilege to yield to 
Congresswoman Barbara Lee from the 13th District of California. We know 
her as a fearless advocate, fighting to eliminate poverty. We know her 
as someone who has a history of representing not only the people of her 
district but the people of America. I have had the opportunity to 
witness this firsthand, as I serve on her committee when she fights to 
end the War on Poverty. It is my honor to ask Congresswoman Barbara Lee 
to bring her message to us tonight.
  Ms. LEE. Let me first thank Congresswoman Beatty for her very kind 
and humbling remarks, but also for her tremendous leadership on so many 
issues, not only since she has been here in Congress, but before she 
came representing her constituents, and really looking out for, 
speaking out for, and working for the most vulnerable in our society.
  I am really proud of what she is doing with the Congressional Black 
Caucus, also Congressman Jeffries for continuing to organize these 
important sessions really to beat the drum and to allow our country to 
understand what the issues are that the Congressional Black Caucus 
continues to work on because if, in fact, we address those issues, as 
you know, that the most vulnerable are dealing with each and every day, 
we will strengthen America, and so our country will be stronger. I 
thank both of them for making sure that we are doing that.
  We celebrate tonight the start of Black History Month, but I would 
like to reflect quickly again what we are doing tonight on Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr.'s dream of true democracy.
  In his famous speech, ``I Have a Dream,'' let me just quote here what 
he asked the American people to do. He said:
  ``To make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise 
from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of 
racial justice.
  ``Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all God's 
children.
  ``Now is the time to lift our Nation from the quicksands of racial 
injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.'' Of course and sisterhood.
  As I think about his powerful words going into Black History Month 
and his challenge for America to live up to her highest ideals, we must 
reflect on how far we have come and where we need to go.
  Now, of course, the right to vote is the bedrock of our democracy, 
which Dr. King reminded us of when he said: ``Give us the ballot, and 
we will fill our legislative halls with men and women of goodwill.'' In 
his honor, we must pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act, H.R. 2867, 
introduced by a great woman, a member of the Congressional Black 
Caucus, Congresswoman Terri Sewell.
  In 1967 Dr. King explained the underlying nature of the challenges 
facing our country in his book ``Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos Or 
Community?'' he talked about these triple evils. He wrote about 
poverty, racism, and war. He said they are the forms of violence that 
exist in a vicious cycle in our country. He says: ``They are 
interrelated, all-inclusive, and stand as barriers to our living in the 
beloved community. When we work to remedy one evil, we affect all 
evils.''
  So we must come together as never before to address these issues that 
infect our communities in order for our Nation to move beyond the 
quicksands of racial and economic injustice.
  Of course, the first of these evils is poverty, a harsh reality lived 
every day by more than 46 million Americans. Our Joint Economic 
Committee report, championed by Congresswoman Maloney and the 
Congressional Black Caucus, demonstrated and showed that African 
Americans are disproportionately affected by the scourge of poverty. 
The poverty rate in our community is 27 percent. One in three African 
American kids live in poverty. One in five kids in the entire country 
live in poverty. Poverty rates throughout our country are much too high 
for everyone, and we know how to eliminate poverty.
  Our assistant leader, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, a 
great human being who has worked so hard to eliminate poverty for so 
many years has come up with a formula that would target resources to 
those rural and urban communities with the highest rates of persistent 
poverty.
  We have our Half in Ten Act, which establishes a national strategy to 
cut poverty in half over the next decade. That is more than 22 million 
Americans lifted into the middle class in just 10 years by coordinating 
local, State, and Federal anti-poverty programs.
  Likewise, our Pathways Out of Poverty Act is a comprehensive anti-
poverty bill that starts by creating good-paying jobs while redoubling 
our investments in proven programs that empower families to build 
pathways out of poverty into the middle class.
  Of course, Dr. King mentioned the second evil, which is racism. While 
racial barriers and biases are endemic through our society, they are 
very and most apparent in our broken criminal justice system. It is 
high time that we work to fix our criminal justice system that far too 
often fails African Americans. Yes, Black lives matter.
  So today in America, an African American is killed by a security 
officer, police officer, or self-proclaimed vigilante every 28 hours. 
That is nearly once a day. One in three Black men can plan to spend at 
least some part of their life behind bars, and men of color make up 70 
percent of the U.S. prison population. Let me say that again. Seventy 
percent of the U.S. prison population are men of color. That is simply 
outrageous.
  Now, we have ended legal segregation. Our first African American 
President is serving his second term in the White House. Our Attorney 
General, Loretta Lynch, serves as our first African American female 
Attorney General. But so much must be done to achieve the dream of 
liberty and justice for all.
  Dr. King told us over and over again that we live in two Americas. 
This was in 1967, in one of his speeches. The Kerner Commission report 
still describes American society today. We have got to really look at 
our history and acknowledge and honor the legacy of those who really 
brought us this far. But when you look at the statistics and what is 
taking place now in communities of color and the African American 
community, it just shows us what we have to do. We have a long way to 
go.
  Dr. King finally spoke of war. He talked about the fact that our 
Nation continues to be involved in endless wars, and communities are 
suffering the costs. The Pentagon consumes 60 percent of discretionary 
spending compared to 11 percent that we spend on education, job 
creation, and resources to help our young people live the life 


[[Page 954]]

that they so deserve in terms of being educated and providing workforce 
training, housing, health care, all the opportunities that are the 
American opportunities to allow us to live the American Dream.
  Congresswoman Beatty and Congressman Jeffries, I just want to thank 
you for arranging the time for us to talk tonight. We have real 
solutions. You have real solutions. Every member of the Congressional 
Black Caucus has real solutions to end poverty, to end racism, and to 
end war.
  During Black History Month, we need to recommit ourselves to all of 
the solutions that members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and 
Members of this body as a whole, have if the political will were there 
so we can honor the legacy of those who came before us during Black 
History Month. By honoring them, we say we are going to pick up that 
mantle and really address these triple evils once and for all.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Thank you so much, Congresswoman Lee, for reminding us 
of the work we have to do to strengthen our America and for giving us 
those facts that clearly point out the barriers that we have and also 
the disparities when you look at 70 percent of our men being 
incarcerated, yet we don't make up 70 percent of the population.
  Thank you for reminding us of all the work and the words of Martin 
Luther King because you are so right. To sum it up in his words: 
injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.
  Thank you. We will continue that work.
  Mr. Speaker, it is now my honor and privilege to yield to 
Congresswoman Karen Bass from the 37th District of California. It is a 
great honor for me because she is certainly not only a leader, but an 
advocate domestically and globally for young girls. As a matter of 
fact, when I think of her work across this Nation in foster care, I 
call her the Sojourner Truth of foster care.
  When I think of her leadership, it is important for me to remind 
folks that she was the first African American female to be Speaker of 
the House of the great State of California. Today it is indeed my honor 
to yield to Congresswoman Bass.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congresswoman Beatty. I want 
to congratulate her for her leadership that she has displayed since day 
one of coming to the House of Representatives, and knowing of her 
leadership in the State of Ohio, serving as the leader of the 
legislature in Ohio.
  I want to acknowledge my colleague Hakeem Jeffries. I have always 
appreciated his leadership in the committees as well as his leadership 
within the House. I am glad that he is very much a part of our Caucus.
  I know our theme today is: ``The State of Our Union: Have We Achieved 
Dr. King's Dream?'' I have to say that the state of our union is a 
mixed bag. Have we achieved Dr. King's dream? As a nation, we haven't, 
but if we look at the success of individuals, many individuals have 
achieved remarkable levels of success.
  While the success of individuals should rightfully be celebrated, 
until the richest nation on the planet in the history of the world has 
figured out how to address poverty, income inequality, and provide 
opportunity for everyone to succeed in our Nation, Dr. King's dream is 
a dream deferred.
  Dr. King would have been so proud to have been at the inauguration of 
the first African American President, but he would have been horrified 
to see a man achieve that level of success, becoming the most powerful 
man in the world, and still be subjected to doubters who ask to see his 
birth certificate, questioning if he was actually an American, 
obviously code for ``he might be the President, but he is still not one 
of us''; asking to see his college transcripts, questioning if his 
academic success was legitimate.
  Dr. King would be horrified to learn the number of hate groups. White 
supremacist organizations exploded after the election of the first 
African American President of the United States. He would have been 
shocked to hear that leaders in our country actually publicly stated 
that they would do everything they could, including hurting the 
national economy, to ensure that the Nation's first African American 
President did not serve a second term.

                              {time}  1945

  Dr. King would have been overjoyed when this President was reelected 
to a second term, so that no one could say the first time was an 
aberration. Dr. King would have been so proud of the millions of people 
who withstood attempts to block their right to vote and to know that 
thousands were willing to stand for hours to make sure they voted and 
reelected President Obama.
  Dr. King would have celebrated the creation of a program to provide 
health coverage for the majority of people in the Nation. He would have 
celebrated the fact that this was accomplished in the first term of 
President Obama's administration.
  Dr. King would have celebrated the fact that when the law was signed 
by President Obama, for the first time, insurance companies could no 
longer refuse to provide coverage for people if they had an illness or 
a preexisting condition.
  Just think for a minute. Prior to the Affordable Care Act, insurance 
companies excluded you from coverage if you had a preexisting 
condition. There were examples of babies born prematurely that were 
excluded from coverage because their premature birth and the associated 
complications were considered a preexisting condition.
  And, frankly, almost everyone after a certain age has one preexisting 
condition or another--hypertension, high cholesterol, et cetera. Prior 
to passage of healthcare reform, aging, essentially, was a reason to 
exclude individuals from coverage.
  While Dr. King would have celebrated this victory, he would have been 
shocked to know Congress has voted over 60 times to take health care 
away from people and to reverse this advance. If the Affordable Care 
Act was repealed, then the parents of the premature baby and the adult 
over 60 with high blood pressure would not have health care.
  On another subject, Dr. King would wonder: How on Earth did his 
country end up incarcerating more people than any other nation in the 
world? And how is it that the majority of people incarcerated in the 
United States are poor and are people of color?
  As a man of faith, as a teacher of the Bible, he would wonder what 
happened to the concept of redemption in our society. How did we become 
a society that punished people forever? What happened to the belief 
that, if you offended society and then paid your debt to society, you 
were expected and accepted to reenter society with your full rights?
  How did we evolve into a nation that basically said we will punish 
you for your entire life? Because even though 85 percent of people 
incarcerated are eventually released, we can strip away your right to 
vote. You cannot live in public housing; and if your family lives in 
public housing, then you can't go home.
  If you were in prison and you owed child support, well, we just kept 
the clock running on what you owed even though you were in prison and, 
of course, could not work to pay child support. You owed the money 
anyway.
  And, of course, when you were released, you are then behind in child 
support. And because you are behind because you could not work while 
incarcerated, we will not give you a driver's license. And if you are 
from Los Angeles and cannot drive, you can forget about having a 
decent-paying job, because those jobs certainly don't exist in your 
neighborhood.
  Furthermore, if you don't find a job, we just might violate your 
parole and put you back in prison, because a condition of your parole 
is that you have a job. But then, since you are a felon, we will not 
allow you to work anyway.
  In California, until we changed the law, there were 56 occupations 
you could not participate in if you were a felon. One of those 
occupations we even trained you for while you were in prison. We have a 
school that trains prisoners to be barbers. But when you were released, 
we didn't allow ex-offenders to have a license in the very occupation 
we trained you for--until we changed the law.


[[Page 955]]

  I think Dr. King would be thoroughly confused by the contradictions 
he would see in America today. We have amazingly successful 
individuals, thousands of African Americans and other people of color 
in elected office or in other major positions of authority. They are 
CEOs of companies, astronauts, athletes, college presidents, 
entertainers on every level, actors, producers, directors.
  In every area in society, there are successful individuals. There are 
48 African American Members of Congress. The year before his death, 
there were only five African Americans in Congress.
  But Dr. King would wonder what is holding our Nation back from making 
sure every American has access to the American Dream. With all the 
technological advances, advances in science and education, how can it 
be that people are hungry in America, that too many children continue 
to go to poor, segregated schools, and that there are homeless 
encampments that exist in most major cities?
  Although his dream for our Nation is only partially realized, I 
believe now it is our responsibility to continue the work and to 
continue the struggle until there is no such thing as homelessness in 
the richest nation on the planet, until all children have access to a 
21st century education, until poverty is eliminated and the safety net 
is strong enough that no one in our Nation slips through the cracks.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, thank you again to Congresswoman Karen Bass 
for reminding us of all the great riches that we have in this society, 
but also for putting on the forefront that our work is not finished. 
There is hope. Because we have learned that through having a President 
who stands on the shoulders of another great man--Martin Luther King.
  Mr. Speaker, it is indeed my honor and privilege to yield to the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Richmond), who hails from the Second 
District of Louisiana. He is someone who is fearless and not afraid to 
speak up, but he doesn't speak in vain. He speaks with a platform--
whether that platform is to discuss reforming our broken prison system, 
whether it is to talk about HBCUs, or whether it is to be a role 
model--and he knows a lot about that because he is a natural leader. 
When he took office in the State legislature, he was one of the 
youngest legislators to ever serve.
  So it is indeed my honor to call Congressman Cedric Richmond a 
colleague and friend.
  Mr. RICHMOND. I want to thank the gentlelady and scholar for yielding 
to me and putting on this series tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, just a few weeks ago, on January 12, right here in this 
Chamber, President Obama proudly declared to the citizens of the United 
States that the state of our Union is strong. With that, I agree. 
However, tonight, just as I did in New Orleans on this holiday, I must 
stand here and give the state of the dream address.
  So, today, I stand in this Chamber and report to the world that the 
state of the dream is in disrepair. It is in disrepair because of 
neglect by some and intentional harms by others.
  Let me first just state what I believe his dream to be. This is in 
his own words. In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. King said: ``I 
have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three 
meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, 
and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.''
  So why do I say that dream is in disrepair? Well, inadequate funding 
and misguided policies stand as a bar to many kids of color from 
getting a quality education, just like Bull Connor stood in the 
schoolhouse doors during the civil rights movement.
  Why do I say the dream is in disrepair? Because too many African 
American children have better access to guns and drugs than textbooks 
and computers. Far too many of them choose guns and drugs.
  Why do I say the dream is in disrepair? Because the Supreme Court 
rolled back the protections for minority voting rights.
  Why do I say the dream is in disrepair? Because in a Supreme Court 
hearing on minority admission policies to colleges and universities, 
one of our Supreme Court Justices demonstrated his bias, his ignorance, 
and his lack of understanding by trying to justify why Blacks should go 
to lesser colleges and universities.
  Why is the dream in disrepair? Because the Black Supreme Court 
Justice sat there and said nothing. Well, if I were in college and I 
were playing Spades, I would call him a ``possible,'' because you can't 
count on him to hold up when the game starts.
  Why do I also say the dream is in disrepair? Because big Wall Street 
executives can steel millions and never get charged and held 
accountable while young Black kids who shoplift get prosecuted and fill 
up our jails and our prisons and create what we call the prison 
industrial enterprise.
  Some ask: Why do the poor and uneducated continue to steal and cheat? 
Well, the answer is simple: Because the rich and educated keep showing 
them how.
  So, as we stand here this month and celebrate Black History Month, we 
will not only describe some of the problems, but we will go into some 
of the solutions that have been tested over time.
  Let me just say that Dr. King and the generation before us did a 
great job of making this dream a reality through sacrifice, hard work, 
and commitment, but somewhere in my generation, we fell off from that 
sacrifice and determination.
  Far too many of us are letting reality shows and music videos give 
our children their misguided sense of morals. Too many of our African 
American and White middle-class families who have achieved the dream 
are excited that they are there, but they are telling the rest of the 
world to get it the best they can.
  The dream can be realized when everyone realizes that you are not 
going to help minority communities in spite of the minority 
communities, but we are going to bring them to the table and let them 
be a co-participant in drafting their accomplishments.
  So, where do we go from here? We continue to invest in proven leaders 
and proven ways out of poverty and ways to get ahead, like education. 
We have to invest in the Pell grants and our Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities because we know that education is the best 
way out of poverty.
  We have to invest in summer jobs so that kids in urban areas and 
impoverished communities can get exposure to a different way of life so 
that they can help themselves. We know that a summer job reduces the 
dropout rate by 50 percent.
  What else can we do? We can invest in job training. We can invest in 
disadvantaged businesses. We can do a number of things. And the good 
part about it is we have a Congressional Black Caucus that can stand 
here and introduce legislation if the other side would meet us halfway.
  So, the state of our union will continue to be strong. The state of 
the dream will become a reality when people join hands together to make 
sure that the least of us have every opportunity in the world.
  I will tell you that the dream was strong. The dream is the same 
dream that allowed my mother, who is from the poorest place in the 
country, 1 of 15 children, to achieve her college degree and raise two 
sons who went off to Morehouse. So the dream is real when I, as the son 
of a single mother, can go to Morehouse, Tulane Law School, and the 
Harvard School of Government. That is the dream.
  So I stand here today and just ask that we do what Booker T. 
Washington said. We may be as separate as our fingers, but we are as 
whole as the hand. This body has an obligation to come together as the 
hand and make sure that we give every kid from every place in this 
country the opportunity to succeed.
  Mrs. BEATTY. I thank Congressman Richmond for reminding us that you 
bring hope. Your experience shows that there is opportunity. Because 
certainly, we know that there are fewer Black students graduating from 
high school. Sixteen percent of Blacks drop out, compared to 8 percent 
of our White counterparts.


[[Page 956]]

  Mr. Speaker, can you tell me how much time I have remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman has 30 minutes remaining.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, it is now my honor and privilege to yield 
to my colleague from the 10th District of New Jersey (Mr. Payne). He is 
someone who is a great example of a committed public servant. He is 
someone who puts others before himself. When you want to call on him, 
he is someone that will sit and quietly listen to you, and then a few 
minutes later he will give you probably one of the most profound 
answers that one could look for. I am proud to not only call him my 
colleague, but I am also proud to call him my classmate.
  It is my honor to ask Congressman Donald Payne to bring his 
reflections.
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, let me begin by thanking my classmates, 
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, for 
anchoring these important Special Order hours for the Congressional 
Black Caucus.
  Since her arrival here in Congress, Congresswoman Beatty has 
demonstrated why she was a leader in Ohio, and she has become a great 
leader in the House of Representatives.

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. Speaker, Dr. King envisioned for this Nation a future of vast 
potential, a future where every man and woman and child would have the 
opportunity to get ahead, free from the constraints of injustice and 
intolerance.
  What we see happening across our country shows how far we still have 
to go to achieve Dr. King's dream. From gun violence to racial wealth 
gaps, from lack of diversity to persistent poverty, there are still 
critical issues affecting our communities that must be addressed.
  In 2015, there were at least 76 gun deaths in my district in New 
Jersey, the Tenth Congressional District. One-third of all the gun 
deaths in New Jersey last year happened in my district.
  If we don't do something to tackle this epidemic, then we are failing 
our children. We are failing the next generation, to give them the hope 
and the possibilities of being a positive part of this community, such 
as we saw in Congressman Cedric Richmond.
  In my district, African Americans face unemployment rates nearly 
triple that of White workers. Generations of African American workers 
are being left behind, without a fair shot at success. The economic 
prosperity and the American Dream are on hold for many African American 
communities.
  Instead of working to address these challenges facing our 
communities, Republicans continue their assault on women's health by 
trying to defund Planned Parenthood.
  On the other hand, Democrats are working on bold, aggressive action 
that will have an immediate impact on the challenges facing African 
Americans.
  I have tried to do my part here in Congress. My Safer Neighborhoods 
Gun Buyback Act would create a voluntary Federal gun buyback program to 
keep guns out of the wrong hands. That is just one measure that we have 
to look at.
  But in talking about Dr. King's dream, it reminds me of A Tale of Two 
Cities. This is the best of times and the worst of times.
  Yes, we have seen an African American rise to the pinnacle of success 
in this country in public service in President Barack Obama. Dr. King 
would be very proud of that.
  But he would be upset to see the other part, the despair that our 
communities are in without the opportunities to raise their children as 
other communities do.
  Dr. King was about equal opportunity for every man and woman. He 
discussed problems in Appalachia, he discussed problems in the South, 
and he discussed problems in the North.
  So, yes, his main focus was the African American community. But 
injustice somewhere is injustice anywhere, and he lived that motto. He 
would be happy for some reasons, but in other areas he would be very 
disappointed.
  So it is our job to continue to push towards that dream, and we here 
in the Congressional Black Caucus are committed to pushing forward to 
see his dream realized.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Thank you, Congressman Payne, for bringing us those 
words of wisdom and reminding us of the epidemics that face us, the 
failures that we have experienced, but leaving us with the hope of 
pushing forward and helping to realize Martin Luther King's dream.
  Mr. Speaker, it is indeed my honor now to yield to the freshman of 
our group, someone who may be a freshman by our description, but 
someone who is not a stranger.
  Whether it is advocating for jobs for veterans, whether it is looking 
at economic development and opportunities for those who are in 
struggling economies, she comes to us as a lawyer, she comes to us as a 
mother and a public servant.
  She is someone who stands tall in her words of wisdom and someone's 
voice that we have learned to listen to.
  She hails to us as the Delegate from the Virgin Islands. Join me in 
welcoming Congresswoman Stacy Plaskett for her words of wisdom.
  Ms. PLASKETT. Thank you so much for allowing me this opportunity to 
be here with my colleagues.
  Mr. Speaker, I am so humbled and honored to be with the gentlewoman 
from Ohio, Joyce Beatty, who is an example to us freshmen and who 
fights, along with the gentleman of New York, Hakeem Jeffries, not just 
for the people of their district and not just for African Americans, 
but for all Americans, because that is what we are all here in this 
Congress to do.
  By pointing out the inequalities, it is not to cast aspersions on all 
of America, but to make us to be better people than what we are today.
  When Dr. King so eloquently delivered his famous ``I Have a Dream'' 
speech 50 years ago, he did so with every hope and expectation that 
that Nation would rise up and live out the true meaning of that creed. 
He hoped that the tenet all men are created equal would, in fact, one 
day be a truth held self-evident.
  We cannot allow simply moving past the glaring bigotries of Jim Crow, 
however, to be a benchmark for success. Doing so would ignore the more 
subtle bigotries that continue today.
  These subtle bigotries are, in fact, as deeply rooted and extreme in 
their effect as those glaring bigotries Dr. King and so many others 
fought vigorously and valiantly to overcome.
  We are still achieving the dream. Today it is not just social 
injustice, but also extreme inequality that constrains economic 
mobility for the African American community and, therefore, for all of 
America.
  Whether it is State-sanctioned attempts to roll back voting rights in 
Alabama, the outright denial of equal voting rights to citizens living 
in the Virgin Islands and other territories, or the years of neglect 
that have led to the poisoning of residents in Flint, Michigan, the 
persistent wealth and opportunity divide in this country is rooted in 
the legacy of racial discrimination dating back to Reconstruction and 
to slavery, indeed.
  Although we have achieved much since the days of separate, but equal, 
there are still structural barriers to achieving the American Dream for 
too many minority families in this country.
  There is racial disparity in nearly every index of the American 
Dream, and those disparities place families of color further behind in 
their plight to achieving the dream.
  A recent study by the Corporation for Enterprise Development shows 
that families of color are two times more likely to live below the 
Federal poverty level, almost two times more likely to lack liquid 
savings, and are significantly more likely to have subprime credit 
scores.
  A lack of liquid savings among families of color often lends to 
further disparity and wealth loss, as evidenced by the proportion of 
student debt by race and ethnicity.
  African American college students rely more on student loans to pay 
for college than do other racial groups and are less likely to pay off 
the debt, according to a report by the Wisconsin HOPE Lab.


[[Page 957]]

  While unemployment in this country has fallen to 5 percent, African 
American communities like my home district of the U.S. Virgin Islands 
continue to experience double-digit unemployment rates.
  Many of these communities of color have experienced decades of 
systematic divestment of funding and resources that can only serve to 
widen the wealth and opportunity gap.
  That is benign neglect, a benign neglect that has led to failing 
public and alternative education systems, crumbling infrastructure, 
and, in some cases, the slide to bankruptcy, bankruptcy not just due to 
mismanagement and corruption, which is the convenient answer, but a 
systematic lack of investment, support, and adequate funding, which 
causes places like Detroit, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands to 
mortgage their children's futures in bonds to make ends meet.
  African Americans make up 13 percent of the population, but have only 
2.7 percent of total wealth.
  This Congress has within its power to reverse the years of benign 
neglect to these communities through supporting legislation to invest 
in infrastructure and education through fighting against voter 
suppression efforts and supporting student loans and other finance 
reforms.
  Closing the wealth and opportunity gap should not be a dream in post-
racial America. It is the responsibility of this Congress to uphold the 
principles to which we were founded, to not only adhere to those 
powerful words that preamble our Constitution, but also to provide for 
the general welfare and ensure that justice, liberty, and prosperity 
are afforded to all and not just some.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Thank you to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands. 
Let me just say thank you for making us have a better understanding 
that we cannot do this alone and we have so much more work to do.
  Mr. Speaker, tonight's Special Orders hour hopefully will share with 
this institution the amount of work that we have yet to do. But I 
believe in hope and opportunity for all.
  So when I listen to the great legacy that those who have come before 
us, whether that is Dr. Martin Luther King, whether that is Rosa Parks, 
we have members of this Congressional Black Caucus who stand united to 
provide opportunities for all.
  We are often referred to as the conscience of the Congress. There is 
a reason for that: Because we are the voice of the voiceless.
  And when I think of voices, I think of my co-anchor. I think of a man 
who came as my classmate, someone stellar, someone who is a scholar and 
a profound lawyer, someone who stands tall in stature and in his words, 
someone that I actually enjoy sitting and listening to as he so often 
brings the message.
  It is my honor to yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries) 
to talk to us about the state of our union, Dr. King's dream, and 
African Americans in this great Nation.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from 
Ohio, Representative Beatty, my good friend, for those very kind words 
and, of course, for her tremendous leadership in anchoring and 
shepherding us here this evening in the same manner that she has done 
since her arrival here in the House of Representatives, always 
eloquent, erudite, and effervescent.
  We appreciate that unique and tremendous combination of skill and 
ability that you bring to the people that you represent so ably in 
Columbus, Ohio, and, of course, really, on behalf of America as you 
stand here anchoring this Congressional Black Caucus Special Orders 
hour.
  I look forward to continuing to work together throughout the year as 
we endeavor to speak truth to power here on the floor of the House of 
Representatives and articulate issues of significance and importance to 
African Americans in the United States of America and to all of 
America.
  Earlier today I made the observation that this is the first day of 
Black History Month. Essentially, black history is American history. 
The two are forever intertwined. That is why the subject matter of this 
special order is of particular importance.
  Dr. King once made the observation that the arc of the moral universe 
is long, but it bends toward justice.

                              {time}  2015

  I think what Dr. King was saying is that in this world you have got 
some good folks and you have got some bad actors. But in order for 
justice to prevail, what you essentially need is a fair amount of the 
good folks to come together, sacrifice, work hard, and dedicate 
themselves to the cause of social change, and at the end of the day 
justice will prevail.
  Make no mistake that in the United States of America, of course, it 
has been a long and complicated march. We certainly have come a long 
way, but we still have a long way to go. During the founding of the 
Republic back in 1776, in the DNA of this great country was embedded 
the principles of liberty and justice for all. It was a great document 
and a great start. Embedded in the DNA of this country was fairness, 
equality, and opportunity for everyone. But there was a genetic defect 
called chattel slavery that was also attendant to our birth.
  If you are going to have any discussion about where we are in America 
today, you have got to recognize there was a genetic defect that has 
impacted the arc of the African American community here in America and 
the American story, and that genetic defect of chattel slavery stayed 
with us, of course, until the war ended in 1865. Millions of African 
American slaves were subjugated. It was one of the worst crimes ever 
perpetrated in the history of humanity. It finally ended in 1865 with 
the adoption of the 13th Amendment. Of course, we know that the 14th 
Amendment and the 15th Amendment followed, equal protection under the 
law for everyone, 14th Amendment, and the 15th Amendment was designed 
to guarantee the right to vote. The so-called Reconstruction period 
lasted until the middle of the 1870s, but it was largely abandoned 
thereafter.
  The African Americans, of course, were given a raw, bad deal. How can 
you cure the genetic defect of chattel slavery with three 
constitutional amendments without ever really forcefully implementing 
them and within a decade or so abandoning the principles inherent in 
those constitutional amendments? In place we received the Black Codes, 
Jim Crow, segregation, and an intense lynching campaign unleashed on 
African Americans in the South, in the Midwest, in the far West, and 
other parts of the United States of America. So we went from chattel 
slavery, a brief period of Reconstruction, then you give us Jim Crow.
  So we dealt with Jim Crow which was at least in principle abolished 
on paper when the Supreme Court makes the decision in Brown v. Board of 
Education that separate but equal was just a farce. It was a joke. It 
wasn't real. So the Supreme Court exposes that, but then says, go ahead 
and implement it with all deliberate speed. Which basically meant don't 
really implement it with any urgency, any immediacy, any impactful 
fashion, just take your time and do it at your own pace.
  So as we are trying to deal with Jim Crow, then you have, of course, 
Dr. King and leaders of the civil rights movement, John Lewis, whom 
Congresswoman Beatty and I are so privileged to serve with, A. Philip 
Randolph, Roy Wilkins, James Farmer, and so many others. The civil 
rights movement deals with the lingering effects of our original 
genetic defect of chattel slavery replaced by Jim Crow.
  Then in the 1960s, we get the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting 
Rights Act, the 1968 Fair Housing Act, Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, 
and efforts to try to finally correct the injustices that have been 
race based here in America. Like Reconstruction, which lasted for a 
little over a decade, we get this period of dramatic social change, 
mainly in the early and mid-1960s that is quickly abandoned and taken 
advantage of by Richard Nixon in 1968 with the Southern strategy White 
backlash, particularly in the Deep South, compounded in 1971 when 


[[Page 958]]

President Richard Nixon makes the statement that drug abuse is public 
enemy number one. Essentially, the War on Drugs ushered in an era of 
mass incarceration.
  When President Nixon made that statement, there were less than 
350,000 people incarcerated in America. Today, 40-plus years later, 
after the War on Drugs, so called, was started, 2.3 million people, 
more than 1 million African American men, disproportionately and 
adversely impacting communities of color and as has been mentioned 
earlier, incarcerate more people in America than any other country in 
the world, a country where we over-incarcerate and under educate.
  We have made a lot of progress in America. African Americans as a 
collective community really haven't been given any room to breathe 
because we have gone from chattel slavery--the original birth defect in 
this great Republic--to Jim Crow, to mass incarceration with brief 
periods of Reconstruction and civil rights era mixed in between. And 
you wonder why we are in the situation that we are in right now.
  We have made a lot of progress. Obviously the fact that Barack Obama 
is sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a significant development, 
but as Dr. King says, he talked about an arc, which means that similar 
to what Abraham Lincoln once said, that we have to continue a march 
toward a more perfect Union, the Congressional Black Caucus with 
leadership from dynamic representatives like Joyce Beatty, have put 
forth a series of things to benefit not just the African American 
community, but all communities, to help bring the promise of American 
democracy to life.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back to my good friend, 
Representative Beatty.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Thank you so much to my colleague. As I stood here and I 
listened to you walk us through that rich history, it reminded me of 
all of the bad actors that caused many of those bad things. I reflect 
on someone in my family being a part of that chattel slavery as a 
slave, I think about Jim Crow, and I think about the things that my 
grandmother was asked to do when she had walked far just to try to vote 
and was asked to recite things that probably the people asking her 
could not have done.
  Then when I think about all of those social reforms and all the 
things that happened 50 and 55 years ago, it made me think, Congressman 
Jeffries, when we think about Martin Luther King and his dream, so 
often people say, ``What would he think today?'' But I guess for me the 
question is a little different that I would like to discuss with you. 
Do you think history is repeating itself?
  As I listened to you talk about slavery, and today when I go into 
some parts of my community with the War on Drugs I have had Black men 
say to me that they feel like they are living during a time of slavery. 
When I talk to young, single moms who are fighting for their own 
existence or to feed their children, they feel that they are held 
captive by poverty.
  So are we looking at still bad actors, bad actors in the Chambers 
that I stand in, bad actors who want to take away SNAP, bad actors who 
don't want to give us a voting rights bill, bad actors that don't want 
to ban the box?
  What do you think? Are we seeing history repeat itself?
  Mr. JEFFRIES. It is a great question. Unfortunately sort of the arc 
of history here in this great country of ours is that whenever progress 
has been made it has been followed by a backlash. Progress was made 
with the Reconstruction amendments. It was followed by a backlash that 
gave us Jim Crow, the Black Codes, and an explosion of lynching in the 
South. Progress, of course, was made in the 1960s with the Civil Rights 
Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act immediately followed 
by Richard Nixon's Southern strategy, and a backlash against things 
like affirmative action which had barely been put into motion and a 
rollback of the War on Poverty which was designed to help African 
Americans and all Americans of every race.
  Then, of course, many thought that we perhaps had reached a post-
racial America in the aftermath of the election of President Barack 
Obama, but we know, of course, that that is not the case sadly.
  I am hopeful, however, that many of my colleagues, Republicans and 
Democrats, Conservatives and Progressives who have come together, folks 
like Raul Labrador, Trey Gowdy, and Jason Chaffetz--good friends of 
mine on the other side of the aisle--recognize the importance of 
dealing with mass incarceration for America.
  Here are a few statistics that I think we need to be concerned about 
as it relates to your question. African Americans serve virtually as 
much time in prison for a nonviolent drug offense, approximately 58 
months, as White Americans do for a violent criminal offense, 62 
months. Whites in America statistically use drugs five times as often 
as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug 
offenses at 10 times the rate of White Americans.
  Lastly, African Americans represent 83 percent of crack cocaine 
Federal defendants, but only 28 percent of users--83 percent are 
defendants, 28 percent are users; whereas, White Americans represent 
5.8 percent of Federal defendants but 62 percent of users.
  Something is wrong. Justice is not colorblind in America. So 
hopefully we will find the ability to come together to deal with the 
overall broken criminal justice system and certainly as part of that 
rectify some of the racial disparities that exist.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Thank you so much.
  Let me just end by saying, Mr. Speaker, what you have witnessed 
tonight is that our past that we have talked about is our experience, 
our present is our responsibility, and our future is our hope.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King's 
vision of ending inequality through providing jobs, justice, and peace 
to all Americans is a vision that many have fought and died to make a 
reality. As the Civil Rights Movement battled against discrimination 
and inequality in the 1960's, I adopted Dr. King's vision of jobs, 
justice, and peace when I ran for Congress in 1964. I remember the Jim 
Crow era, poll taxes, and institutionalized segregation when I arrived 
in Congress. Yet, for all of these institutional scars and 
discriminatory impediments, the work we did in Congress aided in 
fulfilling the promises of equality enshrined in our Constitution. 
After a historic effort, the Civil Rights Act was passed, the Voting 
Rights Act was adopted, and a new era of federal protections around 
equality was ushered in the 20th Century.
  Some fifty years later, this era has yet to be fully realized. While 
the initial challenges of recognizing and upholding civil rights have 
been met, many of the original problems persist, but in an evolved 
form. Fifty plus years later, the American people confront issues of 
voter suppression, gender and sexual orientation discrimination. Many 
communities feel under siege from those sworn to protect their liberty. 
Hate crimes and religious intolerance are on the rise as reported 
nightly on the news. And women contend with a pay inequity hampering 
their standing with men in the workplace.
  In spite of all of these shortcomings, strides have been made: 
reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act in 2006; the passage of legislation 
expanding access to healthcare; the introduction of legislation 
combating voter caging and deceptive practices, and the passage of the 
Hate Crimes Prevention Act, signed into law by the first African-
American President of the United States, himself emblematic of civil 
rights progress.
  These issues were all, at one point in time, deemed radical. Women's 
suffrage, racial equality, and now gay and lesbian rights: for each, 
the civil rights movement has expanded until true justice is achieved. 
Many problems persist and more are certain to arrive, but through 
renewed determination to tackle these deep-seated problems, we can one 
day live up to the beloved community envisioned by Dr. King.
  While our struggle for equality stems from being afforded the basic 
human rights associated with a free society, the ideal of achieving 
economic justice, with employment for all who seek it, remains out of 
reach for many. The aftermath of the financial crisis has brought 
crippling unemployment, wage stagnation, and rising income inequality. 
Yet, the Great Recession has only exacerbated a decades-long decline in 
the fortunes of the working and middle


[[Page 959]]

classes. As finances continue to 
deteriorate, basic social and public services have often been the first 
to go.
  In the realm of healthcare, a basic safety net was only recently 
afforded to the underserved in the United States with passage of the 
Affordable Care Act, yet millions of low-income and unemployed 
individuals remain uninsured. Housing remains a continued blight, as 
mass-foreclosures following the aftermath of the Great Recession tear 
apart communities and destabilizes families.
  Even after fifty years of promoting Dr. King's cause for peace, our 
country is enmeshed in gun violence, which tragically produced the 
shootings in Newtown, Aurora, Tucson, and Wisconsin, and daily on the 
streets of America's most populated cities. These horrific occurrences 
are unacceptable for our nation, which is why catapulting peace to the 
forefront of our nation's agenda will save lives and protect our most 
vital right under the Constitution: life. I am hopeful that by 
strengthening our gun laws we can remove military style weapons out of 
our communities, prohibit the sale of deadly gun clips, and close 
loopholes on the sale of guns.
  Our rate of incarceration and length of sentences are unjust and 
unsustainable. The United States incarcerates 25 percent of the world's 
prisoners, while we have only five percent of the world's population. 
And we disproportionately prosecute and incarcerate African Americans 
more than any other race. This is the result of what President Obama 
has called a ``huge explosion'' in our incarceration rates, with 
500,000 people imprisoned in America in 1980 growing to 2.2 million 
today. We must change our prosecution policies and sentencing laws to 
address this crisis, and I am working with my colleagues to do that.
  The profiling of racial and religious minorities is also a terrible 
reality that threatens peace in our nation. Profiling is an archaic 
form of discrimination that subjects individuals to criminal 
indictments or investigations based on their race or religion. Although 
profiling cannot be found in any form of written law, the practice is 
real in America and threatens the trust and peace that is essential in 
the relationship between citizens and their law enforcement. Our 
nation's leaders can work to pass legislation, such as the End Racial 
Profiling Act, to prohibit this practice in any law enforcement agency 
and the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act to provide real 
standards for the operation of police departments.
  As we press forward to address inequality in the 21st Century, the 
outstanding question is whether or not Congress will rise to tackle 
these issues. The American people have already witnessed how politics 
can transform our legislative body into a body producing nothing but 
dysfunction. However, the erosion of Congress's focus on protecting 
civil rights and civil liberties can be reversed.
  This Congress has the opportunity to answer these present injustices 
by assuming the unwavering commitment to jobs, justice, and peace that 
was displayed so valiantly by Dr. Martin Luther King. Ending inequality 
in America is a battle that can be won, and although the enemy is still 
the same, our approach in the 21st century must not lack the strength 
and courage of those who have fought so bravely before us.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, this February we recognize and 
celebrate the 39th commemoration of Black History Month.
  This month we celebrate the contributions of African Americans to the 
history of our great nation, and pay tribute to trailblazers, pioneers, 
heroes, and leaders like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Supreme 
Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce, U.S. 
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland, 
Astronauts Dr. Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. and Mae C. Jemison, Frederick 
Douglass, Booker T. Washington, James Baldwin, Harriet Tubman, Rosa 
Parks, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Gwendolyn Brooks just to name a 
few of the countless number of well-known and unsung heroes whose 
contributions have helped our nation become a more perfect union.
  The history of the United States has been marked by the great 
contributions of African American activists, leaders, writers, and 
artists.
  As a member of Congress, I know that I stand on the shoulders of 
giants whose struggles and triumphs made it possible for me to stand 
here today and continue the fight for equality, justice, and progress 
for all, regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
  The greatest of these giants to me are Mrs. Ivalita ``Ivy'' Jackson, 
a vocational nurse, and Mr. Ezra A. Jackson, one of the first African-
Americans to succeed in the comic book publishing business.
  They were my beloved parents and they taught me the value of 
education, hard work, discipline, perseverance, and caring for others.
  And I am continually inspired by Dr. Elwyn Lee, my husband and the 
first tenured African American law professor at the University of 
Houston.
  Mr. Speaker, I particularly wish to acknowledge the contributions of 
African American veterans in defending from foreign aggressors and who 
by their courageous examples helped transform our nation from a 
segregated society to a nation committed to the never ending challenge 
of perfecting our union.
  Last year about this time, I was honored to join my colleagues, 
Congressmen John Lewis and Congressman Charles Rangel, a Korean War 
veteran, in paying tribute to surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen 
and the 555th Parachute Infantry, the famed ``Triple Nickels'' at a 
moving ceremony sponsored by the U.S. Army commemorating the 50th 
Anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
  The success of the Tuskegee Airmen in escorting bombers during World 
War II--achieving one of the lowest loss records of all the escort 
fighter groups, and being in constant demand for their services by the 
allied bomber units--is a record unmatched by any other fighter group.
  So impressive and astounding were the feats of the Tuskegee Airmen 
that in 1948 they persuaded President Harry Truman to issue his famous 
Executive Order No. 9981, which directed equality of treatment and 
opportunity in all of the United States Armed Forces and led to the end 
of racial segregation in the U.S. military forces.
  It is a source of enormous and enduring pride that my father-in-law, 
Phillip Ferguson Lee, was one of the Tuskegee Airmen.
  Clearly, what began as an experiment to determine whether ``colored'' 
soldiers were capable of operating expensive and complex combat 
aircraft ended as an unqualified success based on the experience of the 
Tuskegee Airmen, whose record included 261 aircraft destroyed, 148 
aircraft damaged, 15,553 combat sorties and 1,578 missions over Italy 
and North Africa.
  They also destroyed or damaged over 950 units of ground 
transportation and escorted more than 200 bombing missions. They proved 
that ``the antidote to racism is excellence in performance,'' as 
retired Lt. Col. Herbert Carter once remarked.
  Mr. Speaker, Black History Month is also a time to remember many 
pioneering women like U.S. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm; activists 
Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks; astronaut Mae C. Jemison; authors Maya 
Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Gwendolyn Brooks; all of whom have each in 
their own way, whether through courageous activism, cultural 
contributions, or artistic creativity, forged social and political 
change, and forever changed our great Nation for the better.
  It is also fitting, Mr. Speaker, that in addition to those national 
leaders whose contributions have made our nation better, we honor also 
those who have and are making a difference in their local communities.
  In my home city of Houston, there are numerous great men and women. 
They are great because they have heeded the counsel of Dr. King who 
said:
  ``Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You only need a 
heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.''
  By that measure, I wish to pay tribute to some of the great men and 
women of Houston:
  1. Rev. F.N. Williams, Sr.
  2. Rev. Dr. S.J. Gilbert, Sr.
  3. Rev. Crawford W. Kimble
  4. Rev. Eldridge Stanley Branch
  5. Rev. William A. Lawson
  6. Rev. Johnnie Jeffery ``J.J.'' Robeson
  7. Mr. El Franco Lee
  8. Mr. John Brand
  9. Ms. Ruby Moseley
  10. Ms. Dorothy Hubbard
  11. Ms. Doris Hubbard
  12. Ms. Willie Bell Boone
  13. Ms. Holly HogoBrooks
  14. Mr. Deloyd Parker
  15. Ms. Lenora ``Doll'' Carter
  As we celebrate Black History Month, let us pay tribute to those who 
have come before us, and pay forward to future generations by 
addressing what is the number one issue for African American families, 
and all American families today: preserving the American promise of 
economic opportunity for all.
  Our immediate focus must be job creation, and enacting legislation 
that will foster and lay the foundation for today's and tomorrow's 
generation of groundbreaking activists, leaders, scientists, writers 
and artists to continue contributing to the greatness of America.
  We must work to get Americans back to work.
  We must continue to preserve the American Dream for all.
  
  
[[Page 960]] 

  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand here in celebration of the heroic 
and historic acts of African Americans and their indispensable 
contributions to this great Nation.
  It is through our work in creating possibilities for today and future 
generations that we best honor the accomplishments and legacy of our 
predecessors.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, when President 
Barack Obama delivered his final State of the Union address last month, 
he highlighted the resilience and determination of the American people. 
The President touted notable achievements in scientific advancement, 
greater transparency throughout our political system, and a stronger 
and more equitable economy as evidence pointing to the strength of our 
Nation.
  For context, in the final month of President George W. Bush's 
presidency, the economy was in free fall. The private sector lost 
nearly 820,000 jobs in the final month of President Bush's presidency 
alone and unemployment peaked at around 10 percent in the midst of the 
Great Recession. Today, the economy has added 14.1 million jobs over 70 
consecutive months of private-sector job growth, household wealth has 
increased by more than $30 trillion, and average home prices have 
recovered to pre-recession levels under President Obama's 
Administration. However, economic indicators are not the only method 
for determining the true state of our union.
  As we celebrate Black History Month in February, it is timely to 
consider how other great leaders from our past would perceive the state 
of our union today. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one such leader who 
envisioned a greater future for our Nation in the face of unspeakable 
discrimination and intolerance. In his famous ``I Have a Dream'' speech 
delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Dr. King laid 
out his vision of our country where all men are created equal and where 
freedom must ring if America is to be a great nation.
  Today, those principles ring true. We have made great progress as a 
nation to move away from the darkest moments of our past. Yet, there is 
still much work to be done. We have witnessed continued efforts to 
disenfranchise select groups of voters by gutting the Voting Rights Act 
and persistent racial tension between law enforcement and the 
communities they are sworn to protect. It is a constant struggle that 
afflicts communities all across the United States and suggests that 
more work needs to be done if we are to achieve Dr. King's dream.
  Mr. Speaker, the freedoms we enjoy in the United States are not 
absolute. The principles and values that define our Nation are 
constantly challenged and ever-evolving. Dr. King had a distinct vision 
for the future of our Nation and his legacy can help guide our 
decisions moving into the future so that we can avoid making the same 
mistakes of our past.
  Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, each February our nation takes time to 
reflect on the countless contributions African Americans have made to 
this country's history. We celebrate innovators like Ohio District 11's 
own Langston Hughes, pioneers like astronaut Mae Jamison, as well as 
political and civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Black History Month represents inclusion and innovation. It promotes 
America at its best. For in this month, we appreciate our collective 
strength and recognize the diversity of each and every patriot.
  America is a country of immigrants, and our power lies in our 
differences. To quote Dr. King, ``We may have all come on different 
ships, but we're in the same boat now.''
  No matter how we arrived, every American should have access to the 
same opportunity. Every individual should be able to reach his or her 
own potential and succeed in the home of the free and the land of the 
brave.
  Unfortunately, many do not have equitable access to opportunity. This 
is why the Congressional Black Caucus stands today.
  Despite the contributions and sacrifice of African Americans, many 
still suffer from the effects of historic injustice and prejudice. We 
are almost three times more likely to live in poverty than Whites, and 
six times more likely to be put in jail. Our unemployment rate is 
nearly two times the rates of Whites. When we do find work, we make 
less than our White counterparts.
  As Black America reflects on its current situation, many tend to ask 
questions such as, ``What would Dr. King do?'' or ``How would the civil 
rights leaders of the past address the issues of the present?''
  If Dr. King was alive today, I believe he would certainly be proud of 
who we are. But he would also say that we must commit ourselves to 
moving forward together as one people and one nation.
  It is time we ``fix our politics.'' Not just in Washington, but 
everywhere.
  As President Barack Obama stated recently, ``We are in a time of 
extraordinary change.'' The Members of this House have the opportunity 
to pass policies that reverse years of bigotry and injustice and level 
the playing field for all.
  This Black History Month, I urge my Congressional colleagues to 
celebrate through legislative action. Develop a new formula to ensure 
the right to vote for all Americans. Reauthorize the Higher Education 
Act to help more kids go to college. Combat harsh sentencing through 
criminal justice reform.
  These actions won't just honor a race of people. They will further 
the hope and success of an entire nation.

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