[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9284-9285]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING XAVIER OMARI JOY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Rush) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, on a June summer evening in 
Chicago, Illinois, in my district on the south side, a young man, 23 
years old, was shot down, killed, and robbed of his cell phone, which 
was a nonsensical killing.
  Xavier Omari Joy was a teacher of our city, State, and Nation. He was

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given so much potential. He carried with him so much promise, and in 
his heart breathed so much purpose and dedication.

                              {time}  1030

  Mr. Speaker, he spoke these words: ``Living in Woodlawn and working 
at the South Side YMCA, I know the pitfalls and challenges my community 
faces. I strive to help the youth in my community by being a positive 
role model. I want to tangibly connect and aid youth to positively 
progress as students.''
  These were the words spoken by Xavier Omari Joy, a young man whose 
life was ended last Thursday.
  Xavier graduated from one of Chicago's premier high schools, the 
Whitney M. Young High School. He played football for a year at the 
Harvard of the African American in the south, Morehouse College.
  Mr. Speaker, in the year 2014, Xavier joined City Year Chicago as a 
volunteer. City Year is a program of AmeriCorps, whose purpose is to 
send young mentors into underserved communities to be of help, to 
provide guidance, and most importantly of all, to provide meaningful, 
substantive examples.
  Xavier had so much promise, potential, and so much personality. He 
could walk into a room and the room would just light up. Friends always 
knew that they could come to Xavier to get a compassionate hearing of 
their issues and their problems. If you were down for a moment, hey, 
Xavier could lift you up for the rest of the day.
  He didn't get to be this kind of excellent individual by accident. He 
was born into a family of community-conscious people. His father, Ra 
Joy, is the executive director of CHANGE Illinois, a coalition leading 
systemic political and development action. His mother, Nykea Pippion-
McGriff, is the first African-American woman president of the Women's 
Council of Realtors in Chicago.
  Mr. Speaker, I come here today to honor and ask the Members of this 
Chamber to honor the life and the memory of Xavier Joy.
  Xavier, our Nation, our community, and the people in the First 
Congressional District of Illinois will not let your death be in vain. 
We want to extend the promise, the potential, and the purpose of your 
life into the lives of all the young people in our Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, ``Living in Woodlawn and working at the Southside YMCA, 
I know the pitfalls and challenges my community faces. I strive to help 
the youth in my community by being a positive role model. I want to 
tangibly connect and aid youth to positively progress as students.''
  These were the words of Xavier Omari Joy who was murdered on the 
streets of Chicago on June 8th.
  After graduating from one of Chicago's top high schools, Whitney 
Young, and playing college football for a year at Morehouse, Xavier 
returned home to the South Side.
  In 2014, Xavier joined City Year Chicago, an AmeriCorps program that 
sends mentors into Chicago's most under-served schools to provide 
guidance and examples for youth.
  Just 23 years old, Xavier envisioned a career as an elected official. 
He saw this as another way to directly impact his community and his 
city.
  He was born into a family of community conscious parents. His father, 
Ra Joy is the executive director of CHANGE Illinois, a coalition 
leading systemic political and government reform. His mother, Nykea 
Pippion-Griff is the first elected African American woman president of 
the Women's Council of Realtors Chicago.
  He further served his community as a tutor and mentor at the YMCA, as 
well as several schools in the Chicago metropolitan area.
  Xavier made his life about giving back and ensuring that children had 
a positive male role model.
  We will always remember Xavier's dedication to others, warmth, 
confidence, and benevolent spirit.
  It is his loss of life that brought me to the House floor today. 
There are too many names, too many lives taken far too soon in my city, 
Chicago.
  There is a perverse spirit rampant in our nation where life no longer 
carries its value.
  That was demonstrated yesterday with the Alexandria shooting that 
wounded Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Capitol Police Special Agents 
Crystal Griner and David Bailey, Congressional Staffer Zachary Barth, 
and lobbyist Matt Mika.
  Life is valuable and we need to cherish its meaning.
  As a father whose son was also killed by gun violence, I can 
empathize with Nykea's family and all the families across my district 
and the Nation who have experienced this tragedy. No parent should have 
to experience a loss such as this.
  Xavier was the type of young man that we all want our children to 
grow up to be and his life was taken while doing something so many 
Americans take for granted every day: returning home from work.
  My thoughts and prayers are with Nykea's family and the families 
across America who mourn those lost to senseless violence.
  We deserve better. We are better.

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