[Pages H1363-H1370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL: RACISM AND POVERTY 50 YEARS AFTER THE KERNER
REPORT

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Evans) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.

General Leave

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 days legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and
include any extraneous material on the subject of the Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor that I rise today to
anchor the CBC Special Order. I would like to thank the CBC chairman,
Chairman Richmond, for his leadership in this effort.
For the next 60 minutes, we have an opportunity to speak directly to
the American people about issues of great importance to the
Congressional Black Caucus and the millions of constituents we
represent.
Tonight, Mr. Speaker, I want to speak about a topic that has affected
this country and plagued us all. Over 50 years ago, in the middle of
the Detroit riot, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the National
Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, commonly known as the Kerner
Commission. The goal of that Commission was to identify the underlying
causes of the civil unrest in communities across the country.
This was a time of tremendous tension in our great Nation. Many
Americans were confused about the root causes of the riots and the
unsure path forward.
On February 29, 1968, following several field trips to troubled
communities, the Commission released the Kerner Report, a 176-page
report that examined cultural institutional racism, from segregated
schools and housing discrimination to generational poverty and to
limited economic opportunity.
The Commission largely held racism responsible for Black rioting and
warned that our Nation is moving to two societies, one Black, one
White--separate and unequal. The Commission called for bold policies to
counter decades of political failure, such as investment in much-needed
social services, housing, and education programs; and incentivizing
diversity among law enforcement.
Sadly, President Johnson ignored the Kerner Report and rejected its
recommendations. In the midst of that, we had the assassinations of
several prominent Americans: President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy,
and Dr. Martin Luther King.
Fifty years later, America has made some improvements, but African
Americans continue to face some of the same issues discussed in the
Kerner Report.
Since its release, Black American homeownership has been flat, and
unemployment is still twice that of White Americans. The Black prison
population has tripled here in America. It used to be two other
countries, South Africa during the apartheid years and the former
Soviet Union, had more people in prison. Now the United States has more
people in prison than any nation in the world.
Black household wealth is less than one-fifth of the national
average, and almost 33 percent of Black children are growing up in
poverty.
Recently, Fred Harris, the last living member of the Kerner
Commission, issued a new report highlighting the persistent issues
plaguing the Black community and calling on major investments in
education, workforce development, and a living wage. This comes in
stark contrast to the severe cuts proposed by President Trump in the
fiscal year 2019 budget.
Today, in fact, I attended a meeting for the CEO Council for Growth
at Drexel University. The council's mission is to lead our region
forward by convening decisionmakers, taking action, and doing the
things necessary to strengthen our regional economy.
With poverty at 26 percent in my district, I am committed to working
with the CEOs present at today's meeting and others who are using
creativity and innovation to help reduce poverty, combat hunger, and
spur economic growth.
I also attended a discussion at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Although the recently passed budget was by no means perfect, I firmly
believe that our leadership and our actions matter.
So it was great to hear firsthand from professors at Temple
University today about how the recent jolt in NIH funding will allow
them to keep their research on the rise. If we want to continue moving
the needle on poverty reduction, we must make it our priority to invest
in all of our neighborhoods.
We are in the business of doing no harm. As elected officials, we are
here to help move our neighborhoods forward, not backward, and we must
continue to urgently press for commonsense economic solutions for
Americans most in need.

I stand before you today to tell you just as I have always done
before, we must continue to make ideas matter. We must push for
commonsense solutions to help move us past the conditions that led to
the Kerner Report.
Mr. Speaker, I have my colleague from California (Ms. Lee) here, who
is someone whom I have watched and observed. As a matter of fact, she
is the chair leading the effort from the Democratic perspective on
attacking this issue of poverty. She has been in the forefront of this
particular issue, and her voice is heard throughout this entire Nation,
the Honorable Barbara Lee from the 13th District.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, first, let me thank Congressman Dwight Evans
for, once again, hosting this very important Special Order and for
really continuing this fight for racial and economic justice both here
in the House of Representatives but also in his congressional district.
So I thank the gentleman very much for his tremendous leadership.
Fifty years ago at the height of the civil rights movement, violence
erupted in cities across America. Over generations, systemic racism had
produced what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called a tale of two cities.
One city was bright and full of opportunity for a select few, and
another city was shrouded in darkness and locked in a never-ending
cycle of poverty.
African Americans, suffocating under the pressure of institutional
racism and discrimination, took to the streets.
After race riots erupted in Watts and Chicago; Newark, New Jersey;
and Detroit, our government took notice. President Johnson convened the
Kerner Commission, which Congressman Evans laid out, which had three
goals to investigate the root cause of the unrest.
Many activists and civil rights leaders were concerned that the
Commission wouldn't reveal the true facts. But to our surprise--and I
remember this very clearly--the report was brutally honest.
According to the report, White racism was responsible for the rising
tensions and explosive violence ripping our Nation apart. So that
should have been a wake-up call.

[[Page H1364]]

{time} 2030

Racism had created two societies: one Black, one White, separate and
unequal. The report identified the problem and proposed a series of
targeted solutions that could right this terrible wrong.
According to the report, there were three options for our government:
One, do nothing, which would result in more riots and economic
devastation and racial division in our country;
Two, we could make robust investments into African-American
neighborhoods and schools;
Three, take racism and discrimination head-on, removing
discriminatory barriers that lock African Americans into poverty and
prevent them from accessing the basics and a basic standard of living.
Option three, of course, could have drastically changed the lives of
millions of African Americans. Sadly, the Kerner Commission's report
was largely ignored. Again, Congressman Evans laid that out.
Instead of investing in education, employment opportunities, livable
wages, raising incomes, and pathways out of poverty, this country,
unfortunately, has allowed institutional racism to divide this Nation.
Of course, we have made some progress, but this updated report clearly
shows that is not nearly enough. We really are still a divided country.
As a result, the findings of the 1968 Kerner Commission's report remain
constant to this very day.
In 1968, almost half of all students of color, primarily African
Americans, went to majority-White schools. Today, that number has
plummeted to 20 percent.
In 1968, the unemployment rate for African Americans was 6.7 percent.
Today, 7.5 percent of African Americans are unemployed.
In 1968, African Americans were 5.4 times as likely as Whites to be
in prison or in jail. Today, African Americans are 6.4 times as likely
as Whites to be incarcerated.
Five decades have passed and economic inequality still prevents the
African-American community from accessing the American Dream.
I represent the 13th Congressional District of California, which
includes Alameda County. While some are witnessing and experiencing
enormous wealth and economic growth in my district, 43 percent of
African-American children in Oakland are living in poverty, 23.6
percent of African Americans in my district are locked in poverty, and
the average income for African-American families in the San Francisco
Bay Area is $46,571 a year, compared to White families, who make more
than $109,000. That is in my district in the San Francisco Bay Area.
This gap is one of the hugest gaps in the country. It is a total
disgrace.
We should be leveling the economic playing field for African
Americans across the Nation. Instead, we throw Black workers meager
wages and apply trickle-down economics that only benefit the rich.
Our Federal Government should provide the impetus, incentive, and
investment for good-paying jobs for African-American workers. Instead,
this administration is attacking unions and produced a budget that guts
job training programs and a tax law that makes it easier to ship jobs
overseas.
We should be investing in affordable housing, which, yes, is a basic
human right for everyone, including the African-American community.
Instead, this administration is weakening fair housing laws and
rationing off affordable housing funding.
The majority of this administration's proposed budget--the cuts,
especially--will disproportionately negatively impact African Americans
and people of color. This really is a twisted and sick reality that
shouldn't be possible in the United States of America.
But members of the Congressional Black Caucus are here tonight to say
that we continue to be determined to change this reality because, yes,
Black lives do matter. We are here to tell the truth about what is
dividing America: racism. It is manifest in many forms in our policy,
in our budget, in our funding priorities, and in many, many ways.
In January, a group of nearly 100 religious leaders came together to
issue a unity declaration on racism and poverty. Mr. Speaker, I include
in the record a letter, a document, entitled, ``Unity Declaration on
Racism and Poverty,'' and a document entitled, ``Circle of
Protection.''

Unity Declaration on Racism and Poverty

As leaders from diverse families of U.S. Christianity, we
are called by the Spirit to work together with new urgency
against the resurgence of racism and the persistence of
poverty in America. We see around us an increase of harmful
attitudes and policies toward people of color and people in
need. That painful reality and the current push for trillions
of dollars in cuts to anti-poverty programs are bringing us
together in a new way. While we have different positions on
other questions, we are united on the gospel and biblical
teaching on poverty and racism--feeling invited to do so by
the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

We believe that racism and poverty are theological issues

The integral relationship between poverty and racism
unifies us against both. They are both issues to which the
gospel of Jesus Christ speaks--which also calls us to love
our neighbors, without exceptions. Our unity on these issues
is because they are theological issues for us, not merely
political or partisan ones. These fundamentally biblical
concerns challenge all of us and both of the major political
parties.
Racism is a sin that goes back to the founding of our
nation. At its root, racism is in conflict with the opening
declaration in Genesis 1, that we are all made in the image
and likeness of God. Racism literally throws away the
biblical principle of imago dei--the image of God in all of
us, with no exceptions. Racism is a sin against God and all
of God's children. Therefore, the whole counsel of God calls
us to preach against the sin of racism from all of our
churches' pulpits and call for repentance.
The body of Christ is perhaps the most diverse racial
community in the world. When people of color in the body of
Christ suffer--while many white members of the body of Christ
do not acknowledge their pain--we are violating the principle
laid down in 1 Corinthians 12: that we are one body with many
parts, who suffer with and honor one another. As Galatians
instructs us, ``there is no more Jew or Greek, bond or free,
male or female, because we are all united as one in Christ''
(3:28).
The historical sin of racism lingers on in America today,
continuing and evolving in our social systems of economics
and education, policing and criminal justice, housing and
gentrification, voting rights and suppression, in our racial
geography, and, painfully, in the continued segregation of
our churches, which adds to our own complicity. Racism is
more than individual behavior, language, and overt hostility
toward particular people. Racism is systematic and structural
in America and harms people of color in very specific,
measurable, and tangible ways.
The failure to defend the lives and dignity of people
living in poverty, by individuals or governments, is also a
sin against God, with 2,000 verses in the Bible clearly
outlining God's fundamental concern for people who are poor,
vulnerable, and oppressed, instructing the people of God to
protect and help them and holding political leaders
responsible for them. Jesus says, in Matthew 25, that how we
treat the ``least of these'' is how we treat Christ himself.
The world and our country have made progress against
poverty in recent decades. It is possible to make further
progress--perhaps virtually end--hunger and extreme poverty
in our time. We see the alleviation of material misery as an
experience of God's loving presence in our own time, and
believe that God wants us to seize this opportunity.

To our churches: What we are doing and can do

Most of our churches are active in helping people in need,
struggling people within their congregations or in their
communities. We need to do more, but many of our churches
directly help millions of people every day. Local church
leaders often work to bridge the racial divides in our
communities, and many are searching for authentic and
specific ways to address the rise of white supremacy.
Since the God of the Bible requires social justice and
charity, our churches and many of our members also work to
influence public policies. Christians have a wide array of
political viewpoints. But a majority of the leaders of
national church bodies have spoken out repeatedly against
cuts to programs that provide help and opportunity to hungry
and poor people in our country and around the world. We have
also spoken out against renewed expressions of white racism,
ethnic nationalism, and hateful attitudes toward people of
color, immigrants, refugees, Jews, and Muslims. Many of us
are active in support of immigration reform, criminal justice
reform, and voting rights for all.
We are deeply troubled by the budget proposals coming from
Congress and the president. They outline more than $2
trillion of cuts in programs for hungry and poor people in
our country and around the world. These cuts would hurt
struggling people of all races, including millions of low-
and middle-income people who need safety-net programs at some
time in their lives. The hardest hit would be African
American, Latino, and Native American communities, where the
poverty rate is already high, and among people in the poorest
countries in the world.
The threat over the coming year of this broad assault on
anti-poverty programs that

[[Page H1365]]

support families struggling to make ends meet is unifying
us--bringing us together in a more vigorous, multiracial
Christian movement to maintain a circle of protection around
all people in poverty and God's children of color in
particular, who are disproportionally impacted.

To Congress and the White House: Our united appeal for healing and
reform in our nation's politics

We appeal to the president and Congress to work together
for the common good. We especially call upon political
leaders who are also people of faith to protect all the
people in our country and world who are struggling with
economic deprivation and frustration, hunger and poverty,
disability and disadvantage--and racial bigotry that often
contributes to inaction and hard-heartedness.
God's love for all people moves us to reach out to people
and leaders all across the political spectrum. We respect and
pray for all those who are in authority--that our nation and
world ``may lead a quiet and peaceable life'' (1 Timothy 2:1-
2). Conservative and liberal people, and those with differing
political philosophies, may disagree on how to live up to our
nation's ideals, but our loving God calls all of us to work
together for liberty and justice for everyone.
We appeal to all people, especially Christians, to actively
work against racism and poverty--in their personal and local
engagement and as advocates for public policies that foster
racial equity and healing, shared prosperity, and peace in
our country and worldwide. The spiritual power of a fresh,
energetic, multiracial Christian movement against both racism
and poverty is our prayer. So help us God.

SIGNATORIES

Rev. Eddy M. Aleman, Strategic Director of Leadership
Development and Hispanic Ministries, Reformed Church in
America
Rev. Dr. David Anderson, Founder/Senior Pastor, Bridgeway
Community Church; President and CEO, BridgeLeader Network
Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Diocesan Legate and Ecumenical
Director, Armenian Orthodox Church
Bishop Carroll Baltimore, President and CEO, Global
Alliance Interfaith Network
Dr. Jay Barnes, President, Bethel University
Bishop George E. Battle, Senior Bishop, AME Zion Church
Rev. David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World
Rev. Traci D. Blackmon, Executive Minister of Justice and
Local Church Ministries, The United Church of Christ
Bishop Charles E. Blake, Presiding Bishop And Chief
Apostle, Church of God in Christ
Rev. Samuel Borbon, Associate Missioner for Latino/Hispanic
Ministry and Program Development, Episcopal Church USA
Rev. Dr. Peter Borgdorff, Executive Director Emeritus,
Christian Reformed Church in North America
Carol Bremer-Bennett, Director, World Renew USA
Dr. Amos Brown, Chair, Social Justice Commission, National
Baptist Convention USA, Inc.
Bishop Rosetta Bryson, Presiding Prelate, The Reconcile
Group
Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive Director, NETWORK
Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Dr. Tony Campolo, Co-Founder, Red Letter Christians
Rev. Galen Carey, Vice President of Government Relations,
National Association of Evangelicals
Mr. Patrick Carolan, Executive Director, Franciscan Action
Network
Mr. John Carr, Director, Initiative on Catholic Social
Thought and Public Life, Georgetown University
Dr. Iva Carruthers, General Secretary, Samuel DeWitt
Proctor Conference
Dr. Fernando Cascante, Executive Director, AETH & The Justo
Center
Rev. Noel Castellanos, President, CCDA
Rev. Walter Contreras, Vice President, NaLEC; Pasadena
Presbyterian Church
Dr. Leslie Copeland-Tune, Director, Ecumenical Poverty
Initiative
The Most Rev. Michael B Curry, Presiding Bishop and
Primate, The Episcopal Church
Rev. Joshua Dubois, Founder and CEO, Values Partnerships
Rev. Jose Garcia, Senior Advisor for Prayer and Strategic
Initiatives, Bread for the World
Mr. Vince Gonzales, Chair, Racial and Social Justice Task
Force, Churches Uniting In Christ
Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary
Emeritus, Reformed Church in America; Chair of Board of
Directors, Sojourners
The Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory, Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Atlanta
Dr. Jeffrey Haggray, Executive Director, American Baptist
Home Mission Societies
Dr. Cynthia Hale, Founding Pastor, Ray of Hope Christian
Church; Member, Disciples of Christ
Forest E. Harris, Sr., President, American Baptist College,
Director of Black Church Studies, Vanderbilt University
Divinity School
Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, Chairman, The Samuel DeWitt
Proctor Conference
Richard B. Hays, George Washington Ivey Professor of New
Testament, Duke Divinity School
Rev. Mitchell Hescox, President and CEO, Evangelical
Environmental Network
Dr. Roberto Hodgson, Director, Multicultural Ministries
Church of the Nazarene
Dr. Shirley Hoogstra, President, Council of Christian
Colleges & Universities
Rev. Teresa Hord-Owens, General Minister, Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
Dr. Joel C. Hunter, Faith Community Organizer; Chair,
Central Florida Commission on Homelessness; Chair, Community
Resource Network
Hyepin Im, President and CEO, Faith and Community
Empowerment
Rev. Dr. Dale T. Irvin, President and Professor of World
Christianity, New York Theological Seminary
Rev. John K. Jenkins, Pastor, First Baptist Church of
Glenarden and Board Member, National Association of
Evangelicals
Sister Carol Keehan, DC, President and CEO, Catholic Health
Association of the United States
Eric LeCompte, Executive Director, Jubilee USA Network
Rev. Dr. Jo Anne Lyon, General Superintendent Emerita, The
Wesleyan Church
Mr. John Lyon, President, World Hope International
Rev. Carlos Malave, Executive Director, Christian Churches
Together
Sister Donna Markham OP, PhD, President and CEO, Catholic
Charities
Rev. Dr. Walter Arthur McCray, President, National Black
Evangelical Association
Rev. John L. McCullough, President and CEO, Church World
Service
Bishop Vashti McKenzie, 117th Elected and Consecrated
Bishop, AME Church
Bishop Darin Moore, Presiding Prelate of the Mid-Atlantic
Episcopal District, AME Zion Church
Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, Jr., Co-Convener National African
American Clergy Network
Rev. F. Salvador Orellana, National Coordinator for Latino
Ministries, Intercultural Ministries American Baptist Home
Missions Society
Rev. Ruben N. Ortiz, Latino Field Coordinator, Cooperative
Baptist Fellowship
The Most Reverend Richard E. Pates, Roman Catholic Bishop
of Des Moines
Rev. Dr. James C. Perkins, President, Progressive National
Baptist Convention, Inc
Rev. Daniel Prieto, M.A.R. Chairman, National Hispanic
Commission; Missional Coach & Hispanic Multiplication
Coordinator, Foursquare Church
Agustin Quiles, Orlando, Florida
Soong-Chan Rah, Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism,
North Park Theological Seminary
Ms. Diane E. Randall, Executive Secretary, Friends
Committee on National Legislation
Senior Bishop Lawrence Reddick, CEO, Christian Methodist
Episcopal Church
Bishop Frank Madison Reid III, Presiding Bishop, AME
Ecumenical & Urban Affairs
Dr. W. Franklin Richardson, Chairman, Conference of
National Black Churches
Jose Luis (Pepe) Romero, Hispanic Affairs Specialist,
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Andrew Ryskamp, Executive Director Emeritus, World Renew
Dr. Stephen Schneck, Director of the Institute for Policy
Research & Catholic Studies, The Catholic University of
America
Dr. Ronald Sider, President Emeritus, Evangelicals for
Social Action
Rev. Arthur Simon, President Emeritus, Bread for the World
Dr. T. DeWitt Smith, Co-Convener, National African American
Clergy Network
Rev. Eldridge Spearman, Pastor, Mt. Jezreel Baptist Church,
National Baptist Convention, USA Inc.
Gregory E. Sterling, Henry L Slack Dean and Lillian Claus
Professor of New Testament, Yale Divinity School
Ervin R. Stutzman, Executive Director, Mennonite Church USA
Rev. Lori Tapia, National Pastor for Hispanic Ministries,
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Rev. Adam Taylor, Executive Director, Sojourners
Dr. Steven Timmermans, Executive Director, Christian
Reformed Church in North America
Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III, International Presiding
Bishop, Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International,
Inc.
Rev. Jim Wallis, President and Founder, Sojouners
Colin P. Watson, Director of Ministries and Administration,
Christian Reformed Church in North America
Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, Co-Convener, National African
American Clergy Network; President, Skinner Leadership
Institute
Rev. Jim Winkler, President and National Secretary,
National Council of Churches
Bishop Jesse Yanez, Director, Church of God of the Prophecy
N.A.
____

Circle of Protection,

January 29, 2017
Dear Members of Congress: As the president and Congress are
preparing their plans for this year, almost 100 church
leaders--from all the families of U.S. Christianity--are
sharing a common ``Unity Statement'' on racism and poverty.
As Christians, we are grounded in God's love for all people,
and we feel called to ask our churches and political leaders
of both parties to work together to overcome racism and
poverty which are theological, biblical, and gospel issues
for us, not merely political or partisan ones.
This moment in time and the clear movement of the Spirit
have brought diverse multi-racial church leaders together
over the last several months for dinner conversations and
times of prayer. Out of those moving times together, we
developed a Unity Statement on Racism and Poverty. It has
attracted many more racially and theologically diverse church
leaders and is now

[[Page H1366]]

embraced by the Circle of Protection, the broadest group of
Christian leaders focused on poverty. The leaders who have
signed this statement are from African-American, Hispanic,
Asian-American, Native American, Evangelical, Catholic,
Pentecostal, and mainline Protestant churches; and many
national faith-based organizations. We are all committed to
help build a fresh, newly energetic, multi-racial Christian
movement to make the integral connection between racism and
poverty and seek the spiritual power to end both. We are also
committed to working in alliance with other faith communities
on the crucial intersection of racism and poverty as it is
worked out in public policies. While the Circle of Protection
is a Christian group, we believe this statement reflects the
values and principles of people of diverse faiths.
We are purposefully sending you this statement before you
go to your respective retreats. In addition to reading this
statement thoughtfully, we ask for the following three
things: first, we ask you to discuss this statement and the
issues central to it--racism and poverty--at your retreats;
second, we ask you to incorporate these concerns into your
policy decisions and legislation in 2018 and beyond; third,
we ask you to convene meetings with faith leaders in your
communities to plan follow-up action on these issues in your
states and districts. Racism and poverty are systemic issues
that are central to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus.
Therefore, they are critical to policy choices made by
political leaders of faith and conscience. We will be
following up with you directly to see how we can be helpful
and useful to you as you consider these deeply biblical and
theological issues.
We believe if we Christians from diverse backgrounds and
traditions were known, not mostly for our divisions, but for
our unity in a shared commitment to faithfully address both
racism and poverty--together--it could be powerful force--
both for our churches and the country. So help us God.
Rev. Jim Wallis,
President and Founder, Sojourners;
Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner,
Co-Convener, National African-American Clergy Network and
President, Skinner Leadership Institute;
Rev. David Beckmann,
President, Bread for the World;
Rev. Carlos Malave,
Executive Director, Christian Churches Together USA (in his
personal capacity).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to share a passage from the unity
statement that was developed. This was an ecumenical group of over 100
religious denominations: ``Racism is more than individual behavior,
language, and overt hostility toward particular people. Racism is
systematic and structural in America and harms people of color in very
specific, measurable, and tangible ways.''
Mr. Speaker, the Kerner report, unfortunately, was ignored, and 50
years later, we are still feeling and reaping the consequences. The
difficult truth is that, until we address the impact of the middle
passage and slavery of generations of African Americans and believe
that truth and reconciliation must happen, 50 years from now, two
cities will have destroyed the very fabric of our Nation.
As the unity declaration goes on to say: ``Racism is a sin that goes
back to the founding of our Nation.''
We know what is plaguing our society, and we know what to do about
it. The time for talk is over. It is time we do what is right for all
Americans. Yes, Black lives do matter.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I heard the gentlewoman say, obviously, 1968,
and we are now in 2018. I yield to the gentlewoman to tell me what she
thinks, in terms of the conditions in 1968, which were obviously the
riots, to where we are in 2018. I know there has been some progress,
but in terms of things moving back.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, in many communities, housing was segregated. We
passed fair housing laws. Affordable housing now is out of reach for
many African Americans. This administration is now gutting all of our
fair housing programs, our public housing programs, our Section 8
programs.
The banks, of course, did target African-American communities for
these subprime scam loans. Unfortunately, any equity that had been
built in the homes that we purchased after 1968 is gone. So the wealth
gap is huge. It is greater than what it was probably in 1968.
When you look at the number of African Americans who were unemployed
in 1968, I believe it was a little over 5 percent. Now we are looking
at 7 percent.
When you look at the incarceration rates for the war on drugs, the
marijuana laws in this country, especially in the eighties and the
impacts of that, we have so many of our young African-American men
incarcerated for misdemeanor and felony charges for marijuana
distribution and use. We are looking at mass incarceration that has
taken place since 1968 of African-American young men and women.
So, yes, we have made a lot of progress. I stand here as the 100th
Black Member of Congress. Mr. Evans is here. We have a Congressional
Black Caucus that has increased in size. We have many, many allies in
our fight. But I think what we haven't addressed is the issue of racism
and institutional racism, because it is so subconscious for so many
people until many decisions are made which negatively impact the
African-American community.
So from 1968 to now, we have made some progress. We have some great
professionals, people doing wonderful things in our community. We have
great leaders. We have great scientists, lawyers, doctors, teachers,
firefighters, and workers. We have so many people who have been able to
lift themselves into the middle class, but we have left so many behind.
That is the point, I think, that, while this new report shows that
some of us have progressed, we didn't do what was necessary to bring
everyone along with us, to lift everyone out of poverty in the Black
community and provide for a level playing field for equality, for
parity, and for a pathway into the American Dream.
That is really very sad and very shameful, but I have a lot of hope
that our young people and that we here in the House and that the
country really begin to understand that we have to address the root
causes of what has happened in this country as it relates to the middle
passage and slavery, and to understand that what we see today in these
respects that cause these economic and racial disparities go right back
to the unfortunate, devastating, and horrific middle passage.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman to speak about the
panel she is leading on poverty.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, several years ago, we established the Whip's
Task Force on Poverty, Inequality, and Opportunity. For so many years,
I wanted to see our caucus talk about more issues relating to low-
income and working people and people of color. I really appreciate our
whip, Steny Hoyer, and our leader, Nancy Pelosi, for rallying around
this concept of looking around all these issues of poverty, inequality,
and opportunity.
We put together this task force to begin to look at the policies that
not only we need to support that are lifting people out of poverty, but
what we need to do to fight against some of the policies and funding
priorities that would lead more people into the ranks of the poor.
This task force now has over 100 people. We have meetings with
experts, with organizations that are doing wonderful work throughout
the country in communities of color and low-income communities and the
Black communities, really demonstrating that there are some grassroots
efforts and community efforts that, while here in Congress we haven't
been able to change many policies, at the grassroots levels and the
community level there are some wonderful people doing some great things
to help lift people out of poverty and into the middle class.
So we try to highlight and showcase those organizations and
individuals so that we can replicate them around the country, so that,
until we can get the policies right, we can support those efforts that
are taking place that are really doing a wonderful job.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr.
Ellison), someone I had the pleasure of spending time with. We have a
little running conversation with the Eagles playing in the Super Bowl.
He has turned out to be a very good friend in spite of that.
He has traveled this Nation and been very thoughtful in his comments
and the things he has said. He wanted to really weigh in on this
subject. He has been in the forefront of economic opportunity, poverty
reduction, racism, and income equality. He has been in there.

[[Page H1367]]

Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, even though the gentleman from
Pennsylvania's football team, the Eagles, beat the Vikings pretty
badly, I forgive him for that because at least they beat New England
and Tom Brady.
Now, on to the serious business.
I thank the gentleman, Mr. Evans, for hosting this Special Order
talking about the Kerner Commission.
I was born and raised in the city of Detroit. I am honored to
represent Minnesota. I am a Minnesotan and very proud of Minnesota, but
I started life out in the city of Detroit.
I remember 1968. I was born in August of 1963. I distinctly remember
the riots. As a small child, my father was a medical professional, and
I remember him being gone for long hours, coming home extremely tired.
I remember the earnest conversations my parents were having, talking
about the riots.
I remember looking outside my door and seeing military-style vehicles
driving by, which is something we didn't really see. I remember being
afraid because we heard some noises, and my mother had me and my
brothers get under the bed.
I had no idea, really, what was going on, but those memories for me
are very vivid because, when you are a child and your parents are
afraid, you can feel it. I don't think I will ever forget it.
As I got older, I wanted to know more about the causes of the riots,
and I learned and read about the Kerner Commission. The Kerner
Commission's report was designed to focus on all of the civil
disturbances that had been happening in the United States, including
the Detroit riot, which I was alive and have some memory of.

{time} 2045

I think it is difficult for young people who want to understand the
Kerner Commission report--a report that was prophetic, a report that
was thorough and important, a report that was actually a pretty good
piece of literature that had good recommendations that our country has
never really taken seriously.
But to understand this report and to really delve into the roots of
it, I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, to understand that, before
1968, before there ever was a Kerner Commission report, our country,
the United States, was a slave-holding nation for about 250 years. If
you mark African-American presence in the United States from 1619 and
you say slavery officially ended in 1865, America, our country, the
United States, was a slave-holding nation longer than it was not one--
longer, actually longer. This country held men, women, and children in
bondage in absolute absence of freedom for longer than it has not,
which is particularly ironic, given that our country is dedicated to
liberty and freedom.
Literally millions of Americans existed in a state of anti-freedom,
which is slavery. We have yet to contemplate it.
I remember going to law school studying property and contracts. We
never talked about America's greatest amount of property, which is
human property. We never actually asked: What is the law about leasing
on slaves? What is the law about property ownership on slaves? What is
this species of property?
We talked about real estate. We talked about other forms of property.
We talked about intellectual property. But for many years of this
Nation's history, the predominant form of property was human property
in the United States, and we never stopped to even slow down.
I bet you there is not more than two or three law schools in the
United States that take on this topic so that people can really
understand the ground upon which we stand. We are in the U.S. Capitol,
built by people who were not free. In this cathedral of freedom, the
people who built it were not free for 250 years.
People stand by and say: Why don't you all get over that? You are
always talking about that.
I say: Well, you all still celebrate the Fourth of July.
We are all proud on the Fourth of July that happened in 1776, but we
are not supposed to talk about an institution that prevailed in the
United States for most of its history.
And it wasn't quite over in 1865, was it?
No. In 1865, we passed the 13th Amendment banning involuntary
servitude. We passed the 14th Amendment granting citizenship in, I
think, 1868. In 1870, we passed the 15th Amendment granting Black men
the right to vote.
This is essentially war measures. I am glad they exist, trust me. I
am quite grateful they exist. But when you consider that over 200,000
Black soldiers took up arms to keep the Union--the Union--it was the
very least that could happen that Black men would get to vote. Black
women didn't get to vote.
But then after that, it is important, Mr. Speaker, to bear in mind
another phenomenon took place. By 1877, the Tilden-Hayes compromise was
effected, in which there was a dead heat political election. And the
Republicans of that day, who, ironically, were the people who were
against slavery at that time and against racism and bigotry, they said:
We are tired of fighting about racism, slavery, and what is to happen
with the Freedman. We will pull Union troops out of the South if you
Democrats give us the election.
That allowed Rutherford B. Hayes to become President. Samuel Tilden
did not become the President, but the Southerners, Democrats at that
time, got what they wanted.
This phenomenon that occurred after that was the end of
reconstruction. Lynching, slavery by another name, and true terrorism,
under the auspices of the Ku Klux Klan, reined in America at this time.
Pulaski, Tennessee, was the home of the Klan. But there were many other
White supremacist groups that received the sanction of our government.
In fact, one might even argue that the whole government of the State of
Indiana at one time was dominated by the Klan.
People interested in this phenomena can study a very important piece
of film and book called ``Slavery By Another Name,'' that talked about
convict leasing. The 13th Amendment says that you cannot hold anybody
in an involuntary servitude unless convicted of a crime.
That loophole allowed our country to use the criminal justice system
to push Black men into it to take advantage of their labor through
convict leasing. And even though the industry in Alabama of steelmaking
really had not taken root during slavery, it did take root after
slavery. The people who mined the iron ore and who worked in those
mines were, essentially, in convict leasing.
Convict leasing prevailed in our country up until the 1930s and
1940s. In fact, cotton production dropped after the Civil War, but then
went back up because of convict leasing because Black men and women
were held in bondage through an unjust criminal justice system that
forced them to work cotton up until mechanization made hand cotton
picking not advantageous anymore. That, together with the sharecropping
system, maintained that system.
We think about the Kerner Commission report, we think about the riots
of 1968, 1965, and 1966, all of these things, Black rage exploding on
the national scene, and people ask: What are they mad about?
Two hundred and fifty years of slavery and 100 years after Jim Crow
after that might make you a little upset.
Black people never missed a war. African-American soldiers helped
fight for the Union; African-American soldiers helped fight in Korea;
the Spanish-American war. As a matter of fact, you can't name a
military conflict that Black people didn't fight for this country and
die for it. Yet, after the service, usually we came back to racism and
discrimination.
There is a great movie out now called ``Mudbound'' about this very
phenomena. If people want to learn more about this, they can look at
this film ``Mudbound'' about a Black soldier who comes back, gets
treated with human dignity in Europe, comes back to Mississippi, and
then gets lynched.
This is our country. I am proud of my country and I love my country,
but I am not blind to it.
The Kerner Commission tried to open our eyes and tell us what was
really going on. One of the phenomenon--and I would like to just note
this--is that one of the many ways that racism manifested itself is
through residential segregation. Blacks were not allowed to live in
certain areas, work in certain areas, and, in 1903, the great Woodrow

[[Page H1368]]

Wilson kicked Black people out of Federal employment. His reason was
that we carry disease. This is in the modern era. Black people were
relegated to living in certain neighborhoods. And, actually, when it
was found to be illegal to say Blacks can't live in this neighborhood
by the Supreme Court, then that is when redlining took hold.
Residential segregation was so effective, Mr. Speaker, for 50 years,
that we now in America today--and I am talking about 2018--if you
survey White Americans and you ask them, Have you had a significant and
meaningful conversation in the last 6 months, who are those people and
who are the top seven, 91 percent of White Americans will say that they
haven't had a meaningful conversation with a person of color.
Residential segregation is so bad that we don't talk to each other.
The result is no empathy--no sympathy; no empathy; no sense of, gee,
that is really too bad.
People say: Well, they don't work hard. That is the problem.
Well, wait a minute. How could it be that the people who worked for
250 years for free don't work hard? How could it be that people who
don't have any power are some big threat to be feared in this Nation
when all we have done is serve it and build it?
At the end of the day, the Kerner Commission tried to highlight
discrimination against African Americans in education, housing, and
employment; tried to help the Nation understand why some African
Americans get enraged about incidents of official violence; why we
don't condone, nor even do we agree, with riots.
We cannot act like we don't understand them. Of course we understand
them. Many of us have chosen that we are going to try to reform our
country and help it reach its promise through our electoral system,
through organizing, and activism. We are going to try to make America a
stronger and better place by working within the systems that exist.
I am proud that I am one of those people. But I often have to find
myself trying to convince people who don't agree with me that there are
answers within the system that I am right and they are not, because
they come with arguments sometimes based on the history.
The bottom line is the Kerner Commission report, 50 years ago today,
we have made progress. There is no doubt about it. We don't have Jim
Crow anymore. But we have also seen stagnation.
There is a new report by the Eisenhower Foundation, which shows that
since the late 1960s, income inequality and the wealth gap have
actually gotten wider. While high school and college graduation rates
have improved for the Black community since the Kerner Commission
report--thank goodness, and this is an important advance, and we are
grateful for it--these gains in access have not translated in economic
vitality.
Black families have the highest student debt. Thirty-one percent of
all Black families have college debt, compared to about 20 percent of
White families. College debt is tough on families of any color, but
African Americans, having a lower overall income and a much lower
wealth, have to borrow more to seek out education, and that is limiting
African-American opportunity.
More than 70 percent of White families own their own homes compared
to less than half of Black and Hispanic families. Since 1968, White
homeownership has steadily increased, but Black homeownership has not
changed. In 1968, 41 percent of Black families owned their own home.
And what is the homeownership rate today?
Now it is 41.2.
Given what I shared with you earlier about residential segregation
and about how Blacks and Whites and Latinos don't really interact
nearly as much as they should, given the fact that we are all
Americans, people may not understand why African-American economic
progress has not been as swift as we might want it to be.
To that I say it is a matter of residential segregation and even
current redlining. I recommend to people to read an important book
called ``Evicted'' by Matthew Desmond, and also listen to a podcast
called ``Reveal'' about redlining. This prospect of redlining is very
important. ``Reveal'' looked at literally thousands and thousands of
pieces of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. They found that,
in 61 metropolitan areas in the United States, there is substantial
evidence of mortgage discrimination. That is African Americans, who got
the same credit score, the same down payment as other people, who are
denied loans.

Mr. Speaker, this even happens in neighborhoods where Black people
are the majority.
People wonder: How is it that you have gentrification?
Well, the Black person with the downpayment and the 700 credit score
gets told that they cannot have a loan; and the White person with the
500 or 600 credit score and a 3 percent downpayment gets told: Sure,
have the loan.
It is happening every day.
Listen to the podcast ``Reveal.'' You will see a woman who went
through this herself. It left her not only without a house, but she had
to have her partner, who is White and Asian mix, be the one who took
out the mortgage because they wouldn't give her one.
I am saying that our country is truly a great nation, but to get to
its true greatness, it has got to confront racial discrimination. I am
not talking about prejudice. I am talking about racism.
What is the difference?
Prejudice means I don't like you because of your color, your race,
and it is a personal thing. It is just I don't like you.
What I am talking about by racism is systematic denial of opportunity
without regard to personality.
They didn't turn that Black woman down in that ``Reveal'' podcast
because they didn't like her. They don't know her. They know she is
Black, and that is all they need to know to turn her down.
This is what we have to confront as a country.
And as I close, Congressman Evans, and as I get ready to take my
seat, I just want to point out that, in 2016, White families had a
median net worth of $171,000 compared to $17,000 for Blacks and $20,000
for Latinos. Sixty percent of White families reported having retirement
savings, which is double the rate for Black and Hispanic families.
We have to understand what Martin Luther King tried to teach us, and
that is: What difference does it make if you can sit at a lunch counter
if you cannot afford a hamburger?

{time} 2100

The Kerner Commission tried to signal to us the way forward. In 2018,
we still have the opportunity to take the lessons of it and to build a
truly beloved society, as Martin Luther King tried to teach us, but it
cannot just be platitudes and pretty talk. It has got to be real
commitment, real money, and real investment in opportunity for all.
At the end of the day, in the United States, we say, as we say the
Pledge of Allegiance, ``liberty and justice for all.'' I say economic
liberty and economic justice for all, and I say we will then see much
more social inclusion, and we will live up to the recommendations of
the Kerner Commission. We can't wait another 50 years.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the gentleman a question.
I hope people heard him. I want to ask a couple things.
The goal of the Commission was to identify the underlying causes of
the civil unrest in communities across the country, and obviously a lot
has happened in that 50 years. Technology, trade policies, tax
policies, education policies, all those types of things have occurred,
and it is clear knowing--obviously, in 1968, they didn't know anything
about the internet, trade policies, tax policies.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the gentleman: Should there be
another commission report? Should there be something that, in a sense,
tries to update, in 2018, knowing the circumstances that we are in, and
especially poverty has even grown more?
Mr. Speaker, I told you, in the district I am in, which has a lot of
wealth with major universities, there is 26 percent poverty. In 1968,
there was a riot in the city of Philadelphia.
Now, we don't have riots, you know, fortunately, anymore today in
communities, but do we have a form of quiet riot that is occurring in
these communities, not physically the way they were, but in some way
there is still this growing gap? So we know what the goal was.

[[Page H1369]]

Mr. ELLISON. Right.
Mr. EVANS. We know the goal was to identify the underlying causes of
the civil unrest.
Mr. Speaker, what I hear Mr. Ellison saying with that 250 years, the
first time I ever heard that described that way, I would ask him to
talk to us a little bit about here it is 2018, 50 years later, with all
these things that have happened.
I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota.
Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I think another Kerner Commission report is
definitely appropriate. It is right. It is good. But I will say that
the Eisenhower Foundation did a report that showed that, since the late
1960s, income inequality and the wealth gap have widened.
I really believe that what we really need to do is say to ourselves,
as a nation, that we are going to actually live out the true meaning of
our creed. At the end of the day, the problem is not intellectual; the
problem is a matter of will.
Actually, we have real challenges in our Nation today because, I
happen to believe, we have a President who is less willing to move
progress forward than even other Republicans who have been in office.
We live in a time, now, where we have seen the rollback of the 1965
Voting Rights Act. We have seen the--right now, there is an attack on
public employees in the Supreme Court. It feels like 1870.
You remember I was talking about the Civil War. Black soldiers
entered the Civil War in 1863 after the Emancipation Proclamation;
200,000 fought in that Civil War. Black soldiers helped win the Civil
War and maintained the Union. In fact, Lincoln himself said that,
without Black soldiers, we might not have a Union.
We went through Reconstruction. Of course, Lincoln was killed in
April of 1865, but by 1870, we began to roll back, we began to see the
progress and the promise roll back.
It feels a little bit like that right now. It feels a little bit like
that. But, you know, we are not going back to them bad old days. I want
everyone to hear that African Americans, Latinos, women, the LGBT
community, people of other religious groups, minority religions, we are
not going to the back of the bus. It is just not going to happen.
Better to say, okay, instead of having one group in America be
supreme over everyone, what if that group were simply equal to
everyone?
Some people in our country seem to believe that having 43 Presidents
who are White men, you get one that is Black, and now, all of a sudden,
oh, my God, the world is coming to an end. No, it isn't. Everything is
fine. Everyone is fine. It just means that what we wrote on paper is
actually getting reflected a little bit more in reality.
I think we need to make a firm commitment to end housing
discrimination, a firm commitment to let the people vote, a firm
commitment to stop giving tax breaks to the richest people and give the
working and middle class a chance to earn a decent level of pay.
I think we need a Republican caucus who will help work with us to
stop the carnage of guns on these streets and to allow people who have
come here as children not to be thrown out of the country summarily.
That is what we really need. But I am not getting the sense that they
want to help out, so I am thinking we need to get elections that will
get some people, Republican or Democrat, to come out here and do some
good things for the American people--and not just the wealthiest, most
privileged people.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
Mr. Speaker, we have another person, who is a neighbor of mine and
has been a very good friend, from the great State of New Jersey. We
have got that Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman Bridge connection. He is
a very good friend.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne),
from the 10th District of New Jersey.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the Keystone State
for hosting tonight's Special Order hour. He has demonstrated great
leadership during this time, and the issues that we are tackling during
these Special Order hours are very important to this country as we move
forward.

As has been stated today, it has been 50 years since the Kerner
report warned us that the Nation was headed into a separate and unequal
future. The Kerner report was supposed to be a wake-up call for the
United States to break the cycle that kept African-Americans in
poverty. It called for government to invest in job creation programs,
to expand public housing, and to guarantee minimum family incomes. The
Kerner report understood that such actions were necessary for the
United States to confront its legacy of race and inequality.
Unfortunately, 50 years later, the same problems persist. The rate of
child poverty in the United States today is greater than it was in
1968. The percent of Americans who live in the depths of poverty has
grown as well. Welfare reform has failed. African-American unemployment
is still nearly double the rate of our White counterparts. Labor
unions, once a great equalizer for workers, have shrunk, and inequality
has grown.
Rich people in the United States are healthier than poor people. They
live longer. They go to better schools, get better jobs, and generate
more wealth. They are also more likely to be White than to be Black.
Our schools are more segregated than they were in the 1980s. Our
prisons are darker. The Voting Rights Act, a landmark achievement of
the civil rights movement, has been gutted.
These and other barriers to equality threaten our democracy.
The resegregation of our schools means that people of color and those
who struggle with poverty are often forced to go to underfunded
schools. Their education suffers. They aren't given adequate
preparation for college or a trade school, and they ultimately make
less money than their White counterparts.
A recent Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco study found that Black
men and women earn persistently lower wages compared to their White
counterparts, a gap that cannot be fully explained by differences in
age, education, job type, or location.
So what can Congress do? We need to invest in housing programs that
help desegregate communities once again. We need to make it easier for
people of color to get federally backed loans to buy homes and finally
do away with red lining.
We need to invest in public schools. We need to expand preschool
education. We need to spend money on job training programs and public
universities.
We need to increase the minimum wage, and we need to strengthen
oversight of mortgage lenders.
We need to restore the Voting Rights Act, because people who cannot
vote cannot lead.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to, if I can, just follow up a
little bit on the Voting Rights Act.
Obviously, that is the foundation of a democracy, and it is rather
amazing to me that all of us in this Congress are elected by the
people. I tell people the greatest title is citizen. It is not
Congressman; it is not President; it is citizen.
So, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the gentleman to speak a little
bit about what has that impact been about the Voting Rights Act, as he
sees it today, and the fact that, for some reason, this Congress
doesn't seem to understand that we still need the Voting Rights Act in
2018.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I would say that, as we have all stated
tonight, it apparently appears that we are going backwards in this
country, and so why wouldn't the Voting Rights Act be under attack? It
was finally the opportunity for African-American citizens to be full
citizens.
The only right you are born with in the United States of America is
the right to vote as an American citizen. You are born with that right,
and yet it is stripped away through the gutting of the Voting Rights
Act.
So what does that say to people who fall under the Voting Rights Act?
It says that you are not equal, that you don't deserve the same rights
as other Americans, that somehow you are less than a first-class
citizen in this country, yet you can go to war for us, you can do other
things, contribute to this society, but not be able to vote. The three-
fifths compromise, we can go all the way back to that and talk about
the inequality.

[[Page H1370]]

So we need people of goodwill on both sides of the issue, on both
sides of the aisle, to understand how equality is arrived at and come
together and do the things that we need to do in order to make this a
more perfect Union. I believe in that. I have not always seen it, but I
believe that we need to continue to strive to make this a more perfect
Union, to live out the mantra of this great Nation.
This is the greatest country in the world, no question about it,
absolutely incredible, but let's live up to it. Let's really live up to
what this Nation stands for, because you don't need people who are
citizens here that don't believe in what you are saying.
Every day, we get up and we pledge allegiance to the flag like every
other resident, every other citizen in this country, but every once in
a while it fails us. We need to stay vigilant. We at the Congressional
Black Caucus will be the voice and be vigilant on this floor in this
House for people throughout this country who seem to be on the wrong
side of this issue.

{time} 2115

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hollingsworth). The gentleman from
Pennsylvania has 6 minutes remaining.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, what others have heard this evening from the
Congressional Black Caucus is sort of like a canary in the mine. The
Kerner Report, when President Johnson established it 50 years ago, was
an attempt to shine a light and to send a warning that we were two
nations, one Black and one White. And for every Member who stood up
here and spoke, they all talked about how proud they are, as Americans;
and that we all recognize the beauty and the idea of America and what
it has meant.
I come from the city of Philadelphia, where it all started. In those
conversations, there is no question it started out as a very flawed
document, where African Americans and women basically were left out of
that discussion.
But as you think about what my good friend from Minnesota said as he
laid out the historical aspect to where we are here in 2018 and the
opportunity we have--because I do believe we have an opportunity, and I
do believe it is not any more words on paper. It is not a report or
anything. It is a question of what is in our hearts collectively.
I don't think this is a Democrat or Republican issue. I don't think
this is a Black or White issue. I think this is an issue about
inclusion and involvement. I think that when you go back to that report
that talks about the underlying causes of the civil unrest in these
communities across this country, I think that we all have an obligation
to try to address those issues.
The issues are very fundamental. May you live in rural America, or
urban America, or suburban America, you know, everybody needs quality
healthcare. Everyone needs a job opportunity. Everyone needs a good,
solid education. And those things we should not take lightly. All of
those things, we all need.
So what we, as the Congressional Black Caucus, attempted to do is
continue to raise the consciousness and to get people to understand
that we still have a lot of work to do. This should not be taken
lightly; that we all recognize that though, as Dr. King used to say, we
have come over here on different boats, we are in the same boat now;
and that boat is America; that boat is we are in a much more
competitive world than in 1968. This is 2018. The world has radically
changed.
The question is: Are we going to be in the forefront of the change,
or are we going to be in the back of change?
I like to believe we should be in the forefront of change. I like to
believe that we all understand, as a country, that it is in our
collective interests to work together and to make a difference. I am
not saying to you it will be easy. And it was not easy in 1968.
As I said, President Johnson was a Democrat, but he did not heed the
report the way he should have probably heeded it. But it is no use
talking about the past.
The question is: How do we deal with the future, and where do we go?
We should applaud him and others for at least having the discussion.
We should not be fearful of discussion. We should all recognize that we
have some challenges ahead for us in the 21st century.
Again, I will repeat myself. It will not be easy. It will take a lot
of work, and it will take us confronting those issues that we face
today. It is not easy, as we have debated the issue about healthcare or
the issue about jobs or the issue about education. Everybody wants to
work. Everybody wants a quality job and a quality opportunity. No one
wants to sit on the sidelines.
So we have a chance today, in my view, to take advantage of the
opportunities. I hope we will, Mr. Speaker. I believe that all members
of the Congressional Black Caucus strongly feel that way. I thank the
chairman of our caucus for initiating these efforts that we have been
doing for this last year or so. I really appreciate that opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

____________________