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[Page H2424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PASS BIPARTISAN LAW ENFORCEMENT REFORM
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Alabama (Mr. Byrne) for 5 minutes.
Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I have spoken out against racism from this
floor before, but under the present regrettable circumstances, I feel
compelled to do so again.
All of us are created in the image of God and are of equal and
inestimable moral worth--all of us. There are no exceptions. Both St.
Peter and St. Paul spoke out against prejudice. Our Declaration of
Independence states plainly that we are all created equal. Our laws
require equality of treatment and opportunity.
It is a fact that we betrayed this ideal when our country was founded
when we tolerated slavery, an immoral human practice, which in this
country was carried out by Whites against Blacks. It took nearly 90
years after our founding to erase this blot when we passed the 13th
Amendment. It also took a civil war, which cost 600,000 lives.
Even then, we didn't grant Black people true equality. For the next
100 years, they endured Jim Crow laws in the South, de facto
segregation in the rest of the country, violence, and inequality in
everything from schools to jobs.
They had to win equality for themselves by bravely marching,
protesting, and using every peaceful method they could find in the
civil rights movement. They gradually won key court cases. And,
finally, this House and the Senate passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act
and, in 1965, the Voting Rights Act.
But laws don't change hearts, and we are still walking the path
toward ridding this Nation of the scourge of racism. As I have watched
COVID work its will in my district, I have been distraught to see the
disproportionate effect on the health and lives of the one-third of my
constituents who are Black--on Black workers and business owners who
suddenly, and through no fault of their own, lost their jobs and their
businesses, and on Black children who lost months of their education,
which they badly need.
The chief of police in Mobile, the urban center of my district, is
Lawrence Battiste, a 27-year veteran of law enforcement and, yes, a
Black man. We had a Sunday afternoon of protests a few weeks ago, and I
watched as he and the officers under his direction carried out their
duties with professionalism and character.
``Character.'' I use that word because it is so important right now
and because I have long admired Dr. King's statement that we shouldn't
be judged by the color of our skin but by the content of our character.
I am proud of Chief Battiste and his officers, but they aren't the
only professionals performing their duties under extraordinarily
difficult circumstances and with character. There are many, many law
enforcement officers around this country who are truly public servants,
and they deserve our respect and our support.
We, in this House, can disagree on the appropriate policies to pursue
to achieve justice and right the wrong of continuing inequality. But
there is no disagreement that racism is wrong, is morally repugnant.
There is also no disagreement that doing nothing in the face of
continuing racism isn't acceptable.
We, in this House, need to work together, not in parallel partisan
efforts. This House came together to pass the CARES Act earlier this
year. Surely, we can come together to pass meaningful and bipartisan
law enforcement reform legislation that will actually go to the
President and become law.
I wish we would address more funding for community health centers so
poor people, and especially people of color, would have better access
to primary care, which would help equalize health outcomes. I also wish
we would take up education choice legislation, like Education Freedom
Scholarships so that minority children have the same opportunities for
a quality education as their peers from families with the means to pay
for better schools.
We are capable of so much more in this country, but only if we
remember the one stated purpose of our Constitution is to create a more
perfect union. That is not a one-and-done thing; it is a generation-
after-generation thing.
It is time to unite in this body and do the hard work of this
generation. Let's do it for the Lawrence Battistes out there. Let's do
it for our children and grandchildren. And let's do it because that
will reveal the content of our national character, which is far more
important than the color of our skin.
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