GENERAL LEAVE

   Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of the Special Order today.

 

   Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, every week the Congressional Black Caucus comes together here for an hour on the floor to not only speak of events that took place in the Congress but also in our Nation. And this week we are coming together as a caucus and to be able to share with Americans and those that came to Washington, DC, on April 1 of this month to march in front of the Supreme Court on the march on Washington.

 

   We rise today to commend the courage of these college students and young adults that participated in the march, held forums and also held workshops on affirmative action and the positive benefits of it.

 

   While the marchers were assembled in front of the Supreme Court, men and women of every color, every nationality stood together in front of the Supreme Court, whether it be in front of the bench as proponents or opponents of affirmative action or behind the bench with the responsibility to uphold the Constitution.

 

   Students came from far and wide, from as far as California, as close as here, right here in Washington, DC, to be able to speak on behalf of those who did not have the opportunity to speak for themselves on that day. 250 colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, and other community organizations mobilized themselves for this national march on Washington with thousands attending.

 

   Today we commend them, today we commend them for fighting for our children. I commend them personally for standing for my 5-year-old and 8-year-old son and daughter. These students participated for equal justice. They marched for equal opportunities. They stood for equal protections side by side, men and women alike. So they have come without any reservations. Some stayed out overnight in front of the Supreme Court just to hear, just for a moment or two the arguments that were argued on that day.

 

   Some did not get an opportunity to go in. Some traveled all night. Some students missed class and had to go back and make those classes up or exams. Some had to ask their loved ones to take other loved ones to the doctor, to feed their children, to be able to do things that they would ordinarily be doing if they did not have to come to Washington. But that is all part of our democracy that we cherish and that we love.

 

   Tonight you will be hearing from members of the Congressional Black Caucus commending these students and other Americans for participating in this democracy, standing on behalf of equal opportunity, standing on behalf of fair play for all that makes America great.

 

   We want to make sure that organizers and those individuals that came to march here on Washington know that not only are Members of the Congress but members of the military are supporting them 110 percent for standing for what they believe in. And tonight, Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize some Members to be able to speak before us and share some comments as we go to not only commend but also talk a little bit about the importance of affirmative action.

 

   Our chairman, the distinguished Member from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize at this points.

 

   Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman for yielding, and I also will take a moment to thank him for organizing this Special Order on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus.

 

   Mr. Speaker, I rise to applaud the young Americans of our time who by the tens of thousands are standing up for what Dr. King dreamed about. They stood on the streets of our Nation's capital as my colleague, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) said, many of them sleeping in the cold of night, trying simply to make a difference.

 

   Last week, lawyers argued in the Supreme Court debating the merits of the University of Michigan admissions case. As the justices pondered the constitutionality of policies of inclusion in America's great public universities, young Americans of every racial background marched for justice on the streets of Washington, D.C. These young people filled my heart with hope and pride, Mr. Speaker. They fully understand, as Dr. King often declared, that to change America for the better we must be prepared to exercise the full measure of our citizenship. And they also understand that their acts of citizenship are inextricably intertwined with universal educational opportunities.

 

   I should also note, Mr. Speaker, that last week America marked the anniversary of that tragic moment in 1968 when Dr. King was killed while standing up for what is simply right. A growing number of young Americans are honoring that sacrifice in our time. They are determined, as members of the Congressional Black Caucus are, to realize Dr. King's dream for America now, not in some distant time. They understand that a dream deferred is indeed a dream denied. They care about somebody other than themselves. But more than caring, they were willing to share their time, their convenience, and their efforts to speak out.

 

   It has often been said that so many people measure their responses to a crisis by the level of their inconvenience. In other words, if they are going to be inconvenienced, they do not do anything. And it is so pleasing to see these young people know that they were going to be inconvenienced but still stand up.

 

   Mr. Speaker, those who cite Dr. King's dream to support their assertion that this Nation must be color blind to the racial exclusion that continues to plague America should take the time to read what Dr. King actually had to say. I recall for you and for this House that Dr. King once wrote a book entitled ``Why We Can't Wait.''

 

   Anyone who reads his words will understand that the unwaivering focus of Dr. King's life was his unrelenting struggle for universal justice and inclusion in every important area of American life.

 

   Mr. Speaker, the peaceful demonstrators out there on the Capital's streets last week were advancing a simple, eloquent, and peaceful demand for more justice and opportunities in their lives and, yes, for generations yet unborn. They were marching in the footsteps of heroes like our good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), and the recently departed Reverend Josiah Williams.

  

   JOHN LEWIS' contribution to America reminds us that the men and women who led that 1965 ``Bloody Sunday'' march for voting rights across Selma, Alabama's Edmund Pettus Bridge were also young and brave.

 

   So I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to declare that the young Americans of today are determined to change our future for the better. They have the seed of greatness within them. They believe that they too can change the course of history and change the course of destiny. They are justified in this faith. Principled acts of citizenship convinced Virginia Tech's Board of Regents just last week to restore that university's policy of inclusion.

 

   Mr. Speaker, from their college dormitories and homes throughout the United States, the young people of America are watching what we say and do in this great chamber of democracy tonight. They have sent us a powerful message and they are waiting to see how we respond. Their message is the same challenge Dr. King delivered in the years of my youth when he said, ``Now is the time for all of us to move forward, not retreat, on the road toward a more just society.'' Dr. King declared, ``Now is our time. We cannot wait.''

 

   Today, our young people are reminding us that their lives are moving forward in time. They are telling us that they deserve justice and opportunity now. And we who hold national positions of trust should be listening to what these young Americans are saying, Mr. Speaker. We must listen and we must act accordingly and we must synchronize our conscience with our conduct.

 

   As I bring these brief remarks to a close, permit me to recall for you what Dr. King declared during a freedom rally in St. Louis back in 1957. He said, ``The destiny of our Nation is involved. We can't afford to slow up. The motor is now cranked up,'' Dr. King went on to say, ``we are moving up the highway of freedom toward the city of equality. We can't afford to slow up because our Nation has a date with destiny.''

 

   I was a small child when Dr. King spoke in St. Louis about our national date with destiny, Mr. Speaker. Now our own children's shared destiny is at stake, whatever the color of their skin may be. And we are the ones to whom they are looking for a renewed America of universal opportunity.

   We must do what is required, Mr. Speaker. America's young people cannot wait, and we thank them for being impatient.

 

   Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just want to, number one, commend the gentleman from Maryland as not only chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, but being a part of this, how should I say, coalition of not only Members of Congress, not only black Members of Congress or women of Congress, but Members of Congress that commend the organizers for bringing forth a march to be in support of affirmative action. Even though it was being argued in the courts, as we know, and as I mentioned that the retired military generals filed a brief in this case, I am looking forward to talking a little more about this tonight and also about the U.S. corporations as it relates to the diversity of what Dr. King talked about so long ago which has made America what it is.

 

   But I just want to congratulate the gentleman on behalf of myself, this Member from the 17th Congressional District in Florida, with regard to what the Congressional Black Caucus is doing in relation to sticking with this issue in the halls of Congress and also encouraging those to do what they are doing now.

 

   Mr. CUMMINGS. Well, I thank the gentleman for his comments, Mr. Speaker. As we engage in this dialogue this evening, I cannot help but think about the mayor of Detroit. I shall never forget when he won, a young man who had been prepared for that. He had had an opportunity to get the kind of education that he needed to run a city, and a major city. It is just amazing to me that so often our young people are at the point of taking and grabbing ahold of opportunity, but they have to be equipped to do it.

 

   So this is what this is all about. These young people were not out there partying, they were out there trying to cut a path and say, look, we are going to make sure in our time and in our space we make a difference for those future mayors of Detroit, so that people so often overlooked will have opportunities to lead and inspire others.

 

   So I think this is one of the greatest things that our caucus could do to lift up our young people and salute them for all that they are.

 

   Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am going to yield now to a distinguished gentlewoman who is a member of the Committee on Appropriations, the gentlewoman from the 13th Congressional District of Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick).

 

   Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, to our fine colleague, the former State Senator and now Congressman from Florida, for coming in and taking the mantle of leadership by the hand and helping to move our country forward, I want him to know he is to be admired. He is certainly a fine symbol for young people all over this world to know that when we speak up and have a conscience about what we believe, our families are better, our people are better, and our countries are better. So I thank the gentleman for coming here. He really had big shoes to fill, but I want Mrs. Carrie Meek to know that he is doing a wonderful job and we are very proud of him.

 

   I am honored and privileged to be here with my colleagues tonight for what I consider to be one of the most important issues we will ever consider during my stay here in this United States Congress. The young people of America and the citizens across this country by the tens of thousands came to Washington, D.C. last Tuesday, April 1, to speak out and to demonstrate, to assemble, as our Constitution allows, to say to the world that we do not want our country to go back. We want to go forward. We are the sons and daughters of this civilization, and we believe that if we can go to war, we can also go to the universities, and that the doors of the American universities funded by public dollars must stay open.

 

   It was wonderful to see all the people there. And I want to particularly talk about the young people, the young faces that were there last week. I am a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was born and raised in Michigan all my life. I think it is not coincidental that this case being heard is from the University of Michigan. This university of over 35,000 students for many years has produced leaders for this country, and has produced fine scientists and teachers and engineers and other kinds of people, like so many other universities around this country.

 

   This is not the time to wipe out opportunity. It is a time to expand opportunity so that all God's children can have a higher education experience. I believe that education is the key to a person's life. The more of it that one gets, the more interaction one has with people like oneself, but also people who are different than we are, who come from different backgrounds, this prepares us to be the kind of citizen who can lead anything, who can make this country move forward, and can even, yes, serve in this United States Congress.

 

   So the young people who came, my colleagues, and I know we all saw them from all walks of life, from universities all over this country, they came to say to this Supreme Court, please do not shut the door of opportunity now. We are ready. We have been raised, we have excelled, and we need you to keep the doors of our public universities open.

 

   Now, this case at the University of Michigan not only affects that university, as my colleagues know, but educational institutions all over America. Over 100 businesses have filed amicus briefs with the court. General Motors, headquartered in my district; Microsoft, and many other corporations in this country have filed briefs to say that a diverse workforce not only strengthens our companies and helps to increase the bottom line, but allows our workers to have the mix and experiences of not only their own ethnicity but those of others. So this is not the time, the corporations are saying, to turn the clocks back.

 

   As my colleague mentioned earlier, General Schwarzkopf and others, the highest elements in our military commands, have supported the university's admission policy. They are saying do not go back. The beauty of our Armed Forces, yes, as we fight today in two foreign lands, in Afghanistan and also in Iraq, keep the doors of opportunity open. These are generals, former generals in our armed services, who know that a diverse military is what best serves our country and they are supporting the University of Michigan's policy.

 

   We all need to be aware, too, that not only the young people who were here from all over the country, but the young students at the University of Michigan raised $50,000 themselves, sent 12 buses of their children, young people, to this Capitol of our United States. After the march, at noon, they had another rally where thousands of young people came and said, Congresswoman, we are here because we want the court to hear us. We want the court to know that we will do whatever is necessary to be the best that we can be, and we want the court to keep the opportunity for doors to be open so that we can raise our children to have the best opportunities in life, so they can be the best citizens they can be, and we believe an education is the key to that.

 

   As was mentioned, I am a graduate of the University of Michigan. The two cases before the Supreme Court, one for the undergraduate school, talks about a point system. There is a base of 150 points that can be had. A student needs 100 points to be considered for admission. At least 80 of those points they get from scholastic ability, from middle school right through high school, with the SAT scores. So 80 points of that 150 can come from the academic achievements from middle school right through the high school experience. Then there are about 15 other categories, my colleagues, where other points can be had. For instance, if someone had a father or a grandfather go to the university, they get what is called legacy points. If a student is from Michigan and they live in the upper peninsula, they get a certain number of points. If they are from a socioeconomic background that is low and they need help, they get points. If they are an athlete, they can also get points to add to that. If they are from a minority class, African American, Asian American, Latino American, or Native American, they can get points.

   It is amazing to me, with those few that I mentioned and at least 10 others, why are we singling out the ethnicity of that category? Why not the legacy points? Why not if a student lives in an underrepresented county, like the upper peninsula? This is not the time now to put the race card in American society. We have our hands full just keeping the doors of opportunity open for all our institutions of higher learning. This is not a time to confuse our young people by telling them, yes, you can go fight on the front line, but, no, you cannot go to the university. Something is inherently wrong with that.

 

   And what those beautiful students and young people said last Tuesday was, no, America, no, Supreme Court, do not take our country back. Let us move forward in the greatness that this country is.

 

   I had an opportunity to sit in the Court last Tuesday. It was a wonderful experience. The young people were also there in the Court, those who could get in, and we heard the arguments on both sides. We know now that the Supreme Court will be deliberating, some say June, some say right through the end of this session, which will be later on in October-November when the Court is finished before we get our decision. What we need people to do now, who believe that America should be open for its citizens, for all citizens, that the public universities of this country should not be closed, that the military opportunities should not be shut down, that corporate America continues to grow and expand and create work environments that all people from all backgrounds can participate in, if they believe in a just and open America, we need them to fax, to e-mail, to write and to call the nine justices of the Supreme Court.

 

   Those nine justices will be determining in the next several months whether the admissions policy should be upheld or if it should not be. So those who are listening tonight, and we are happy that we are able as the Congressional Black Caucus to bring the information to them, they should let their voices be heard. They need to speak out through fax, e-mail, writing or calling and let the justices know. This is the greatest country in the world. We want to maintain that. Education is the key to that.

 

   Young people have stood up to say that we are here on the steps of the Supreme Court to ask our Court, our justices, to keep justice in America. Keep the doors open. I am very proud of the young people. I want them to know that many years ago, during the 1960s civil rights movement, I was one of those students.

   
   Speak out against injustice. Our Constitution allows us to demonstrate and to assemble when we think something is wrong. Some countries do not have that opportunity. The University of Michigan is a fine university, as are universities all over the country. What happens with this decision in the Supreme Court will determine what kind of country we live in in the next 10, 20, 30 years of this country. Stand up America. I thank the young people, and continue the struggle because it is young people who must keep America strong, and it is you who must have the opportunity to raise, defend, and build your families. God bless you. We are so proud of you.

 

   Mr. Speaker, it is indeed an honor and privilege to address the floor this evening and acknowledge the efforts of the young people from throughout our Nation who mobilized to travel to Washington, DC to demonstrate in support of the ideals associated with affirmative action and the historic cases being considered by the Supreme Court regarding the University of Michigan admission policies for the law school and the undergraduate program.

 

   I am especially pleased to commend the efforts of the students who traveled from Michigan to demonstrate their support for, and commitment to the University's affirmative action policies. The efforts of U of M were particularly gratifying to me. I am an alumnus of the University. I am a witness to the virtues of affirmative action policies enacted by U of M.

 

   On April 1, on the steps of the Supreme Court, I was also a witness to the assemblage of people from around the country, but especially from the great State of Michigan who braved the elements and other obstacles to form a coalition believers and supports of affirmative action.

 

   I am personally aware of the sacrifices the students made to come to Washington, DC. The students were responsible for raising over $50,000 and bringing 12 buses of students. The shining faces and fervent voices of the students were a sight to behold. Their efforts were a testament to the importance of preserving affirmative action, and a message to the Supreme Court Justices to do the right thing. I salute the students and pledge to them I will continue to fight on behalf of affirmative action. Finally, I offer my heartfelt thanks to each and everyone of them for joining the coalition of black, brown, yellow, red and white supporters of affirmative action.

 

   Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for assisting in the organizing and assisting young people coming to Washington, and also the pride and energy that I hear in her voice of this generation and generations after this particular generation to be stimulated and motivated to continue to struggle in the fight for equal opportunity. We appreciate the entire State of Michigan, the Motor City for what they did, and the corporations for standing for what is right in this country.

 

   Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, let me add that the mayor of the city of Detroit was here representing the young people. He is 32 years old and attended a historically black college; he is now a lawyer. It just demonstrates we can be anything that we want to be if we just rise up and speak out and be the very best that God asked us to be.

 

   Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), who has appeared before the Supreme Court as a lawyer many times.

 

   Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his leadership this evening. I want to say to the gentleman that his leadership is especially appropriate because this Special Order is devoted to actions inspired by young people, many of the age or close to the age of the gentleman who leads this Special Order. He well may be the youngest member of the Congressional Black Caucus, one of the youngest Members of Congress; and what we are here to talk about tonight has everything to do with young people and what they themselves initiated on April 1, first by some of them staying up all night in order to prepare for the rally and to get into the Court, others coming to go to a town meeting at Howard University convened by the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus at a wind-up rally.

 

   Now April 1 is April Fool's Day. That is not why we are going to remember it this year. We are not even going to remember it first and foremost because the University of Michigan case was argued on that day. The University of Michigan case is largely to be remembered by the date it is decided, not the date it is argued. That is how we remember Supreme Court cases; but even that is not how we are going to remember April 1, 2003.

 

   I think we are going to remember April 1, 2003, as the day that gave birth to a new American civil rights movement, a second American civil rights movement. This is not my characterization. This is how these young people title themselves, and if I may say what their long title is, Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary, which they have boiled down to the acronym BAMN. They came from everywhere. They came from every college and university in the District of Columbia, and they came from as far west and as far north as we can go.

It is amazing that these students poured in from all over the country. Why were the students here?

 

   There is the stereotype the courts read the newspapers, and the courts read the election returns. We all know that courts are independent and that even rallies cannot and must not decide how courts rule. Black people know that most of all because if rallies or public opinion could have decided how courts rule, we would never have gotten Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 when the majority of American people in the South were not for integration of public schools. Courts are independent branches of government which must rule by the rule of law.

   So why were the students here? The students are very sophisticated. That is why they did not call themselves the students to influence the University of Michigan case before the Supreme Court of the United States. They have called themselves the second civil rights movement. They knew they were bigger than this case, and they knew that the Court when it raises its hand must rule on the law as they see the law. I think this Court has been real wrong on the law, but they knew that they were not going to essentially affect this Court, even those who argued the Court are trying to affect one justice in a closely divided Court where frankly we have lost most of these cases 5-4, not won them. They knew by what they called themselves, which did not even have ``Supreme Court'' in the title that what they were doing on April 1 was much bigger and more important than any single case in 25 years since the Bakke case was decided. They knew that they could be in worse shape than their parents were because many of their parents were like the Member, the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick), who went to the University of Michigan, and here she is with grandchildren who may not be able to enter the University of Michigan on that same basis.

 

   It took 100 years after the Civil War to get to the enforcement of the Civil War amendment, so the notion of getting as far as we have gotten, which is not even halfway home, is not what this generation is about. This generation has been touched finally by this issue, affirmative action, as they have not been touched by any other issue.

 

 I am not critical that they have not been touched by any other issue because these are the beneficiaries of the civil rights movement. They mean to see that they continue to be beneficiaries of the civil rights movement and that they are not the generation that lost the benefit of the civil rights movement.

 

   My generation, and I see the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), who I know from the Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and back then the entire spectrum of discrimination and segregation was here. I went to segregated schools in the District of Columbia. Black people in the South could not vote, equal opportunity and employment was not available north, south, east or west, and housing discrimination was the order of the day. Inside of 15 years, a combination of court suits and Federal laws changed that, at least as a matter of law. As we know today, not entirely as a matter of practice, but as a matter of law.

 

   Brown v. Board of Education began it all, and then there was the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and it was my great privilege to enforce title 7 and a number of other statutes under that act. Then there was the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the 1968 Fair Housing Act. Here is the work of one generation, the so-called civil rights generation. Over. Done. Even we were not naive enough to believe that, but we did think that we would continue to move forward and would not be pushed back. But the only way not to be pushed back is to produce a new generation of freedom fighters, to produce what these young people tell us they are, a new civil rights movement; and that is who came to Washington on April 1.

 

   These folks came to Washington. They did not go to where the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) went to Alabama or Selma, or to where I went, to the delta in Mississippi. They came to Washington. We went South because that is where we saw the threat to be. They came to Washington because they know that it is here that the threat is now. They know it because they see a President of the United States who has filed on the wrong side of a civil rights case, and that has not happened in a very long time. That has not happened in my lifetime. That President has placed himself on the wrong side of history, and they saw it and saw what kind of act it was.

 

   They saw the threat at the Supreme Court which has already taken down affirmative action as far as it could go. Interestingly, and I want to praise and thank my colleagues, my colleagues have not passed a single bill that has taken down affirmative action. All of the problems have come from the Supreme Court, the 5-4 Supreme Court with us on the 4 end and they on the 5 end, and a lot of it has been in areas like contracting with implications for affirmative action and every other area as well.

 

   These students from every college and university in the metropolitan region and in the country saw that the threat could well be in this Congress if the Congressional Black Caucus and its allies on both sides of the aisle did not continue to stand fast and say look, do not even go there. My colleagues know that we have had to say that. In the 1990s, we had to say do not even go to the floor with an amendment to take back affirmative action. We are going to close down this House if that is what you are going to do.

 

   I will not say that is the reason that it did not happen; there were Members on the other side of the aisle who believed that was the wrong thing to do. I want to go on record right now paying tribute to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that have kept that from happening.

 

   Nevertheless, the threat is here. It is not where it was for the last civil rights generation. The threat is here that can carry us back to Brown v. Board of Education. Yes, they say that because that is the effect and could carry us back to where most higher education in the United States of America was for whites only, and that is what it was for when I went to college.

 

   Mr. Speaker, these students from colleges and universities around the United States simply put America on notice. They say, Court, do what you will and we hope you do the right thing; but whether you do or not, America be on notice there is a new civil rights movement in this country, and we are determined to finish the job that the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) and his colleagues in the civil rights movement began. We are determined to finish the work begun with the march on Washington, and we are determined to finish the work still unfinished. And as long as we need affirmative action and affirmative action is a remedy, it is temporary, it goes away when the job is done, the numbers are built in the system, they are there so long as it takes to get and keep a critical mass of the excluded coming in.

 

   They say we are there as long as we see other indications of inroads into the work of the last generation, such as the judges that this President has continuously put forward. As long as he puts forward a Priscilla Owens, this generation says we will be there. Or as long as he puts forward a Charles Pickering, we will be there because the courts are the last great hope of any excluded people, or of any people treated unjustly.

 

   They say, look, we see a whole new species of intentional segregation with racial profiling which largely affects the younger generation, young black people on the streets subject to being stopped because of their race, color, or ethnicity. As long as that is there, this generation has stepped up and said I do not know where my parents are, but I have not gone away. We are still here.

 

   We come to simply thank these young people tonight and to encourage them to continue to take up the mantle and to say that we are going to do whatever we can to be with them and behind them. We have asked only one thing of this generation. We noted that they are underregistered, and we know if you are underregistered and if you do not vote, the powers that be will walk all over you because people pay attention to people who vote. We have asked them to make sure that their movement begins by getting every young person at their university registered to vote and out to the polls.

   We recognize that the incentives that their parents had to vote, the New Deal generation, the World War II generation, the civil rights generation, the Vietnam War generation, are not there for this generation, but they have found their incentive in the University of Michigan's case. We applaud them for using that case as the catalyst to move forward with a new civil rights movement. We applaud them for making April 1 a memorable and historic date for the people of the United States of America.

   I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

 

   Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for her outstanding comments, and I want to thank those institutions of higher learning in the D.C. area that took just such a vital part in playing host to so many of these marchers.

 

   Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas, Ms. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE.

 

   Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman for his kindness for yielding, and I likewise, Mr. Speaker, want to thank you for your leadership because you are presiding over, I believe, one of the more instructive hours that we have engaged in in terms of speaking to our colleagues and providing a history for this House, a history that has been painful, but I would admit a history that has seen bipartisan collaboration and recognition that this Nation is a much better place for correcting its ills.

 

   Mr. Speaker, I serve on the House Committee on the Judiciary, and the experience has been both good and bad. I view it as one of the nobler committees in this House because it is a committee that cherishes the Constitution. But we have had our moments, and we have even had a moment when discussions of eliminating the desegregation orders to remove orders from districts that were engaged in busing was discussed prematurely. We even had amendments proposed to eliminate affirmative action. It was the wisdom of this House and the other body that saw fit to join with those of us to recognize that the time was not yet that we then were able to turn those amendments back.

 

   Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to chronicle the history of African Americans in this Nation. Obviously slavery is well known, but out of slavery came emancipation. Those of us in Texas heard of it 2 years later, reconstruction that was short-lived in this Nation, and then the ugly head of Jim Crowism raised its head in the early 1900s. In fact, Mr. Speaker, George White stood in the well of the House after he was drawn out of this august body by segregationist legislators who drew out the last African American and said that the Negro would rise like the phoenix. I can see him right now, with a little suitcase and rope tied around it, in his eloquent voice suggesting that it may not be now but that the Negro would rise as a phoenix.

 

   We went through the 1900s experiencing the tragedies of the deep South, the hanging trees as known to many of us. We saw our young men go off to both World War I and World War II but come back to a segregated America. Members of my family fought in World War II but, Mr. Speaker, came back to a segregated America. Korean War. Vietnam War. We began to see changes when Thurgood Marshall argued before the Supreme Court. Then we moved with Rosa Parks who refused to stand up on a crowded bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and a young man named Martin Luther King took her cause. We came through that era, Mr. Speaker, and we had the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We might be able to call that the second reconstruction. And it continued, Mr. Speaker, to the executive signing by Richard Nixon, bipartisan, a Republican, of affirmative action.

 

   As we moved through the second reconstruction, many of us, the doors being opened, going into white institutions, thought for a moment that we would be able to lay our burdens down, that we would be able to find a resting place in this Nation where all of us could be treated equally. The Declaration of Independence says with certain inalienable rights of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

 

   But lo and behold, Mr. Speaker, we come to the 21st century, the age of technology, the age of promoting young people for all that they can be, and find ourselves in the Supreme Court. And might I just say today that all might hear, Mr. Speaker, I want all or nothing. I do not want a bifurcated hybrid decision. I will not accept it. I will not recognize it. My pronouncement will be, whatever the Supreme Court says in a hybrid decision, that this United States of America has denied me and the young people of America their civil rights. Frankly, Mr. Speaker, I believe that we have a unique chance in the world to show that America is better than that.

 

   So let me thank the wonderful thousands of bright stars, by any means necessary, who I had the pleasure of speaking before them at the Lincoln monument. What an enormously powerful scene. I did not organize it. School presidents did not organize it. Congress people, Senators did not organize it. They organized it. And I want to thank them, and they will go down in history.

 

   I would like to acknowledge, likewise from Houston, Texas, the Shrine of the Black Madonna and Reverend Fana; the NAACP, local chapter, the regional chapter; the Houston Area Urban League. I would like to acknowledge Reverend James Dixon, Community of Faith Church, as well as Carmen Watkins with Sunday Morning Live. All of this in Houston, by the way; 95.7 Power Radio and the Box 97.9, Ada Edwards. All of these were local people who were promoting the idea that we are Americans, too. Texas Southern University, holding a very unique Sunday town hall meeting, very difficult to do that, Mr. Speaker.

 

   But what I would say is that our work is not done. For if the Supreme Court rules that affirmative action is unconstitutional, Mr. Speaker, all of what we built up in openness of contracting, in openness of creating opportunities to small and minority businesses and women-owned businesses and opportunities for education will be null and void, and we will be back in the history of the beginning of the 20th century when the ugly head of Jim Crowism raised its head. What a tragedy to be here in the 21st century when the ugly head of Jim Crowism will raise its head again.

 

   Allow me to close, Mr. Speaker, with a slight bit of history. Right now the State of Texas is making noises about redrawing these voter rights districts. Here I go again. I believe I have run about six or eight times in the course of being elected to this Congress, because someone believes that the opportunity for many of us to select the person of our choosing is discriminatory, protected by the Voter Rights Act of 1965. It was in our State that the Solicitor General first came, not as a Solicitor General, to argue the Hopwood case and slashed the coattails of equal opportunity in the State of Texas. For the last 5 years or so, we have seen droves of our young people leave the State because of the inability to get into State institutions that they have paid taxes for.

 

   The tragedy is, to the distinguished gentleman from Florida, who I join in his courageous effort to turn back the Jim Crowism in the State of Florida when 25,000 people marched against eliminating affirmative action, and we can claim victory in their presence, but the Solicitor General was the lawyer who argued Hopwood. Gratefully, that case went only to the Fifth Circuit, but it destroyed the institutions of higher learning in Texas for a number of years when they sent Hispanics and African Americans fleeing from the State. The tragedy is that this same gentleman became the Solicitor General, and rather than recusing himself because of the potential of bias, engaged in the discussion at the White House, creating, I think, a bias to go and have the United States of America, my tax dollars, the young men and women of years past, who served in wars past, who never reached their full promise because they came back to a segregated America, never reaching their dream, this United States of America went into the courthouse, Supreme Court on April 1, 2003, and argued against our interests. The first time, I think, in the last 50 years of civil rights litigation that the United States did that.

 

   So, Mr. Speaker, as I close let me say, because I see such warriors on the floor like the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jefferson), my good friend who was with me in Texas, many of us had the pleasure of being in some way affiliated with these civil rights movements, obviously some more at the forefront, but our histories are intertwined with the visions of these outstanding individuals and their leadership and their power. I simply say that I stand here broken-hearted but not without strength, broken-hearted because my Nation failed me on April 1.

   And so that is why, Mr. Speaker, in saying to these young people and encouraging them for providing this kind of leadership, applauding them and joining with them and suggesting that we will never go back, never turn the clock back, it is my pronouncement today that I will accept nothing but a full vindication of affirmative action in this Nation to the Supreme Court. Whatever hybrid they decide to give would be unacceptable and we will march on to victory and we shall overcome.

 

   Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), and I want to commend her not only on behalf of Americans but also on behalf of myself and members of the Congressional Black Caucus for the workshop that she had in her district dealing with affirmative action prior to the Supreme Court hearing and commitment of those universities and individuals that she mentioned and those that went yet unmentioned, their contributions. So we thank her.

 

   Mr. Speaker, at this time I can say that this is one of these moments that I am glad that God allowed me to live long enough for this moment to be able to have such a soldier on behalf of fair opportunity, equal treatment for all, someone that had marks on his body on behalf of this country, with many other patriots that are here and that have gone on.

 

   I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), Member from the Fifth District, distinguished member of the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

   Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek), my friend and colleague, for holding this Special Order, and I want to thank all of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus for participating in this order tonight.

 

   I want to be very brief. I had gone home and I turn on C-SPAN, and supper was happening, and I was deeply moved to come to the House floor and to say something. So I want to thank him again for doing what he is doing because I think it is important that we take time to salute and pay tribute to the young people who came here on April 1. By coming here and standing at the steps of the Supreme Court, they were standing up for what is right, for what is fair, for what is just. They were standing up for the very best in America.

 

   I remember when I first came to Washington many, many years ago in 1961, I was 21 years old, had all of my hair, and I was a few pounds lighter, to go on something called the Freedom Ride during those days in Washington, but throughout the American South, segregation was the order of the day. We saw those signs that said white waiting, colored waiting, white men, colored men, white women, colored women. There was so much violence, so much fear, so much hate, and it was the students following in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr., in the tradition of Gandhi. So sitting in, going on the Freedom Ride, marching all over the country, and by marching, by sitting in or sitting down, really they have created the climate, the environment, to get the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

   
   Nothing but nothing, I tell you, nothing moved me more in the last 50 years, or maybe in the last 40 years, than to see these hundreds and thousands of students really marching, protesting, exercising their constitutional right. In America we have a right to protest, as Dr. King would say, protest for what is right. This type of protest helped move our country to the point to get people to say yes, when they may have a desire to say no.

 

   These young people believe in the Constitution. They believe in America. They, like many of us, believe in affirmative action. It is the affirmed inclusion, the participation of people, where they are left out and left behind. I like to think these young people were touched by the spirit of history. Sometimes there comes a time when you have to be moved by the spirit of history.

 

   In 1960, 1961, 1962, and 1963 we did not have a fax machine, we did not have a Web site, we did not have a cellular telephone. We had the Constitution. We had our bodies. And that is what these young people had. They had ideas; they had the Constitution.

 

   I think when historians pick up their pens and write about this period, Mr. Speaker, they will have to say that these young people that came to Washington on April 1, not just college students, high school students, elementary school students, by the hundreds and thousands, they started, as the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) said, a new civil rights movement.

 

   I say to them tonight, and to young people and students all over our country, we will not go back, we will not stand still. We will go forward. We will create a truly interracial democracy in America. We will create a beloved community in America. For we are one people, we are one Nation. I say to all of these young people, keep the faith; do not give up, do not give in, do not give out, keep your eyes on the prize.

 

   Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from Georgia for his contributions, not only in the past but in the present. We commend you.

 

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jefferson).

   Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

   Mr. Speaker, we are witnessing today the best of the leadership of the civil rights movement, that of the past and the present, and that of the present and the future, in JOHN LEWIS and in KENDRICK MEEK, a young Congressman who envisioned this hour for America.

 

   Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the many students that traveled all over the country to rally in support of affirmative action. Particularly I would like to acknowledge the many students from my own State, Louisiana, who made the journey. Students from Xavier, Southern, Grambling, Dillard, and throughout Louisiana, let me say I am very proud of you.

 

   Martin Luther King, Jr., said, ``Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.'' It is in this spirit that I have dedicated much of my life to public service, and I found it very encouraging that on April 1, 3 days before the anniversary of Dr. King's death, thousands of students honored him and all that he fought for by actively getting involved and actively serving as well.

 

   Mr. Speaker, it is shocking to observe that 141 years ago, virtually every African American in this country would be somebody else's property. Just think about that: unable to earn, unable to learn, unable to hold wealth. It is this legacy of subjugation, of discrimination, of denial, over 400 years of segregation, that justifies affirmative action today.

 

   If the government, and it did, took race into account to create this legacy of disabilities, then it is the government's responsibility today to take race into account to obliterate them. So it is particularly disappointing that 40 years later, after Dr. King's historic march to Washington, that we as a democratic Nation are still struggling to realize his dream; and 140 years after the emancipation of slavery, there still exists two Americas, separate and unequal, one black and one white. As one student's sign read: ``Surely 400 years of slavery is worth 20 points.''

 

   Without affirmative action, these disparities will likely widen, not only in education, but also in employment and property ownership and income levels. Yet, as Dr. King noted, ``Whenever the issue of compensatory treatment for the Negro is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror, because while they agree that the Negro,'' as he said, ``should be granted equality, they believe that he should ask for nothing more.''

 

   I cannot tell you how proud I am of all our young men and women who have worked tirelessly in participating in efforts to demonstrate supports of the University of Michigan. Students of all races around the country have worked in some capacity to protest this attack on equal opportunity, realizing that any successful attempt would be a major setback for our society as a whole.

 

   Numerous other students took action and demonstrated and spoke out on their respective college campuses, such as my daughter Akilah and other young people at her college who did not travel to Washington. 

   I was especially pleased to join the Black Law Students Association from my alma mater, Harvard Law School, as one of several counsel on an amicus brief. This brief was submitted on behalf of the Harvard Black Law Students Association, as well as those from Yale and Stanford.

 

   As I stated then, I believe that we live in a country that affords us great liberties. However, for some Americans, the pursuit of these freedoms is hindered by tremendous barriers. Opportunities for some are limited because of America's sins of the past. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to make conscious attempts to right these wrongs. Hence, initiatives like affirmative action.

 

   Affirmative action in education programs, such as the one at the University of Michigan, looks beyond students' limitations and sees their potential, potential that may be realized if presented the opportunity. More importantly, affirmative actions, like the one at the University of Michigan, benefits not just African American students, but all students.

 

   Mr. Speaker, it promotes a diverse student body, which provides an education that equips our future leaders, both black and white, with the capabilities to successfully function in a diverse society.

 

   Mr. Speaker, it was our hope during the civil rights movement many years ago that we were fighting this battle now so that our sons and daughters would not have to fight it later. And though I am dismayed that still this fight goes on, even today, I am heartened by the tremendous number of fresh soldiers for civil rights, eager, active and capable of engaging in the battle and winning the struggle. I commend them all.

 

   I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) for yielding to me.

 

   Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. His comments were very appropriate for the moment and the time.

 

   Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend all those who participated in last week's protest of the University of Michigan's admission's policies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in extending my appreciation to all the students who participated in last week's demonstration in support of equality and justice at America's institutions of higher learning.

 

   Ms. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the thousands of Americans who voiced their support for affirmative action admissions policies at colleges and universities on April 1, here in Washington, DC.

 

   For twenty five years the affirmative action policies at our nation's colleges and universities have produced a stronger and better educated America. We must not turn the clock back now when so much is at stake for the future of America.

 

   Mr. Speaker, I am proud that 25 Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis students journeyed to Washington last week to say that affirmative action policies strengthen not weaken this nation.

 

   Vanessa Villegas-Densford was one of those law students. Vanessa, the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, arrived in this country when she was 8 years old. She didn't speak English and was placed in classes for learning-disabled students. She worked hard to overcome so many obstacles and her dream is to practice law and serve the Hispanic American community. Her dreams, determination and drive to serve, balanced an average law school test score and won her acceptance at 9 of the 12 law schools to which she applied. She attends Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis.

 

   Without affirmative action, the Hispanic community, Indiana and America may well have missed the bright promise that Vanessa offers in spite of her average law school test score.

 

   Gerald Bepko, interim President of Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis is quoted in a recent Indianapolis Star article saying, ``You cannot rely on numbers (test scores and grades) alone. You need to know the person.''

 

   I'm proud that Indiana University supports an affirmative action admissions program.

 

   It's sad, Mr. Speaker, when our young people can see this nation embroiled in conflict in the highest court of the land, not about the athletic factor or the alumni factor or the legacy factor in college admissions, but race.

 

   The case against affirmative action is weak, resting, as it does so heavily, on myth and misunderstanding.

 

   One myth, ``The only way to create a color-blind society is to adopt color-blind policies.'' The facts show that a so-called color-blind system tends to favor White students because of their earlier educational advantages. Unless preexisting inequities are corrected or otherwise taken into account, color-blind policies do not correct racial injustice--they reinforce it.

 

   Another myth is ``Affirmative action may have been necessary 30 years ago, but the playing field is fairly level today.'' Not true, despite the progress that has been made, the playing field is far from level.

 

   Women continue to earn 76 cents for every male dollar. African Americans continue to have twice the unemployment rate, twice the rate of infant mortality, and make up just over half the population of people who attend four years or more of college. In fact, without affirmative action the percentage of African American and Hispanic students at many selective schools would drop to minuscule percentages of the student body.

 

   That decline would effectively choke off African American and Hispanic access to top universities and severely restrict progress toward racial equality.

 

   Mr. Speaker, this is America and we can do better than that. So I commend the advocacy and passion of those who marched last week. I have no doubt that they understand what could be lost if this precious opportunity is eliminated.