I WAS MENTIONED IN US CONGRESS - 27 Feb. 2017

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Congressional Record
Proceedings, Debates of the U.S. Congress

February 27, 2017

115th Congress, 1st Session
Issue: Vol. 163, No. 34 — Daily Edition

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CBC/SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVEMENTS
(House of Representatives - February 27, 2017)

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[Pages H1344-H1350]

From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                      CBC/SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVEMENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Rutherford). Under the Speaker's

announced policy of January 3, 2017, the gentlewoman from the Virgin

Islands (Ms. Plaskett) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of

the minority leader.

                             General Leave

  Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members

have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to

include any extraneous material in the Record.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the

gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands?

  There was no objection.

  Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, the CBC chair, Mr. Cedric Richmond, and

myself have a great honor that I rise today as one of the anchors of

the CBC, the Congressional Black Caucus' Special Order hour.

  For the next 60 minutes I have a chance to speak directly to the

American people on issues of great importance to the Congressional

Black Caucus, Congress, the constituents we represent, and all

Americans.

  During this hour, as Black History Month ends in the next day, we

believe it is important for this Congress and

[[Page H1345]]

for the people of America to hear about the great importance of

grassroots movements, which have been the fortifying effect of the

civil rights movements and other movements here in this country, and

have made this country very great.

  At this time I would yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr.

Richmond), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, who will speak

on this subject matter here on the floor.

  Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Stacy Plaskett from

the Virgin Islands, for taking this assignment and making sure that the

Congressional Black Caucus continues its conversation with America, and

to inform people on issues that are important to us, and also

reflecting on how important African-American history is, not just to

us, but to this country.

  It is African-American history that made this country great in the

first place. How our civil rights groups and people of the same kind,

not necessarily the same color, came together to make this a more

perfect union.

  So today what I wanted to do was actually talk about some of the

civil rights organizations that changed this country, made it better,

made it possible for me to be here, and compare and talk about some of

the movements that we see today that are making some of the same

differences for the next generation. It is just a shame that in 2017 we

are still fighting the same fights we fought 50 years ago for voting

rights, for equality, and all of those things.

  So when I say I want to talk about some of those organizations, I

want to talk about organizations like SCLC, the Southern Christian

Leadership Conference; or CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality; or

SNCC, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. They all played

an important role in launching grassroots movements that succeeded in

ensuring more equality for African Americans.

  Sit-ins, bus boycotts, marches, voter registration drives, and other

protests--these grassroots movements spread across the South, including

my home State of Louisiana.

  Let's just talk about one specific incident. September 9, 1960, the

Woolworth store lunch counter in New Orleans closed early.

  What was the reason?

  Seven members of the Congress of Racial Equality, five Black students

and two White students, decided to hold a sit-in demonstration to

protest Jim Crow. This was the first-ever sit-in in the city.

  The seven students were like so many other students across the South

at the time who were using nonviolent action to change the country. In

fact, let me read their names because many of them I knew.

  In fact, one, Jerome Smith, who was a Southern University student the

year before, is actually still on the battlefield in Louisiana not only

coaching Little League, but fighting for criminal justice reform and

financial and economic equality.

  You also had Rudy Lombard from Xavier University, a freedom fighter;

Archie Allen from Dillard University; Bill Harrell from Tulane; William

Harper, who was at LSU; Hugh Murray, who was also at Tulane; and Joyce

Taylor, who intended to enroll at Southern University.

  Fortunately, unlike others who held sit-ins, these seven Southern

students didn't have milkshakes thrown on them. They were not beaten or

bloodied. The seven students sat down at 10:30. Six police officers

were on hand to keep the peace and did not try to remove the students.

The students sat there determined for 2 hours.

  Because of the demonstration, Woolworth blinked first. They decided

to close early that day and they closed at 12:30, after the students

had sat there for 2 hours.

  These seven students and so many other civil rights activists are the

shoulders on which we all stand. Unfortunately, the fight for equality

is not over. We see this most clearly when we look at our criminal

justice system. To date, the organization Black Lives Matter has

launched a grassroots movement that has succeeded in exposing police

brutality and making it front-page news….

The following is a comment from Hugh Murray and not a part of the Congressional Record.  I do not agree with the speaker’s last paragraph re BLM and alleged police brutality.  The speaker tells some of the story of the first sit-in in New Orleans, which was then the largest city in the South.  On the sit-in, true,  we were not beaten, but because it was the first, we did not know what would happen.  A few years ago the NO Times Picayune ran a story with photos commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the event.  I noticed I was not wearing my glasses.  Then I remembered, I did not wear them because there was a possibility of being beaten, and I did not want to lose an eye.  We sat at the counter for hours, and then the NO DA appeared in person with a huge law book.  He read us the law.  Either we would leave the premises or be arrested.  We did not leave, and we were arrested, booked, and jailed.  We were bailed out that night.  Sometime later, when we sat together in the court, the judge threatened us with contempt for integrating his courtroom.  We were convicted of a felony.  It took years for the case to get to the US Supreme Court when we were vindicated.