Edward William Brooke III Congressional Gold Medal Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the dean of the Massachusetts delegation, not only for his assistance but for his generosity in yielding to me first on this bill that I sponsored along with him and the entire Massachusetts delegation.

I have to begin by thanking the many, many Republicans and Democrats who are part of the two-thirds that are necessary to award the Congressional Gold Medal. As you are aware, it is a pretty arduous process. In this case, it was not because of the underlying substance of the bill, but because when Members sign on to a bill they obviously have to know something about it. And you have to go from Member to Member.

I am pleased to say that many, indeed most, remembered Senator Brooke, who is alive, and I would say alive and well, if you could talk with him. He has had some illness. I will speak of it in a moment. Of course, it was necessary to remind others of Senator Edward Brooke who became the first African American elected to the United States Senate in 1967 presciently ahead of his time. He was the first popularly elected Black Senator.

I thank Members because I never encountered a Member who didn't see Senator Brooke as a historic figure worthy of the highest award the Congress can give, the Congressional Gold Medal.

Senator Edward Kennedy, of whom the gentleman from Massachusetts spoke, quickly gathered his two-thirds. Our thoughts and prayers are with him. The thoughts and prayers of the American people have been with him since his illness was discovered. He quickly gathered his two- thirds and passed this bill in the Senate. His colleagues understood Senator Brooke's accomplishments in that ``club,'' after all. He was able to get not only his colleagues to sign on quickly but to get the bipartisan leadership. The majority leader, Mr. Reid, the assistant leader, Mr. Durbin were cosponsors. The minority leader, Mr. McConnell, was a cosponsor. Senators Ted Stevens, John Warner and John Kerry were cosponsors. That gives you the flavor of the degree of respect former Senator Brooke enjoys.

Now, I must say for the Record that Senator Brooke is a man who is known for his modesty. He never expected the Congressional Gold Medal. When I approached him to tell him I thought he deserved it, he warned me away from this effort. But he should have expected it. President Bush, 4 years ago, awarded Senator Brooke the Nation's highest medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award. But after all, Senator Brooke was a Member of the United States Congress.

We noted last week the first African American was nominated for the presidency by a major party. The country deserves the self- congratulations it took for the distance it has come and that Senator Obama's nomination signaled.

We must remember, however, that Senator Brooke was elected to the Senate from the State of Massachusetts as a Republican. In 1967 our country was just starting down the road we are traveling and towards the landmark we saw last week. After all, the 1964 Civil Rights Act had just been passed. The 1965 Voting Rights Act had just been passed. We are talking 1967, when Senator Brooks was first elected.

1967 was the beginning of the urban disturbances known as ``the riots,'' which swept the country even before Martin Luther King's assassination, and even before Senator Robert Kennedy's assassination. There was an openly hostile climate to issues affecting race. And racial attitudes were often retrograde.

Mr. Speaker, I began this effort and began to think about Senator Brooke during the struggle for the D.C. Voting Rights Act because the analogies to our struggle and to his seem to me inescapable. Senator Brooke is a native Washingtonian. He spent his entire life in this city. He never left the city until he went to the Armed Forces of the United States of America. The Senator grew up in this city when there was no example of democracy, much less a public official to emulate. There was no vote for President when he grew up in the District of Columbia. There was no self-government at all. The city was run by three commissioners from the Congress of the United States. It had been kept a segregated city by the Congress of the United States. So the medal for Senator has a double symbolic quality for those of us who live in the District of Columbia.

What is most amazing about Senator Brooke is he seemed undaunted by any of the so-called barriers he encountered. The city was as segregated as any southern city in the United States. He went to public schools that will be familiar to D.C. residents--Shaw Junior High School and Dunbar High School were still segregated when I was graduating. He went to Howard University for his college education and then stayed right here to go to Howard Law

School. How could Senator Brooke have thought of himself as a Senator?

He probably, at the time he was at Dunbar and at Howard, did not think about the fact that he would be the first African American attorney general in the United States and the first African American popularly elected to the Senate. He could hardly have thought as a Republican who attained these offices in a heavily Democratic State then and now--that that would be his fate. But he had no fate. He obviously had only his own sense of aspiration of who he was.

During his time in the Senate from 1967 to 1979, Senator Brooke was a strong advocate for the rights of D.C. residents who had nobody, had got home rule only during his time, strong advocate for home rule, got a delegate during his term, pressed hard for that. And he has been a major advocate for the pending D.C. Voting Rights Act, which again I thank this House for passing in 2007. He made calls to Senators urging passage. And during his book tour last year he spoke of the importance of passage of the D.C. Voting Rights Act. His book tour concerned the publication of his autobiography, ``Bridging The Divide: My Life.''

Senator Brooke has breast cancer. Speaking of obstacles, he has regarded his recovery from this disease as an important obligation to educate men about the disease. He obviously has had some of the illnesses associated with being 88 years old, but I must say his robust mind leads me to believe that he will attend the ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda if we award him this medal. It is an amazing accomplishment that with all these strikes against him, he didn't even seem to notice.

So 208 years since the framers of our Constitution expected Congress to grant DC voting rights once it became the capital under its jurisdiction, in this very year when we expect in fact to get that right, I ask this House to do what it has already done for voting rights and to award the Congressional Gold Medal to our native son. We are close to voting rights. It was filibustered, but we believe we can break that now.

I want to leave you with the Senator's own words when we told him that we were seeking the medal for him. He wrote this letter, which I ask to be entered into the Record, to his Republican colleagues, and he wrote a similar letter to his Democratic colleagues or former colleagues here, and I am quoting the Senator: ``As much as I would appreciate such a high honor from my peers, I would place even greater priority on a full House vote for the American citizens who live in my hometown. The right for citizens of the city where I was born and raised was not achieved when I was a Member of Congress. Witnessing the District of Columbia obtain the right to be represented in the House with votes cast by Republicans would mean more to me than any honor that I could achieve as an individual.''

I said he was modest. He means it. I think he means that sentiment. I ask that Senator Brooke be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

March 21, 2007.

Dear Democratic Members: I have written to Republican

Members of the House as a life-long Republican and a native

Washingtonian, who was privileged to serve as the first

African American elected by popular vote to the U.S. Senate

(Massachusetts from 1967-1979). I am writing to Democrats as

well to thank you for your long support of voting rights and

home rule for my hometown, and to ask you to cast your vote

for H.R. 1433, the District of Columbia House Voting Rights

Act of 2007. I grew up in the District when it was as

segregated as other Southern cities, including the city's

public schools, and I was educated at Howard University. We

had no local or federal rights, even to govern ourselves or

to vote for President, and no one to represent our concerns

in the Congress. A Democratic Congress changed all of that

when Democrats and a Republican president granted the

citizens of the nation's capital home rule and a delegate to

the House. Now you have another historic opportunity to grant

these tax-paying citizens the full representation in the

``People's House'' that they deserve.

At 87 years of age, I have had rare privileges and honors

as an American citizen that few Americans, particularly

residents of the District have never enjoyed. At a recent

press conference at the Capitol held by senators to celebrate

my recently published autobiography, I learned that members

of my congressional delegation and others were seeking for me

the highest congressional honor, the Congressional Gold

Medal. I could not help but be overwhelmed, but I had to say

that as much as I would appreciate such a high honor from my

peers, I would place even greater priority on a full House

seat for the citizens of my hometown.

I was elected as the nation's first Black attorney general

and then as the first African American elected by popular

vote to the United States Senate when Black Americans running

for state wide office seemed the stuff of fantasy. However, I

had to leave my hometown to become a Member of Congress or be

represented at all. Nothing would mean more to me,

particularly at this stage in my life, than witnessing

Democrats and Republicans voting together to afford voting

rights to the citizens of the District of Columbia.

I believe that Voting Rights Reauthorization in 2006 and

the D.C. House Voting Rights Act of 2007 are equivalent in

their historic purposes and deep meaning. Both bills are the

same in extending long-denied congressional voting rights,

and in the District's case, to an African American city as

well. I lived in the District until I joined the Army and was

proud to serve as a combat infantry officer in [captain

during] WWII. The experience of living in a segregated city

and of serving in our segregated Armed forces helps explain

why the pending D.C. House Voting Rights Act is so important

to me personally.

I have been heartened by the strong support of the

Democratic leadership and committee chairs and members who

are swiftly bringing this bill to the floor early in the

session. The bill has passed twice by overwhelming majorities

in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and this

year by a two-to-one vote by the Judiciary Committee. I ask

that you join the large majorities in those committees and

vote for H.R. 1433.

I am grateful for your work and attention to voting rights

for all Americans.

Sincerely yours,

Edward W. Brooke,

U.S. Senator, Retired.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 682) to award a congressional gold medal to Edward William Brooke III in recognition of his unprecedented and enduring service to our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, this bill was sponsored in the Senate by our very cherished colleague, Senator Kennedy, who served with former Senator Brooke for many years. It has been carried in the House with great vigor and care by our colleague from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) and I yield her such time as she may consume.

How much time remains, Mr. Speaker?

I yield myself 4 minutes.

I consider it a great honor to be able to stand on the floor of this House and as the Chair of the committee bring out the bill that would honor Ed Brooke. As a citizen of Massachusetts in 1972 and again in 1978, and as a fairly partisan Democrat, I was proud publicly to endorse him for reelection both times to the Senate.

The gentlewoman from the District of Columbia made the point he was the first African American elected attorney general and then to the Senate only shortly after this country officially said segregation was morally and legally wrong. 1954 was the Brown v. Board of Education decision, not made final until 1955 in its decree. Seven years later Ed Brooke is elected attorney general. And as we look back now, it is probably difficult for some people to understand what an important accomplishment that was. But he is not a man who should be honored simply for having broken those barriers, because having gotten the opportunity, he used it.

The committee I chair has jurisdiction over housing. As I work in the housing area, I find myself frequently trying to preserve some of the pioneering efforts on behalf of affordable housing that Ed Brooke created. I was very proud about a month or so ago when he called to say that he liked what we were doing.

I was just reminded, Mr. Speaker, when I was up in our State of Massachusetts over the weekend, that it was in 1978, in his last year in the Senate, that Ed Brooke began the policy of saying that when housing had been built with Federal help with a certain restriction that set it aside for lower

income people and those restrictions expire, it shouldn't be simply sold to the highest bidder, but that public policy ought to make some efforts to preserve it for people who were in need of housing. We are still fighting that fight today.

We have something known as the Brooke amendment, one of the greatest acts of compassion ever to pass this body. It said originally that the poorest of the poor who get housing through various public programs shouldn't be expected to pay more than 25 percent of their income for housing, precisely because they have so little. That was changed, regrettably, in the eighties. I voted against it, but it was changed to 30 percent. But it is still there. It is still the Brooke amendment. It is still a major barrier to a degradation in the quality of life of lower income people, because there are those who would make them pay 40 and 50 and 60 percent of their income, depriving them and their children of the necessities of life. So it is with great pride that we fight and have fought to continue the Brooke amendment.

Senator Brooke was a leader in a number of areas. Yes, he broke the barrier of racism and became the first African American to win statewide office in Massachusetts and then to come to the Senate at a time when racism was even more virulent than it is today. We have made strides in diminishing it.

But, as I said, he didn't just do that. He was a leader in a number of areas, and particularly in the housing area. I don't believe anybody who has ever served in the Congress of the United States has a record that exceeds his.

So I am delighted to join under the leadership of our colleague Senator Kennedy and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) in voting for this medal, the second medal, the third medal that Brooke will have gotten, because he got the Presidential Medal of Freedom and he earned the Bronze Medal in World War II, fighting in a segregated outfit, putting patriotism ahead of the indignities to which he submitted in the fight against that terrible tyranny.

This is a medal well earned by a man who exemplified the commitment to the public welfare that we could well remember today.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that because of the energy of a number of people, we are going to be awarding this gold medal to a man who so richly deserves it.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield my remaining time to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).

Mr. Speaker, I am about to yield back.

Ed Brooke, in addition to being a superb United States Senator who fought very hard and very effectively for economic fairness and obviously against racial prejudice, but he also was the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for 4 years.

Just to give people a flavor of that, I will mention one accomplishment. It was under his attorney generalship that the Boston Strangler was prosecuted and imprisoned. So people who may not otherwise be able to relate should know. And if you saw him in the movie, I think he was played by Raymond St. Jacques, but if you go see again the movie of the Boston Strangler, you will see a part of that book. We are here to talk about a number of other parts, including a superb legislative record on behalf of social fairness.

I am prepared to yield back if the gentlewoman is.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

First I ask that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to submit their comments and material on this matter.

I thank the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Hodes) for that generous introduction. And I thank my good friend, Mr. Feeney from Florida, for also coming forward and robustly leading this bill forward today. We all owe thanks to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green), from whom we've just heard, who is the sponsor of this particular resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor to make, perhaps, an unusual point. During Black History Month, we should remember that black history is still being made. The best evidence, of course, is that an African American is close to, perhaps, getting the Democratic nomination for President. This breakthrough is not surprising when you consider that we are still living in a period for black history-making because the shackles of segregation and of nationwide discrimination were removed only about 40 years ago. So you will hear many firsts, many record- breakers continue to come forward for years to come.

We don't really have to go to the history books in the 19th century, and earlier, to find history makers who should be revered this month. We are literally still surrounded by living black history on which history has spoken. Now, mind you I say ``on which history has spoken,'' I mean you don't have the verdict of history until you can stand back from it. And, therefore, I want to make a few remarks about living history from the Congress of the United States.

It is probably the case that most Americans do not recognize that the first African American elected by popular vote to the United States Senate was Senator Edward Brooke, who served from 1967 to 1979. This is real living history, my friends. Now a robust 87, Senator Brooke broke more records than anybody I know. He became a Senator, '67 to '79, at a time when breakthroughs hadn't begun to occur. And he became a Senator from an overwhelmingly white State that was also overwhelmingly Democratic, and he was a Republican, a life-long Republican. Before that, he had become the State's first black attorney general.

I know Senator Brooke for reasons that are close to home. If you grew up in Washington, you will know him because, in studying black history, we studied this living history in our midst. He is a native Washingtonian. He graduated from Dunbar High School, the same high school I attended; served in World War II in the segregated 366th; went to Howard University and Howard law school, lived a segregated life his whole life. Then when he got out of the Army and got out of law school, he went to seek his fortune, not in his hometown, but in Massachusetts, where he practiced law and then had the audacity to run for office in a State where his party was pitifully outnumbered and in a State where he had to risk race when few had done so.

He tells the fascinating story of his life in his own autobiography called ``Bridging the Divide.'' It was published in 2006. And that's exactly what Senator Brooke did. He bridged the divide, brought Democrats and Republicans together, brought blacks and whites together, and became a history maker of the first order and one who served in the Congress of the United States.

I must say that the President has already understood his significance in American history because a few years ago, President Bush awarded Senator Brooke the highest national honor, the Presidential Medal of Honor. And, once more, the Senate has the jump on us. Of course, Edward Brooke was a Member of the Senate, but the Senate has unanimously voted that Senator Brooke should receive the highest congressional honor, the Congressional Gold Medal. These are the highest honors that each branch of government can offer.

I can think of no better way for the Congress to celebrate Black History Month, not in talking about black history that was made long ago, but looking inside our own ranks and finding a true historic figure, one that Democrats can be proud of, that Republicans are surely proud of, one who epitomizes exactly what everybody says our country needs today to bring us together, and one who served in our own ranks.

Many in the Congress on both sides of the aisle have already signed on to H.R. 1000, which is the bill necessary to award the Congressional Medal. That requires two-thirds of the House to sign on. Many have, once this was brought to their attention, signed on. We're going to send it again, of course, to Members, as we try to do something that I think will be history-making this very month, and that is to have the Congress of the United States, this month, this Black History Month, vote to give the Congressional Gold Medal to one of our own former colleagues, a former Member of the Senate, Senator Edward Brooke, the first African American to serve by popular vote in that body.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 942, Recognizing the Significance of Black History Month, introduced by my distinguished colleague from Texas, Representative Green. This important legislation recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments and contributions of African-Americans in this Nation.

The celebration of Black History Month began with Negro History Week in 1926, the vision of Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Dr. Woodson, a noted African-American author and scholar recognized then, as we do today, that the achievements and contributions of African-Americans deserve not only to be acknowledged, but also to be celebrated by all Americans.

Over the course of 50 years, Negro History gained momentum, culminating in its transcendence to Black History Month. Now each February we express our appreciation of the struggles, determination and perseverance of the African-American community of the past and present. February is a month to recognize the contributions of African- Americans who have enriched our culture and our heritage.

There have been great African-American activists, scientists, artists, poets, athletes, politicians, writers, economists, musicians, engineers, and entertainers who have all bettered our way of life. From Harriet Tubman to Barbara Jordan, Althea Gibson to Venus Williams, Marian Anderson to Ella Fitzgerald, Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King, Jr., so many African-Americans have enriched this Nation that there are far too many to name them all.

Unfortunately, the struggle for African-Americans to gain recognition and celebration in this Nation continues beyond Black History Month. While we can be proud of the many achievements of our past, events such as Hurricane Katrina and Jena 6, demonstrate that we still have much to achieve in the way of equal rights and justice for all.

One of the great challenges facing the African-American community is the disproportionate rate at which our people are incarcerated.

According to the Department of Justice more than 2.3 million people are incarcerated in this Nation's State and Federal prisons. As of December 2006, African-Americans made up 40.2 percent of Federal prison inmates, most of those being African-American men.

When you compare these statistics with the fact that African- Americans only make up approximately 12 percent of the total population, the disparity becomes more apparent. The human toll--the wasted lives, shattered families, and disturbed youth--are incalculable, as are the adverse social, economic and political consequences of weakened communities, diminished opportunities for economic mobility, and widespread disenfranchisement.

In Jena, Louisiana, two African-American high school students sat under what some White students called the ``white'' tree on their campus. The White students responded by hanging nooses from the tree. When African-American students protested the light punishment for the students who hung the nooses, the District Attorney came to the school and told the students he could ``take their lives away with a stroke of his pen.'' Racial tensions continued to mount in Jena, and the District Attorney did nothing in response to several egregious cases of violence and threats against African-American students.

But when a White student--who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses--taunted African-American students, allegedly called several African-American students ``nigger'', and was beaten up by African-American students, the punishment was drastically different. Six African-American students were charged with second- degree attempted murder. Mychal Bell was one of the students tried and convicted. He faced up to 22 years in prison for essentially a school fight.

The African-American community came to the aid of these young men, as they have done in years past for other young men. While we take this month to celebrate the past and present African-American achievements and contributions, we must face the future with an understanding that there is more to be done and more to be achieved.

As a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, a Representative of the people of the United States, and an African-American woman, I am proud to cosponsor this legislation and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his very kind words and compliment him on the outstanding job that he is doing in the United States Congress, and I'm always honored to have the opportunity to serve and work with the gentleman.

I also thank my colleague on the other side of the aisle who has graciously helped us with this resolution and helped us bring it to the floor.

This resolution has received bipartisan support. I can say with a great degree of sincerity that not one Member that I approached about signing on to this resolution had any reservation, hesitation, or consternation. Every Member saw this as a worthwhile resolution, and I want to thank all of the Members who are now supporting it and who will vote for it.

I also am honored to make this expression of appreciation on behalf of the millions of Africans who are in America and who are known as African Americans. They cherish this day. This day means something to persons in the African American community. So they, too, would express appreciation, and I do so as one of their representatives in the United States Congress.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution gives us an opportunity to tell a portion of the greatest story never told. One of the great stories in world history is the story of Africans in the Americas and, more specifically, Africans in America today. This month allows us, and through this resolution we are allowed, to talk about some of the great accomplishments of African Americans, and Mr. Feeney has been so generous with his compliments and the persons that he has named. My colleague has been very generous with his compliments as well.

But I want to name just a few more, because at a time like this, on occasions like this, we want to make sure that we say as much as we can, understanding that we cannot say enough.

So on occasions such as this, we'd like to at least mention the prolific poetry of Phyllis Wheatley. We want to say that there was the scientific genius of Benjamin Banneker, who, by the way, was self- educated, a self-educated scientist, astronomer and inventor. We'd like to mention the legal brilliance of Macon B. Allen, who became the first African American admitted to the bar in the United States in 1845.

We should mention the colossal courage of Harriet Tubman, who, with her Underground Railroad, took persons from slavery to freedom. And we have to mention that she didn't do it alone. African Americans are not free because they were able to extricate themselves from slavery; they are free because they had help along the way from persons of good will of all ethnicities and races, all genders. People of good will have been of service in this fight for freedom for African Americans, and we should never have this kind of celebration and not mention the fact that we are here because there were many others who made it possible for us to have the opportunities we have. Many lived and died, and they were not all African Americans.

On occasions such as this, we mention the political prowess of P.B.S. Pinchback, who was the first African American elected Governor to become Governor of a State; he became Governor of the State of Louisiana in 1872.

These are some of the notables that we mention. But we should also mention that African Americans answered the clarion call to serve the Nation in times of war. They were there at the Boston Massacre. You will recall that Crispus Attucks was the first person killed, an African American. They were there at the Revolutionary War. Five thousand slaves and freedmen fought in the Revolutionary War, with the Continental Army, with the Navy, and with the militia in the Revolutionary War.

They were there in World War I; 350,000 African Americans were there in World War I to serve our country. In World War II, 2.5 million registered, and approximately 1 million served. And, of course, we can never forget the Tuskegee Airmen. They were not only there but they were so outstanding that the President of the United States came to these Halls and presented them a Congressional Gold Medal.

America is not a perfect Nation, but it does provide the means by which we can strive for perfection. And I am so honored that by passing this resolution, we continue to reach for the ultimate perfection in the United States of America.