Honoring the life and sacrifice of Medgar Evers and congratulating the United States Navy for naming a supply ship after Medgar Evers.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1022) honoring the life and sacrifice of Medgar Evers and congratulating the United States Navy for naming a supply ship after Medgar Evers.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks, and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as we begin Black History Month, I rise in support of H. Res. 1022, to honor the life of Medgar Evers and congratulate the United States Navy for naming a ship in his honor.

Medgar Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi, on July 2, 1925, and he was murdered on June 12, 1963, in the driveway of his Jackson, Mississippi, home. His upbringing was marked by the racism and violence of that time. Before Evers even reached high school, he had endured the lynching of a close family friend.

As a young man, Mr. Evers was determined to get his education. He earned his high school diploma, enduring taunts and abuse from white schoolchildren.

In 1943, he was drafted into the Army, and he bravely fought for his country

at the Battle of Normandy and was honorably discharged in 1946.

Upon his return home, Mr. Evers completed a degree in business administration at Alcorn State University. He played football, ran track, joined the debate team, and sang in the university choir. He married his classmate, Myrlie Beasley, in 1951.

Beside me is a photograph of Medgar Evers. He looks to be very fit and focused, and I daresay Herschel Walker has a slight resemblance to Mr. Evers. And that is a compliment, by the way.

After completing that degree and getting married, Mr. Evers then moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, and joined the Regional Council of Negro Leadership. He helped organize a boycott of service stations that denied African Americans use of their restrooms. In 1954, the year I was born, Mr. Evers applied to the segregated University of Mississippi School of Law. When his application was rejected, he became the focus of an NAACP campaign to desegregate the school.

He was hired as the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi. Mr. Evers was instrumental in desegregating the University of Mississippi, and gained prominence through his work with the NAACP. As his fame and success grew, so did the danger that he faced. Death threats became commonplace. But he persisted, a true American pioneer. In May of 1963, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the carport of his home. And then 5 days before his death, he was nearly run over by a car outside of a NAACP office.

On June 12, 1963, while carrying T-shirts that read, quote, ``Jim Crow Must Go,'' Medgar Evers was assassinated in the driveway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi. Just hours earlier, President John F. Kennedy had delivered his speech in support of civil rights legislation on national television. Evers' assassination is said to have helped prompt President Kennedy to ask for a comprehensive civil rights bill, which became the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and which was an historic and mighty blow to the institutionalized racism in America. Mr. Evers was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, and received full military honors in front of a crowd of about 3,000 people.

This resolution, Mr. Speaker, not only honors the life and sacrifice of Mr. Evers, but it also commends the Navy for its recent decision to name a ship in his honor. On October 9, 2009, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the United States Naval Ship Medgar Evers, a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship.

For decades, Medgar Evers' legacy has inspired Americans. He fought diligently for what was right, and gave his life to the cause of civil rights. His life has been memorialized in song, in film, in sculpture, and now by the United States Navy.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert at this point in the Record an exchange of letters between House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton. I am privileged to serve on both of these very important committees.

Committee on Armed Services,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC, January 28, 2010.

Hon. John Conyers, Jr.,

Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,

Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. Chairman: On January 20, 2010, the House

Resolution 1022, ``Honoring the life and sacrifice of Medgar

Evers and congratulating the United States Navy for naming a

supply ship after Medgar Evers,'' was introduced in the

House. As you know, this measure was referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee

on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee

concerned.

Our Committee recognizes the importance of H. Res. 1022 and

the need for the legislation to move expeditiously.

Therefore, while we have a valid claim to jurisdiction over

this legislation, the Committee on Armed Services will waive

further consideration of H. Res. 1022. I do so with the

understanding that by waiving further consideration of the

resolution, the Committee does not waive any future

jurisdictional claims over similar measures.

I would appreciate the inclusion of this letter and a copy

of your response in the Congressional Record during

consideration of the measure on the House floor.

Very truly yours,

Ike Skelton,

Chairman.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the great city of Washington, D.C. I would point out that she is a civil rights legend of her own accord.

I yield the gentlewoman 1 additional minute.

Mr. Speaker, before I yield back I will say that if Medgar Evers were alive today, he would be fighting alongside Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton for freedom in Washington, D.C. What I am talking about is the ability of residents of Washington, D.C., to be able to vote, to have a Congressperson who has full voting rights in this body.

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

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today in support of H. Res. 1022 ``Honoring the life and sacrifice of Medgar Evers and congratulating the United States Navy for naming a supply ship after Medgar Evers.''

I would like to begin by thanking my colleague Representative Hank Johnson for introducing this resolution in the House, as it is important that we honor and remember Medgar Evers for his service to the United States both on the battlefield as an Army sergeant in World War II as well as his service to the United States through his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th Century.

Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi, to Jessie and James Evers in 1925 and grew up on his father's small farm. After reaching adolescence, Evers had a difficult time in obtaining the high school level education he so desperately wanted. Evers however was determined. Every day he would walk 12 miles, each way to school and frequently had objects thrown at him by White children passing by in school buses.

In addition to the heckling he frequently received on his way to school, Evers suffered several other seriously traumatic events as a child. In one such instance, a close family friend was kidnapped, beaten up and lynched by a group of White supremacists. Evers was shocked when there was no response to this horrible attack by any local law enforcement officers and no subsequent legal action was taken up in the judicial system.

Evers witnessed several other brutal actions taken against local blacks in Decatur, Mississippi, as a youth. He was once quoted as saying: ``I used to watch the Saturday night sport of White men trying to run down a Negro with their car, or White gangs coming through town to beat up a Negro.'' Evers said that sometimes the attackers would even leave the dead bodies of Black men out in the streets and would hang the bloody clothes in public to leave a message of fear.

Fortunately, Evers was able to keep his head high and eventually earned his high

school diploma in Decatur, Mississippi, before joining the U.S. Army. Evers joined the Army during World War II, fought in France, the European Theatre of WWII and was honorably discharged in 1945 as a Sergeant after admirably serving his country.

After being discharged, Evers attended Alcorn College, (now known as Alcorn State University) in Lorman, Mississippi and participated in a wide variety of activities from debate team to the track and football teams. At Alcorn College, Evers met and began dating Myrlie Beasley. The two were eventually married on December 24, 1951.

Soon after marriage, the couple moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, where Evers began selling insurance for the Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. It was there that Evers met Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard, the president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, RCNL, a civil rights and pro self-help organization. Evers soon became a dynamic member of the RCNL and thus began his political activism career.

When his application to the then-segregated University of Mississippi Law School was rejected, Evers filed a lawsuit against the university, and became the focus of an NAACP campaign to desegregate the university. That same year, due to his involvement, the NAACP's National Office suggested he become Mississippi's first field secretary for the NAACP.

On November 24, 1954, Evers was appointed Mississippi's first field secretary for the NAACP. After becoming field secretary, Evers was involved in a boycott campaign against White merchants and was instrumental in eventually desegregating the University of Mississippi when that institution was finally forced to enroll James Meredith in 1962.

Sadly, Evers was assassinated outside his home on June 12, 1963, just after returning from a meeting with several NAACP lawyers. Though he was killed in this tragic attack, the legacy that Evers left behind helped to change the course of history and left a strong impact on the Civil Rights Movement.

Designated T-AKE 13, Medgar Evers will be the 13th ship of the class, and is being built by General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego. As a combat logistics force ship, Medgar Evers will help the Navy maintain a worldwide forward presence by delivering ammunition, food, fuel, and other dry cargo to U.S. and allied ships at sea.

As part of Military Sealift Command's Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force, Medgar Evers will be designated as a United States Naval Ship, USNS, and will be crewed by 124 civil service mariners and 11 Navy sailors. The ship is designed to operate independently for extended periods at sea, can carry a helicopter, is 689 feet in length, has an overall beam of 106 feet, has a navigational draft 30 feet, displaces approximately 42,000 tons, and is capable of reaching a speed of 20 knots using a single-shaft, diesel-electric propulsion system.

Because of the extensive role Evers had in the Civil Rights Movement and because of his exemplary service in the Armed Forces during World War II, it is important that we recognize this hero for his service to our Nation. I ask my colleagues for their support of this resolution and ask for their continued support of similar national heroes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I support House Resolution 1022. This resolution honors the life and sacrifice of Medgar Evers, and also it congratulates the United States Navy for naming a supply ship after Mr. Evers in 2009. Known today for his struggles in the civil rights movement in Mississippi and his untimely death at the hands of an assassin, Medgar Evers left behind an impressive record of achievement.

He was born in 1925 near Decatur, Mississippi, and he entered the United States Army in 1943 and served in Normandy in World War II. He received a B.A. degree in 1952, and began to establish local chapters of the NAACP. He organized boycotts of gasoline stations that refused to allow blacks to use the restrooms there. In 1954, he applied to the then-segregated University of Mississippi School of Law. And when his application was rejected, he filed a lawsuit against the university. He became the focus of the NAACP effort to desegregate the school, a case aided by the United States Supreme Court in a ruling of Brown v. Board of Education that segregation was unconstitutional.

Evers and his wife eventually moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where they worked together to set up an NAACP office. Evers began investigating violent crimes committed against African Americans, and sought ways to prevent them in the future. His boycott of Jackson, Mississippi merchants in the early 1960s attracted national media attention. And his efforts to have James Meredith admitted to the University of Mississippi in 1962 led to much needed Federal help. Due in part to Mr. Evers' work, Meredith was admitted to the University of Mississippi.

On June 12, 1963, Evers returned home just after midnight from a series of NAACP functions, and he was leaving his car with a handful of T-shirts that read, ``Jim Crow Must Go.'' When he was leaving his vehicle, he was shot in the back by an assassin. His wife and children, who had been waiting for him, found him bleeding to death on the doorstep some 30 feet from where he was gunned down. Shortly thereafter, he died.

The death of Mr. Evers helped prompt President John F. Kennedy and others to ask Congress to pass a comprehensive civil rights bill. And in 1964, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law. In the years following his death, a number of songs, books, and movies paid tribute to Mr. Evers' sacrifice and his peaceful pursuit of justice and equality for all Americans. Mr. Evers is quoted as saying, ``When you hate, the only one that suffers is you, because most of the people you hate don't know it, and the rest don't care.'' He also continually advised that violence is not the way.

His life serves as an inspiration to all Americans on how citizens can use peaceful and democratic means to effect a positive change within our democracy. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the generous gentleman from Georgia and our colleague on the other side as well for

their words and for bringing forward this resolution honoring the United States Navy, and especially honoring Medgar Evers.

There is some context that is necessary here. Mississippi was not only late to the civil rights movement, Mississippi was last to the civil rights movement. And there was a reason for that. Because it was delayed. Remember the sit-ins began February 1960, just 50 years ago. That was celebrated just yesterday with the opening of a civil rights museum in Greensboro. Years passed. And you did not see young people coming forward in Mississippi, young and foolish, and a young law student, because Mississippi was so heralded for its reputation for violently opposing civil rights. That is where I wanted to be.

From my first day in Mississippi in June of 1963, I was baptized by crisis. I spent the day with Medgar Evers. I was only a second-year law student, but there were so few people with the skills associated with lawyers who had been in the movement, that he tried to get me to stay in Jackson. But I had committed to Bob Moses, the legendary head of a tiny movement in the delta area of Mississippi, to go to the Mississippi delta.

I spent the day with Medgar Evers taking me around to meet members of the movement, to try to get me to remain, and finally depositing me at--was it a Greyhound or a Trailways bus station? I do not recall. But he put me on that bus, he went home, and he was assassinated in his own driveway. I had learned about it the next morning when a tiny little girl came to wake me up in a sharecropper's house who had accommodated me as a member of the movement to say that Mr. Evers has been shot. The moment exists in my brain and in my heart to this very moment, that unspeakable moment.

Mr. Speaker, I was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. John Lewis was the chair of SNCC at that time. Young people had come forward to risk arrest and beatings literally in every State of the union except Mississippi. But there was nobody like the four young students in Greensboro who stepped forward in 1960. And yet I come to Mississippi in 1963, and I assure you not to sit in. But there hadn't been a single sit-in in Mississippi. So here came a middle-aged father and husband and said, ``Okay, I will lead the sit-ins in the biggest city in Mississippi.''

Medgar Evers was not a student. He was not young and foolish the way the students were. He had a lot to risk, and he risked it all. He and a very few others stepped forward to do that first sit- in at a Woolworth's. He paid a price that day. They were beat horribly. And he paid the ultimate price when they took his life in that driveway.

It is time for the United States of America now to step forward, as Medgar Evers did, and recognize this one of a kind American hero. I applaud our country and our Navy for naming a United States Naval ship the Medgar Evers.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 1022, which honors the life and sacrifice of Medgar Evars, recognizes the important role he played in progressing the cause of civil rights, and congratulates the United States Navy for honoring him with the naming of the United States naval ship Medgar Evars. H. Res. 1022 is an important measure that pays tribute to an individual who sacrificed his life fighting for the core American values of equality and civil rights.

I thank Chairmen Conyers for his leadership in bringing this bill to the floor. I would also like to thank the author of this legislation, Congressman Hank Johnson, who has taken the time to remember the invaluable work of Medgar Evars and to celebrate the United States Navy's efforts to honor this American hero.

Medgar Evars was born in 1925 in Decatur, Mississippi. Growing up in the heart of the segregated South, Medgar Evars experienced the worst of racial oppression. Still, in 1943, he volunteered to serve his country in World War II, and fought valiantly with the United States Army in the Battle of Normandy.

After fighting overseas for the cause of freedom and democracy, Medgar Evars returned home to a segregated country as a second-class citizen. He dedicated himself to activism, working tirelessly for the cause of racial equality on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As a result of his activism, Medgar Evars was the target of numerous death threats and assassination attempts. But his bravery and dedication knew no bounds and he continued his important work until he was tragically murdered on June 12, 1963.

It is entirely fitting that we honor Medgar Evars, who in his life as well as his death, helped move our country out of a time of oppression and segregation and into an era of greater tolerance and equality.

It is equally fitting that the United States Navy has chosen to honor Medgar Evars with the naming of the United States naval ship Medgar Evars. This ship, a Lewis and Clark class dry cargo ship, is a state- of-the-art vessel that will provide essential logistics support to Navy operations around the world. Just as Medgar Evars helped bring our nation racial reconciliation, the United States naval ship Medgar Evars will help the Navy to promote peace and conflict resolution throughout the world. This ship is one more way in which the life and sacrifice of Medgar Evars will continue to serve as a beacon of equality.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 1022.