African American Civil Rights Network Act of 2017

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the African American Civil Rights Network Act of 2017, updated and bipartisan legislation that I was proud to introduce along with my distinguished colleague from Missouri's Eighth Congressional District, Congressman Jason Smith. I appreciate his leadership and true friendship as well.

Our legislation, which has already earned 72 cosponsors, would authorize the National Park Service to establish a program to preserve and protect the memory of the people and places that were significant in the struggle to securing equal rights for African Americans during the 20th century's civil rights era between 1939 and 1968.

The purpose of this legislation is to recognize, protect, and share the remarkable American story of the modern struggle for civil rights, a unique national experience that touches every American regardless of their age, region, or heritage, and yet this very American story is often left untold, without the level of honesty and accuracy that it surely deserves.

In fact, the generation now coming of age has only scant knowledge of the history of the civil rights struggle. Young Americans find it difficult to believe that racial segregation was once considered normal and necessary in the United States.

I truly believe that the healing potential for this legislation is essential to bringing our Nation together. The historic network that H.R. 1927 would create would offer tremendous educational opportunities by recognizing those brave souls from all walks of life who fought to make the promises enshrined in our Constitution finally ring true for every American regardless of the color of their skin.

Across this great country, precious historic waypoints along the routes of that still largely untold story are at risk of being lost forever.

My hope is that the historic civil rights trails and the programs that will grow from this act will honestly tell the truth, the full and sometimes painful story of the struggle for civil rights, not just for African Americans, but to foster healing, tolerance, and understanding among all Americans.

This bill is similar to legislation that created the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act of 1998, which is currently administered by the National Park Service. It directs the Secretary of the Interior to identify and create a national network of historic sites, stories, research facilities, and educational programs connected to the modern African-American civil rights movement.

This legislation has also earned the strong support of the National Urban League, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Parks Conservation Association, and the NAACP.

Mr. Speaker, let me also commend the gentleman from California for his support of this legislation that came out of his subcommittee. I appreciate his help and strong support of it.

I look at this opportunity as something that we should all want to embrace the transformative power of the real American story. We should seize it. This bill advances that worthy goal for our Nation, and I urge my colleagues to support this important act.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to commend my colleague, Mrs. Love from Utah. And it goes to show you that we can reach across the aisle and find common ground. I appreciate her support of this legislation, as well as I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1927, which is on the floor this afternoon, the African American Civil Rights Network Act. This is to honor the sad, yet heroic struggle for civil rights in America, a struggle for those who participated in the civil rights movement, a struggle for people that were, in fact, soldiers in a war for justice and democracy.

We appropriately and regularly honor the soldiers who wore uniforms and went to Europe and Asia to defend our country, and we appropriately and properly give them benefits that they deserve for what they did to protect democracy and justice.

But what we forget is those citizens in America who had to fight their own government and their own country for those same rights of justice and democracy.

Enslaved for over 250 years, and then treated in a netherworld of segregation for 100 years, and then slowly creeping in after Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of the sixties and to this day, those who fought for civil rights deserve to be recognized as soldiers for justice and democracy, and this bill will honor their work with the Civil Rights Network Act in our country.

They used protests to gain public attention and, eventually, to spur judicial and legislative action. It goes all the way back to W.E.B. DuBois and others who fought when they weren't so popular and on television.

H.R. 1927 would establish a Civil Rights Network to commemorate and honor the history of the civil rights movement. And I want to encourage that the proposed sites include the Memphis Heritage Trail, which has applied for funding as part of that historical network.

It was in Memphis, unfortunately, in April of 1968, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was slain. Dr. King gave his last speech in Memphis the night before at the Mason Temple, the ``I Have

Been to the Mountaintop'' speech. And it was in Memphis where he started his last march about a week earlier, marching from the historic Clayborn Temple with the AFSCME workers--the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees--who were garbage workers not recognized as a union and not recognized as men. ``I am a man.'' Dr. King came to Memphis as part of his fight for justice and freedom.

The Clayborn Temple has risen from the ashes and is being renewed in Memphis as a place for events, worship, concerts, and protests. The National Civil Rights Museum has risen at the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King was slain; the National Civil Rights Museum, which is outstanding and, next year, will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination. Our own John Lewis will be there.

H.R. 1927 would help to memorialize these events and these places across the United States and others, from North Carolina, where the sit-ins started, and Nashville, to the voting rights march in Selma, the atrocities in Birmingham, and Rosa Parks and the bus boycott in Montgomery.

Julian Bond, our own John Lewis, Rosa Parks, Viola Liuzzo, Ida B. Wells, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, Joseph Lowery, Roy Wilkins, and others will be recognized.

I look forward to voting for H.R. 1927 and saying that it more appropriately represents and remembers heroes, fighters for justice, democracy and freedom; not recognized as such, but, in fact, such.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1927) to amend title 54, United States Code, to establish within the National Park Service the African American Civil Rights Network, and for other purposes, as amended.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1927, the African American Civil Rights Network Act, introduced by our distinguished committee colleague, Congressman Lacy Clay from Missouri, directs the National Park Service to identify and create a national network of historic sites, research facilities, and educational programs connected to the modern African-American civil rights movement. The network will be comprised of existing units and programs of the National Park Service related to the African-American civil rights movement as well as the properties and programs of other Federal, State, local, and private entities that join the network.

Establishing this network of historic sites connected to the African- American civil rights movement will help preserve the legacy and the struggle of the many courageous individuals who risked their lives to secure racial equality and to put the full measure of the Declaration of Independence and its sacred principles into action.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Utah (Mrs. Love).

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to reciprocate the kind words of the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay). It has been a pleasure working with him on this bill.

Shakespeare put it best:

This story shall a good man teach his son.

This bill tells that story of how the full measure of our Nation's founding principles came to fruition.

I would ask for Members' support and adoption of this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman McClintock for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1927. Nearly a decade ago, the National Park Service, with the help of the Organization of American Historians, completed a study to help identify significant sites related to the modern civil rights movement. Through this effort, the National Park Service found that many sites with a connection to the movement had not been formally recognized and that many were in severe disrepair and at risk of being permanently lost.

This legislation establishes a network of sites to include all National Park Service's units and programs, as well as other Federal, State, local, and privately owned properties for the National Register of Historic Places.

A similar network was created previously by Congress to identify and commemorate the sites and stories related to the underground railroad. This bill would allow the National Park Service to build partnerships with other public and private entities to help preserve the remaining sites.

As part of my religious beliefs, I believe that knowing who you are, where you come from, is a foundation of knowing where you are and where you will be going.

History teaches us important lessons that we need to learn and grow from. Because of great leaders like Martin Luther King, President Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, and many unsung heroes, I am here today as a Member of Congress representing the great State of Utah. We can be proud of who we are and what we believe in, that all men are created equal in the eyes of God.

It is imperative that here in the United States, that we don't make people feel like victims, and that all Americans are not afraid of, but empowered by, their history and our future.

Mr. Speaker, I commend Representative Clay for his sponsorship of this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1927.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Energy and Natural Resources Committee be discharged from further consideration of the following bills: S. 1438 and H.R. 1927; and that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of those bills and the following bills en bloc: Calendar No. 49, S. 35; Calendar No. 54, S. 432; Calendar No. 55, S. 466; Calendar No. 62, H.R. 267; Calendar No. 64, H.R. 560; Calendar No. 72, H.R. 699; Calendar No. 88, H.R. 863; Calendar No. 125, S. 167; Calendar No. 148, H.R. 381; Calendar No. 170, H.R. 954; H.R. 1242, received from the House; H.R. 1306, received from the House; and H.R. 2611, received from the House.

I further ask unanimous consent that, where applicable, the committee-reported amendments be agreed to, and the bills, as amended, if amended, be considered read a third time.