A resolution recognizing the 201st anniversary of Greek Independence and celebrating democracy in Greece and the United States.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.

Madam Speaker, I rise this evening for the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour that deals with, of course, Juneteenth, a very special time that I am delighted--with the leadership of our chair, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty; and, of course, my coanchor, Congressman Torres of New York--that we stand here to provide this kind of leadership for this Congress and for this Nation.

Let me extend my heartfelt appreciation for all of the leadership that have given us this time, including Speaker Pelosi and, of course, Leader Hoyer, and to acknowledge the significance to African Americans as it relates to Juneteenth.

Coming from Texas, let me tell you that Juneteenth, a couple days from today, will be an amazing commemoration. We will be unveiling a mural in Galveston, where General Granger first came. I believe thousands will come. And if there will not be thousands, let you hear my voice: Thousands should come because what a historic moment.

What does Juneteenth mean?

It means an acknowledgment of those who were in bondage for over 200 years. The Emancipation Proclamation--which, by the way, for the 150th commemoration, because we had not finished our congressional work, I was actually here at midnight--which is when President Abraham Lincoln signed it at the National Archives. Looking at the original Emancipation Proclamation, what a sense of emotion.

But then to let you know that that did not free all of the slaves. Two years in bondage continued for those west of the Mississippi and many States until General Granger reached the shores of Galveston, still marked today in Texas, that said that you were free.

Can you imagine? Two extra years of bondage. Couldn't get out. Couldn't read a newspaper or hold up a message that had come from your relative that lived in Georgia. Couldn't do anything.

General Granger read these words of General Order Number 3, set off a joyous celebration of the freed men and women of Texas. I have no shame that it was called Jubilee. And there were a lot of picnics and what we called in the later years ``red punch.''

Don't diminish our celebration. Don't diminish that joy in the midst of sorrow.

How many died who could not see freedom?

Here are the words: ``The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with the Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.''

Now, the word was said that they were offered, the slaves: Don't worry about it, just stay on the plantations, and we will pay you.

I am grateful, but those courageous, but impoverished, without insight, without resources, without compensation, without recognition, they said in their own power: We are leaving the plantations.

And they migrated up this road called Emancipation Trail.

I am gratified that I was able to introduce such legislation where my Senate colleague, Senator Cornyn, joined me and now an Emancipation Trail has been established as law. It is now under study. It will be only the second commemoration of African-American history in this Nation. The Selma to Montgomery is the first, and now the Emancipation Trail that says: No, I was not going stay on the plantation; however, I was going to survive; whatever I had to place together, I was going to do it.

Then, of course, lo and behold, they found themselves--eight of them, freed slaves, put their money together and purchased the first park bought in the State of Texas by freed slaves or anyone. They called it Emancipation Park.

So that is why we are here to celebrate and to educate this idea of what it means to celebrate Juneteenth. I am delighted that we have introduced a resolution that is bipartisan. But the most exciting part about this is that I have introduced a bill that establishes Juneteenth as a national Federal holiday. Not removing any other holiday, but adding it to the list. Cosponsored by Senator Markey and Senator Cornyn, and bipartisan. Over 160 cosponsors in the House.

I think it is worthy to have a holiday--a Federal holiday established, and I am very proud to have been the Congressperson for Representative Al Edwards, who is called the father of Juneteenth, establishing the first paid State holiday in the State of Texas highlighting, honoring, revering Juneteenth.

You will hear many of us continue our discussions about Juneteenth, its significance in terms of freedom. And I am delighted, as I said, to be coanchoring with my colleague. It is important to express our appreciation to our chair, the Honorable Barbara Lee, a Californian but born in Texas with a grandfather born in Galveston. She knows what Juneteenth, the significance, the power of it is, and her legislative legacy speaks to freedom.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the Honorable Barbara Lee.

She would have been part of it at a later time, but that trail, since we know for sure there were no other ways of moving, she had to walk along that semi-developed trail of little cities from Galveston--walk along, drive along, in whatever capacity, and when I say ``drive along,'' horse and buggy and otherwise.

That was a trail that the freed slaves, the ex-slaves, went from Galveston all the way. There was the Reedy A.M.E., if I am correct, one of the historic A.M.E. churches where they stopped for refuge. Then they came on up, and they sought their way to freedom. They were not going to stay on the plantation.

Madam Speaker, I yield back to the gentlewoman.

Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to be able to have a Californian with deep roots in Texas on the floor because what this says to our body is that this issue of slavery permeated all aspects of this Nation. We can see that from the work, the commitment, and the compassion of the Honorable Barbara Lee, followed by, of course, a native daughter of Wisconsin who saw it in a different form and is compelled to be on the floor today and who has championed for the impoverished as well and particularly championed for those who are experiencing modern-day impacts of slavery through inequities, through poverty, through welfare, and that has been treated unfairly. That is the Honorable Gwen Moore from Wisconsin.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).

Madam Speaker, what a rich and enriching discussion. Thank you to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin. That is why we gathered here, to say to America, we come from the Midwest, the South, the East, and we still find a common bond around the question of Juneteenth, reparations, and of course, voting rights that are so important.

But as I yield, let me be very clear, these are American values. These are values that my friends on the other side of the aisle could adopt, just like I could adopt.

Why? Because I don't know anyone that would extinguish freedom and deny that where there is bondage and where freedom comes, we should celebrate it, but we should tell the story about it, and we should respond to it.

Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Demings), who has a number of historical monuments in Florida that indicates her knowledge and understanding of freedom.

Madam Speaker, I can't imagine with the recounting of the story by Val Demings that we are not securing, how should I say it, multiple numbers of Members to join in the holiday pronouncement and resolution, and bill, rather, of Juneteenth, to support H.R. 40, and to recognize the value of commemorating and teaching about the history of African Americans.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson), a person who has great knowledge and is a great storyteller, a fighter for justice, and a fellow member of the Judiciary Committee.

Madam Speaker, as I get ready to yield to the distinguished gentleman from Las Vegas, Nevada, I want to make sure he lets me know my pronunciation is correct, it is a very sensitive question.

But as the gentleman from Georgia leaves, let me at least acknowledge that critical race theory. Here is the question I ask: Should I not know about Italians and how they came and were treated? Should I not know about the Irish who left in the midst of the potato famine and faced discrimination? Should I not know about Native Americans?

So we are the American experiment. Does everybody realize that? No one thought that we would ever survive, and we have come together with a multitude of groups. Our strength is in the recognition of our differences, and in our unity.

This came out of Texas. This Representative is all over. He misinterprets the teaching by teachers. He has never sat in the class to know that teachers are not condemning, they are just educating. Isn't it wonderful in little babies' minds to not put condemnation but to put understanding so that we can appreciate each other's condition?

Madam Speaker, I am delighted to yield to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford), who is the first vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus but sits on the Ways and Means Committee. And if he will allow me, I just want to make this point.

You are seeing Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and I can tell you our agenda is as wide and varied as America, from taxation to agriculture to tech to criminal justice to the issues that American is facing, job creation.

But we also understand that we would be remiss if we did not stand on the floor to be able to give our own life experiences and to share with America what the value of our diversity is all about.

Madam Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford).

May I ask the Speaker the time remaining, please.

Madam Speaker, it is my privilege to yield to a gentleman with a storied and layered history entrenched in one of the States that suffered the extension of slavery and faces its challenges today, of which this gentleman has been in the mix and in the gap of fighting for justice. We are excited about his presence here. I am so honored and privileged that he has chosen, with all of the work he has to do because he was elected in a special election, this moment in history to present his first speech on the floor of the House.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the State of Louisiana (Mr. Carter).

Madam Speaker, let me congratulate the gentleman for the new law in Louisiana and for his leadership and his powerful message on this floor on the freedom, really, of all people. My freedom is your freedom, your freedom is my freedom, and our freedom is America's freedom.

Let me express my appreciation to my co-anchor, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Torres). I thank him for his leadership. Let me be very clear that both his history and his State as well have a vested history in liberty and freedom, but, yes, no place did escape the vestiges of slavery.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Torres).

Madam Speaker, I say to the gentleman from New York, it is an esteemed pleasure to be able to draw upon both his knowledge and scholarship--might I stand on his shoulders--an activist Federal Government.

For some reason, as we face these trials and tribulations of 2021, there is a hesitancy to realize that the Federal Government is, in simplistic terms, an umbrella on a rainy day. It is, in fact, the concrete barrier in the time of a storm. And that is why we are on the floor today.

Let me acknowledge that an activist Federal Government, in the positive way, would be the government that would say that Italian history and Irish history, Latinx, Hispanic history, and Caribbean history, and African history, and the Pilgrim Pride history, and European history, and Asian-Pacific history, and Southeast Asian- Pacific, and any others that I have left out, is valuable to be heard by our children's ears. It is valuable to be taught.

Then they would be able to understand the gentleman's entreat, his request, which is H.R. 1320, which is bipartisan, that declares Juneteenth a national Federal holiday.

And to the wrong representation of right-wing radio, it doesn't substitute any holiday. It adds it to the list of Federal holidays. It does not subtract any holiday; does not take any holiday away. Yet it acknowledges the importance of that day and, as well, it is led by Senators Markey and Cornyn, a Republican and Democrat in the United States Senate, and it is a bipartisan bill in the House.

Is there any reason not to move this bill along as quickly as possible?

And if there is a basis for not understanding what freedom meant, look at this slave that was symbolic of the life that slave led; but that is the light of being beat.

What about those who were beaten to death or burned to death?

It is no shame for our children to be taught this history. I know no teacher who would stand in the classroom and condemn children. I know teachers who are loving, and will give understanding, and let a child come out and say, I want a better America.

Isn't that the kind of soldier and doctor and lawyer and teacher we want to build up? Isn't that the kind of citizen we want to grow?

And then, if we want to make it realistic and home for our moment, as my colleagues have said, we spent 4 days in Tulsa, Greenwood, that was burned to the ground; 300 in an unmarked grave. This is what 1921 looked like; not 1865, not 1810, not 1799, not 1724, when slavery was raging, if you will, 250 years. This is what it looked like in 1921; a black body burned on the streets of Greenwood.

So when we talk about jubilee and freedom, we do it in a way that we can, as Americans, be free. And then I want to say that matches the Emancipation Trail that is now law in the State of Texas, that march from victory, when General Granger said you are free. It matches H.R. 40, which is a non-offensive repair and reconciliation that speaks to the language that Justice Hughes said about Black Americans, the discrete and insular minority excluded from those political processes ordinarily to be relied upon to protect them. All throughout tenure here there were denials of our freedom.

And then, of course, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., talked about an insufficient check; not of money, but he talked about that we have never been given justice and equality.

So when we speak of the Emancipation Trail, only the second commemoration of the history of African Americans 250 years in bondage, when we speak of Juneteenth, it is for all to celebrate, when General Granger landed on the shores of Galveston.

We will be in Galveston celebrating. We will see Naomi Carrier. We will see Eileen Lawal and Jackie Bostic, Ramon Manning and, of course, the Emancipation Conservatory. We will get to see Opal Lee, almost 100 years old, fighting for this holiday, or Al Edwards. We will get to see Senator Cornyn, a Republican who joins us in this commemoration, and all others. We will get to see the Nation be able to understand in its finality that it must be clear, it must be our birthright.

It is a reminder, this day, on Juneteenth, that liberty and freedom are precious birthrights of all Americans, which must be jealously guarded and preserved for future generations.

That is why we are on the floor today. We are not in anger. We are not in anguish. We are here, in fact, for liberation, freedom, and the empowerment of all Americans.

Let stories be told, no matter who you are. And let the story be told of those uniquely held in bondage, through H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals, which we seek to put on the floor in this great month. And, of course, the national holiday of Juneteenth, along with the historic gift that we give to America, the Emancipation Trail, that all the world will be able to come.

Madam Speaker, I am delighted to thank my chair, the Honorable Joyce Beatty, for her leadership in the Congressional Black Caucus. And because

of freedom, it is a wonderment to stand here, free, with my colleague from New York, my co-chair, the Honorable Congressman Torres, and all others.

Isn't it precious?

In God we trust that we stand here in freedom. Let us not ever lose it, and let us fight for it and let us keep it.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise to anchor the Congressional Black Caucus's Special Order tonight on Juneteenth Independence Day.

I am pleased to be joined by Congresswoman Beatty, the Chair of the CBC; Congressman Torres of New York, the co-anchor for this Special Order, and so many of our CBC colleagues to commemorate a historically significant day for all Americans, but especially African Americans.

Let me extend on behalf of the CBC its heartfelt thanks to the House leadership, particularly Majority Leader Hoyer, for their support which paved the way for the House last year to pass by unanimous consent H. Res. 1001, the resolution I introduced recognizing Juneteenth Independence Day.

Madam Speaker, Juneteenth is as significant to African Americans as July 4 is to all Americans because on that day, June 19, 155 years ago, General Gordon Granger, the Commanding Officer of the District of Texas, rode into Galveston, Texas and announced the freedom of the last American slaves; belatedly freeing 250,000 slaves in Texas nearly two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

When General Granger read these words of General Order No. 3 set off joyous celebrations of the freedmen and woman of Texas:

``The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection therefore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.''

Juneteenth was first celebrated in the Texas state capital in 1867 under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau.

Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration of slavery's demise, commemorating freedom while acknowledging the sacrifices and contributions made by courageous African Americans towards making our great nation the more conscious and accepting country that it has become.

As the nation prepares to celebrate July 4th, our national day of independence, it is a time to reflect on the accomplishments of our nation and its people.

I want to thank the Members of the House for their bipartisan support of this annual Juneteenth Resolution, which has 214 cosponsors, of which 202 are original sponsors.

General Granger's reading of General Order No. 3 ended chattel slavery, a form of perpetual servitude that held generations of Africans in bondage in the United States for two-hundred and fortyeight years and opened a new chapter in American history.

Recognizing the importance of this date, former slaves coined the word ``Juneteenth'' to mark the occasion with a celebration the first of which occurred in the Texas state capital in 1867 under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau.

Juneteenth was and is a living symbol of freedom for people who did not have it.

Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration of slavery's demise.

It commemorates freedom while acknowledging the sacrifices and contributions made by courageous African Americans towards making our great nation the more conscious and accepting country that it has become.

The celebration of Juneteenth followed the most devastating conflict in our country's history, in the aftermath of a civil war that pitted brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor and threatened to tear the fabric of our union apart forever that America truly became the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, ``Freedom is never free,'' and African American labor leader A. Phillip Randolph often said ``Freedom is never given. It is won.''

Truer words were never spoken.

We should all recognize the power and the ironic truth of those statements, and we should pause to remember the enormous price paid by all Americans in our country's quest to realize its promise.

Juneteenth honors the end of the 400 years of suffering African Americans endured under slavery and celebrates the legacy of perseverance that has become the hallmark of the African American experience in the struggle for equality.

But Madam Speaker, as the poet Langston Hughes reminds us in his famous poem, ''Mother to Son,'' life in America for African Americans ``ain't been no crystal stair.''

The post-bellum period in America was marked by violence and terrorism against African Americans as they sought to make real the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Nowhere was the reign of terror to which they were subjected to more horrific than the 1921 Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre, which occurred a century ago this past May 31-June 1.

Tulsa's Greenwood District, was known as ``Black Wall Street,'' and was the most prosperous African American community in the United States.

The Greenwood community with a population of over 10,000 Black people had stores that sold luxury items, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery stores, a hospital, a savings and loan bank, a post office, three hotels, jewelry and clothing stores, two movie theaters, a library, pool halls, a bus and cab service, a nationally recognized school system, six private airplanes, and two black newspapers.

But on May 31st of that year, the 35 city blocks of Greenwood went up in flames, at least 300 Black persons were murdered and more than 800 were injured; it is estimated that not less than 9,000 were left homeless and destitute.

The message of the Tulsa Race Massacre was clear to Black America: ``Stay in your place. Do not attempt to accumulate and bequeath wealth or own property. Remember your history in America is as chattel property.''

Madam Speaker, were they still alive, the domestic terrorists of the mob in Greenwood would see their evil reenacted--and then followed by a similar attempt to cover-up it and foster collective amnesia--a century later in the siege and desecration of the hallowed halls of the U.S. Capitol, the 'Citadel of Democracy'.

It should not be overlooked that the source of the January 6 white mob's irrational anger, hatred, and violent reaction was that Black Americans voted in overwhelming numbers in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and other enclaves to oust the most proWhite supremacy President since the Civil War.

Some might ask ``Why dwell on the past? Let us forget unpleasant things and move on into the future.''

My answer is to quote the great southern writer William Faulkner: ``The past is never dead. It is not even the past.''

The hatreds, prejudices, resentments, and white supremacy that Black Americans witnessed and suffered in Greenwood a century ago are not dead; they are not even past.

So my message to the descendants of the survivors and victims of slavery, America's Original Sin, is to keep fighting for justice, to never be silent, to affirm the truth, and seek accountability.

In his famous Second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln spoke of the profound moral debt owed for ``all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil,'' and that the Civil War was the judgment of the Lord, which was ``true and righteous altogether.''

That debt remains to be paid, which is why African Americans have always peacefully petitioned the government for the redress of its grievances.

As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said at the 1963 March on Washington:

``In a sense, we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

``This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

``It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked `insufficient funds.' But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check--a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.''

Madam Speaker, H.R. 40, legislation I have introduced, continues this proud legacy of demanding reparative justice and accountability for injuries inflicted.

H.R. 40, which establishes a national commission to examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.

Among other requirements, the commission shall identify (1) the role of federal and state governments in supporting the institution of slavery; (2) forms of discrimination in the public and private sectors against freed slaves and their descendants; and (3) lingering negative effects of slavery on living African-Americans and society.

The goal of the historical investigations H.R. 40 mandates is to bring American society to a new reckoning with how our past affects the

current conditions of African Americans and to make America a better place by helping the truly disadvantaged.

Consequently, the reparations movement does not focus on payments to individuals, but to remedies that can be created in as many forms necessary to equitably address the many kinds of injuries sustained from chattel slavery and its continuing vestiges.

To merely focus on finance is an empty gesture and betrays a lack of understanding of the depth of the unaddressed moral issues that continue to haunt this nation.

While it might be convenient to assume that we can address the current divisive racial and political climate in our nation through race neutral means, experience shows that we have not escaped our history.

Though the Civil Rights Movement challenged many of the most racist practices and structures that subjugated the African American community, it was not followed by a commitment to truth and reconciliation.

For that reason, the legacy of racial inequality has persisted, and left the nation vulnerable to a range of problems that continue to yield division, racial disparities, and injustice.

By passing H.R. 40, Congress can start a movement toward the national reckoning we need to bridge racial divides.

Reparations are ultimately about respect and reconciliation--and the hope that one day, all Americans can walk together toward a more just future.

Official slavery ended with the Civil War and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment.

But unofficial slavery was continued with the new institution of share-crop farming, a criminal justice system that would press convicts into work once done by slaves, and labor policies that dictated income for work done based upon skin color.

And, of course, all of this was reinforced by the systematic disenfranchisement of black Americans, the ``discrete and insular minority'' excluded from ``those political processes ordinarily to be relied upon to protect'' them, to quote Chief Justice Hughes' famous Footnote 4 in United States v. Carolene Products Company, 304 U.S. 144 (1938).

These are just some of the many reasons that the history of the United States is intertwined with the history of enslaved Africans in the Americas.

``There is blood and there are tears, but there is also redemption and reconciliation.

But to get there, we must have the complete truth and lay our history bare. It is the light that sheds the way to the more perfect union all Americans want.

``The Commission created and empowered by H.R. 40 is a necessary first step in that effort to get to truth and reconciliation about the 'Original Sin of American Slavery' that is necessary to light the way to the beloved community we all seek.''

So, Madam Speaker, this is where we are.

In recent years, a number of National Juneteenth Organizations have arisen to take their place alongside older organizations--all with the mission to promote and cultivate knowledge and appreciation of African American history and culture.

Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom while encouraging self-development and respect for all cultures .

But it must always remain a reminder to us all that liberty and freedom are precious birthrights of all Americans, which must be jealously guarded and preserved for future generations.

Press Statement

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee Introduces H.R. 1320 the Bipartisan Juneteenth National Independence Day Act--Currently Has 159 Sponsors in

the House

As the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee

on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, I am committed to

affording members of this committee to uncover the facts and

shine light into darkness to reveal the threats posed by `The

Rise of Domestic Terrorism in America.' On January 6, 2021,

the nation and the world witnessed the damage caused by

divisions acerbated by lies and hate.''

Washington, DC--``Today I re-introduced in the House of

Representatives the bipartisan Juneteenth National

Independence Day Act, H.R. 1320, with 102 co-sponsors. The

House re-introduction coincides with the reintroduction of a

Senate companion bill by Senators Markey, Smith, and Booker.

Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, legislation when

enacted would make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

``Juneteenth,'' is observed on June 19, and commemorates the

end of slavery in the United States and is also known as

``Emancipation Day,'' ``Jubilee Day,'' and ``Juneteenth

Independence Day.''

``On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, Major General

Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3, which announced

that, in accordance with the Emancipation Proclamation, ``all

slaves are free. Juneteenth is currently recognized by 47

states and the District of Columbia as an official state

holiday or observance. In 1980, Texas was the first state to

recognize Juneteenth as a paid state holiday.''

``Juneteenth honors the end of the years of suffering that

African Americans endured under slavery and celebrates the

legacy of perseverance that has become the hallmark of the

African American experience in the struggle for equality.

These values are shared by millions of Americans who over

generations have held fast to the promise of this nation

while struggling fore basic human rights.''

``Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom while

encouraging selfdevelopment and respect for all cultures. But

it must always remain a reminder to us all that liberty and

freedom are the precious birthright of all Americans which

must be jealously guarded and preserved for future

generations. As it takes on a more national and even global

perspective, the events of 1865 in Texas are not forgotten,

for all our roots tie back to this fertile soil from which a

national day of pride is growing. This is why we must

establish the Juneteenth Independence Day, as a national

holiday. And today we also pay special tribute to Opal Lee,

the Grandmother of Juneteenth!''

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me and for inviting me.

Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to join my CBC colleagues in highlighting the importance of honoring the holiday and continuing the legacy of Juneteenth Day, the first one celebrated on June 19, 1865.

As you have heard, this is the date on which Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce the end of both the Civil War and the inhumane system of legalized enslavement of Africans in the United States of America.

Now, it must be noted that this announcement came 2\1/2\ years after President Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order that most of us know as the Emancipation Proclamation. But it is an important reminder that our efforts to form a more perfect Union don't really have any timeframe or any date, but they are ever ongoing.

Madam Speaker, I want you to know that in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from which I hail, we are going to be celebrating Juneteenth Day, and it will be the 50th anniversary of Juneteenth Day. Yes, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, up north, we started observing this holiday in 1971. It is a long way from Galveston, Texas, making it one of the first Northern States to commemorate the end of slavery in our country.

Madam Speaker, this Saturday, we will again gather along North King Drive to highlight Black culture with traditional food, music, youth essay contests, marketplaces, pageants, and a parade, unofficially marking the opening of Milwaukee's famous summer festival. This coming Friday, we will be raising the Juneteenth flag in the State capital of Madison, Wisconsin, to honor this day. We take Juneteenth seriously.

Madam Speaker, in 1972, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported an estimated 3,000 people attending our second annual Juneteenth festival. That number increased over the years, and between 160,000 and 170,000 people have attended these festivals. The high number of festival-goers can be personally attributed to Milwaukee's notably special, historic response to the system of slavery and to our efforts to teach the young people about Wisconsin's and Milwaukee's role in ending slavery.

Now, in 1854, a Missouri slave owner traveled to Racine, Wisconsin, the place where I was born, 27 miles south of Milwaukee, to demand that a runaway slave by the name of Joshua Glover be surrendered under the U.S. Fugitive Slave Law. Glover, who had been playing cards at the time, was arrested and carried 27 miles north to Milwaukee so that he could be in a secure jail until the Federal marshals could move Joshua Glover back to Missouri because it was a larger and more secure jail.

Well, when abolitionist newspaper editor Sherman Booth heard this, he rode through Milwaukee streets calling on sympathizers to storm the jail. A mob of 5,000 Milwaukeeans outnumbered the police and demanded the keys, but the wardens refused. The crowd smashed down the door. Joshua Glover was freed and successfully moved through the Underground Railroad to Canada.

Booth later declared in court:

I rejoice that the first attempt to convert our jail into a

slave-pen and our citizens into slave-catchers has signally

failed.

The Wisconsin State Supreme Court agreed with him and declared the Federal Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional in Wisconsin. In fact, in 1850, Wisconsin was the first and only State to declare the Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional.

As one of my constituents, the curator of the Wisconsin Black Historical Society, noted, the Juneteenth holiday signifies that African Americans are full citizens of this country, deserving of equity and justice.

Madam Speaker, it is an important day of jubilation not only for the descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States but for the American people as a whole, for it is not just simply Black history that we are celebrating. We are celebrating a victory in American history about freedom and equality for all of us who call ourselves Americans.

While it may have been the 13th and the 14th Amendments of the Constitution that formally freed the slaves, let us continue to observe Juneteenth Day as our day of reflection, knowing that our ancestors paid in blood and paid it forward for the unimaginable toil for the freedom recognized on this day.

As I often tell our young people: Freedom just ain't free, y'all. Our ancestors paid for it. And as a tribute to them, we have to take responsibility to do the best that we can and continue to work tirelessly toward justice and equity in this great land of ours.

Madam Speaker, that is why I admire Sheila Jackson Lee and Barbara Lee so much for their efforts around reparations and equity in our society.

With that good news arriving in Galveston, the push for true equality of opportunity continues to this great day in our society. We see it reflected in the marches, in the movements, in the legislation, and in everything that we do today, because despite our being free, we see the disparities in healthcare, in education, in homeownership, in COVID.

The struggle is real. The struggle continues. And we are here to remind everyone that all of us are Americans.

Madam Speaker, I again thank Sheila Jackson Lee for yielding.

Madam Speaker, first of all, let me thank the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for yielding but also for her tremendous leadership and for the Emancipation Trail that she so boldly led. I am just amazed at what she shared with me earlier today and just now on the floor.

Because, yes, I am a daughter of Texas. My grandfather was born in 1875--10 years after. And my grandmother may have been part of the Emancipation Trail. She was born probably in--they left Galveston around 1900.

Madam Speaker, that sounds like my great- grandmother Fanny, who I did not know, but my grandfather spoke of her. I am certain that she was part of that.

As I listened to my colleague and looked more into my personal family history, Galveston, certainly, is in my spirit. I guess that is why each and every year since I was a child, we continued to celebrate Juneteenth as our liberation day, our emancipation day.

Historically, we generally recognize January 1, 1863, the date when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, as the end of chattel slavery of African Americans in the United States. However, for generations, African-American communities have been celebrating June 19 as a symbolic date representing our freedom from enslavement.

As Congresswoman Jackson Lee mentioned, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston to announce the end of the Civil War. He also declared that the enslaved Africans were now equal in personal rights to that of their former masters, ending the inhumane, barbaric subjugation of African Americans as property that still continued 2\1/ 2\ years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Again, we are not far removed from this history. Citing my grandfather, I have to call his name: Mr. W.C. Parish, William Calhoun Parish. He was born in Galveston, just 10 years after Granger's Juneteenth announcement.

Black Texans began celebrating Juneteenth the following year, and year after year for the last 150-plus years. Communities across the Nation have created their own traditions and events to honor and commemorate this historic moment as a day of freedom.

It is not just a cultural celebration for African Americans. It is a true testament to the endurance of our democratic ideals of liberty and equality.

So, we need to pass H.R. 1320, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, establishing Juneteenth as a Federal holiday to further cement the importance of this date in our Nation's historical narrative on freedom.

I thank Congresswoman Jackson Lee, again, for introducing this legislation, and I am a proud cosponsor. The last time Congress enacted a Federal holiday, I believe it was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, and it took nearly 20 years for it to pass. We cannot let this idle.

Each year, Juneteenth compels us to confront the darkest chapter in American history, a chapter born in the Middle Passage, continued through slavery, and manifested today through systemic racism. Our Nation's racial past has consistently led to inequities in income, education, employment, healthcare, and the wealth gap of African Americans.

We must use Juneteenth to reflect upon the dehumanization of enslaved Africans in America but also to honor their legacy because ``and still we rise.''

The labor stolen from enslaved Africans built this country. Black people created some of the most cherished national symbols, all while considered merely three-fifths of a person under our Constitution.

We must honor and recognize the millions of men, women, and children lost to the brutality of slavery. As a Nation, we must reckon with the true nature and legacy of slavery in the United States and acknowledge how it has allowed a false racial hierarchy to permeate and infect our society today.

That is why, Congresswoman Jackson Lee, it is time to pass H.R. 40, legislation to establish a commission to study and develop reparations--championed, again, by a great Texan--to repair this damage, and my resolution, H.R. 19, calling for truth, racial healing, and transformation.

It is way too long. It is past overdue. We must repair this damage and move forward.

Madam Speaker, I thank Ms. Jackson Lee for this evening. I thank our CBC chairwoman, Joyce Beatty, and our vice chair, Mr. Horsford, for this Special Order tonight. I think it is very important that the history be told of Juneteenth and how it connects to today and systemic racism.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for honoring my ancestors.

Madam Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Jackson Lee for her leadership.

In order to understand where we stand in the present, we have to understand where we have been and how we came to arrive at a society as racially divided and as unequal as our own. For me, it is a scandal that most Americans have never heard of Juneteenth and most Americans have never heard of the Tulsa race massacre because these events are rarely, if ever, taught in public education.

Juneteenth is not only not taught in our public schools, but there is not even a national holiday celebrating an event that has profound meaning to Black Americans, to all Americans. So I want to commend the gentlewoman's leadership in advancing a bill that would establish Juneteenth as a national holiday.

Frederick Douglass famously posed the question: What to a slave is July Fourth?

Juneteenth is to Black America what July Fourth has exclusively been to

White America: Independence Day. Juneteenth refers to the moment when slaves in Texas came to discover their legal freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation. Out of that discovery came a 156-year tradition of Juneteenth celebration. It refers to the moment when Major General Gordon Granger led a Union Army to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation 2\1/2\ years after its issuance.

The announcement was known as General Order Number 3, and it read as follows: ``The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.''

For me, Juneteenth contains a deeper lesson that we ignore at our own peril. Law becomes real not when it is proclaimed but when it is enforced.

The emancipation of enslaved people became real not when it was proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln but when it was enforced by the Union Army, most notably on Juneteenth.

The desegregation of our public schools became real not when it was proclaimed by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education but when it was enforced most notably by President Eisenhower, who sent the National Guard to Little Rock, Arkansas.

Voting rights became real not when it was proclaimed by the 15th Amendment but when it was enforced a century later by the Voting Rights Act enforced by the process of preclearance, which has since been gutted by the Supreme Court but which we are seeking to restore with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Reconstruction was doomed by a lack of Federal enforcement. In the beginning, Reconstruction had early success. It saw the passage of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery; the 14th Amendment, which provided for equal protection of the law and which prohibited discrimination based on race; and the 15th Amendment, which provided for voting rights and which prohibited disenfranchisement based on race.

During Reconstruction, scores of African Americans began exercising their fundamental right to vote, and some African Americans began winning elective office. For a fleeting moment, there was an outburst of Black political power in America. Then came a turning point in the 1876 Presidential election, whose outcome was decided by a congressional commission.

Then-Presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes cut a deal with white supremacists in the United States Congress. He agreed to withdraw the Union Army from the former Confederate States in exchange for the Presidency. When the Union Army withdrew from the South, it left behind a vacuum that ultimately came to be filled by Jim Crow, a system of racial discrimination, racial segregation, and racial terrorism.

What followed the failure of Reconstruction was the lost century.

Madam Speaker, for me, the lesson of Juneteenth is that an activist Federal Government is an essential defender of human rights and civil rights. It is an essential defender of equality and dignity and humanity for all Americans. We must learn from the lessons of history, and we must continue the work of Reconstruction that is long overdue.

Madam Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman so much for her incredible leadership on this issue and so many others. We appreciate all that she does, and we appreciate her steadfast and steady hand of guidance and leadership for the people of America.

Madam Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to address this body. On Freedom's Eve, January 1, 1863, enslaved and free African Americans gathered across the country, awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect. When the clock struck midnight, their prayers were answered, as it was declared that all enslaved people in Confederate States were legally free.

While the 13th Amendment did end slavery under the law, not all who were enslaved were immediately freed. It took more than 2 years for the freedom to reach everyone when the Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, to announce that more than 250,000 people within the State were free.

It was this day, June 19, 1865, that we mark as the true day of freedom from the tyranny and oppression of slavery and the first steps into the Reconstruction era. We now honor this day, June 19, as Juneteenth.

While Juneteenth is a historic day that has been widely known and celebrated by African Americans for over a century, it is clear that many Americans still are unaware of the significance of this historic date. In the wake of the demonstrations that took place last summer, many Americans were faced with the uncomfortable truth regarding our country's fraught racial history.

The word ``Juneteenth'' entered our Nation's lexicon at a time when Americans were left to reconcile their daily lives with our daily struggles. It was a time set aside for reflection, for learning, for mourning, and for upheaval. Juneteenth marks the day that we as a nation were truly able to end the insidious practice of slavery and begin to move forward to a better world. It also marks that our country still struggles and must live up to its promise.

Representative John Lewis was an American icon, a civil rights leader, and one of my personal heroes. In this Congress, we prepare to hear a bill in his name that expands voting rights, the very thing he was asked for as he crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge decades ago.

In 2021, we continue to speak out and fight against systemic racism as its vestiges of voter suppression, redlining, gerrymandering, and other Jim Crow relics still erode our democracy today.

What makes America great is our diversity. It is our ability to see and understand issues from the many different perspectives that encompass our populace. While America has broken some promises in the past, we, America collectively, have the ability and the potential to rectify our past wrongs. We strive to improve; we work to grow; and we push to remediate our problems and make them better.

As of today, 47 States have declared Juneteenth a State holiday. My native State of Louisiana recently signed into law that Louisiana will now recognize Juneteenth as a State holiday. I am very proud of that measure, and I am very proud of our Governor, John Bel Edwards, for signing that measure into law. I am very proud of the legislators who fought to bring it forward.

I am grateful for the steps that we have taken to recognize the history behind Juneteenth and to honor its legacy. That is why I believe that Juneteenth should be a federally observed holiday. This is America, and despite all of our many challenges, America continues to be the world's greatest nation.

For this reason, I am optimistic about our future and optimistic about our corrections. Together, we can make our world a better place and uphold the promise of freedom and justice for all.