Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today in regards to H. Con. Res. 7, the Darfur Partner's for Peace Act, which calls on the League of Arab States and each Member State individually to acknowledge the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and to step up their efforts to stop it.

On April 26, 2007 the House passed my bill by a vote of 425-1.

Because House rules prohibit the addition of additional co-sponsors to a bill once the House has passed a bill, I am not able to formally add eight Members of Congress as co-sponsors of this legislation.

I ask that the record show that Ms. Bordallo of Guam, Mr. Sestak of Pennsylvania, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Ms. DeLauro of Connecticut, Mr. Neal of Massachusetts, Mr. Salazar of Colorado, Mr. Tierney of Massachusetts, and Ms. Lofgren of California are in support of my bill and should be considered by this body as co-sponsors of H. Con. Res. 7.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my good friend and colleague and neighbor, Congressman Mike Honda, first for his leadership on so many issues, and, secondly, for organizing a special order tonight to celebrate the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans, but also to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

We have the pleasure of representing the California Bay Area together. It is really an honor and a magnificent challenge and an exciting part of my district to bring all of our diverse communities together, to support many, many issues as minority communities. So the Asian Pacific American community is one of those communities that is incredibly diverse in my district and also in our Nation, but also plays an increasingly important role in the development of our Nation. With over 14 million people and 24 ethnic groups, they encompass vast histories and rich cultures.

In many ways, the APA community is seen as a model minority community, but the truth is the very same challenges, like access to health care and education, that other communities face are also obstacles to be overcome by Asian Pacific Americans. For example, nearly 2.4 million Asian American and Pacific Islanders are without health insurance, and about 13 percent of Asian Pacific American children are uninsured. Diseases such as diabetes are on the rise and one of the leading causes of mortality among Asian Pacific Americans.

Congressman Honda and I also cochair the Congressional Out-of-Poverty Caucus, along with our colleagues Congressman Joe Baca, Congressman G.K. Butterfield, and Congressman John Conyers. We all are working to raise awareness of all of these challenges and are working on a plan to eradicate poverty in our country.

As with many minority communities, education plays a key role in ensuring that the next generation of APAs are able to break free from the cycle of poverty. That is why I am a cosponsor of H.R. 629, introduced by a colleague from Oregon, Congressman David Wu. This legislation would create institutions of higher education modeled after the historically black colleges and universities and our Hispanic serving institutions. This would establish a university for the Asian Pacific American community.

Back at home in the Ninth Congressional District of California, my constituents and organizations based in my district are really making an impact in many of these fields. An organization that I am very proud to represent is Asian Health Services. This agency has served thousands of people who cannot afford basic services such as health care and mental health services. Our Asian community is so diverse that Asian Health Services has translators that speak nine different languages. When it comes to health care justice, this agency advocates for those with no voice by working with elected officials to create policies that meet the essential mental health and health care needs.

I also want to mention the Asian Pacific Environmental Networks. This agency is a powerful grassroots organization and has done incredible work to provide housing for the waitresses and the security guards and the janitors that keep our community working. They have negotiated with developers to set aside 465 units of housing for low and extremely low income individuals. To further aid this community, the network has negotiated 300 entry-level construction career path placements, allowing constituents to gather the tools that they need for success.

This is truly an important time to reflect upon the accomplishments and the achievements of the APA community. The United States is strong because of its diversity and its immigrants. I am proud to be a member of the Asian Pacific American Caucus and our Tri-Caucus which reflects the beauty and diversity of our country. Let us rededicate ourselves tonight to eradicate the disparities and the discrimination against the Asian Pacific American community and to celebrate the great contributions.

I want to thank Congressman Honda again for his leadership, and for making sure that justice prevails for the Asian Pacific American community, because his leadership and bringing together the diversity, closing the health care gap with regard to minority communities, all of the issues that he works on makes this House of Representatives a better place.

Mr. Speaker, let me thank Congresswoman Baldwin and Congressman Barney Frank for making sure we have a chance to vote on this very important legislation today. And I just want to briefly tell you a story, if I can, very quickly.

There was a young lady next to my district named Gwen Araujo. She was viciously beaten to death and buried, again, by four men, simply because she was born a male. Gwen was comfortable as herself, as a transgendered woman who had gone through most of high school as a girl and had the love and support of her family, particularly her mother, Sylvia Guerrero.

Mr. Speaker, let me just say there are so many stories of countless people who are dead, countless people who get killed because of their God-given right that they were living to be themselves.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1592, and I am pleased that today, we can have a vote on the legislation that I know many of us have in this chamber. Chairman Conyers, Congresswoman Baldwin, and Congressman Frank.

This legislation is long overdue. In the history of this Nation, there is a dark chapter. That chapter is full traumatic scenes of people being murdered, beaten, attacked, raped, harassed, and threatened because something about them was different from their aggressors. Whether it has been the color of their skin, their religion, their gender, their disability, National origin, or their sexual orientation or identity the sad fact is that so many in this country have suffered violence, often ending in death, because of one of these reasons.

Sadly, many of the recent attacks based on sexual orientation have been on black gay men. One of those stories happened in New York this past October, when a young man named Michael Sandy, was beaten by four men who set him up, just so they could beat and rob him. He ended up in a coma for several days, before finally succumbing to his injuries. In court proceedings, it was revealed that his at1ackers would often seek out gay men to steal from and attack. Fortunately, New York has a Hate Crimes law that includes sexual orientation.

Many hate groups have also used the debate on immigration to amp up their hate speech, and violence, promoting hate crimes against Mexican- Americans and other Latinos. In Houston, TX, David Ritcheson, a 16 year-old Mexican-American high school football team member was viciously and savagely beaten by two young skinheads. They poured bleach on him, and sodomized him, leaving him a coma, with massive internal injuries and now deaf in one ear.

And closer to home, right outside my district in Newark, CA, a young woman in high school, named Gwen Araujo, was viciously beaten to death and buried, again, by four young men, simply because she was born a male. Gwen was comfortable as herself, a transgendered woman, who had gone through most of high school as a girl, and had the love and support of her family, particularly her mother, Sylvia Guerrero.

Her story resonates with me because in my time in the California Legislature, I championed the California School Hate Crimes Reduction Act. I did so because our children needed to feel safe in their schools. I was determined to include sexual orientation in that bill. Doing so made passing that legislation an uphill battle, even leading to a veto by Governor Pete Wilson. Nonetheless, we were finally able to pass the California School Hate Crimes Act of 1995, thanks to the assistance of our former Republican colleague, Congressman Tom Campbell who was then serving with me in the California Legislature. During that period, I learned just how deep-seated the hate against people who were gay or transgendered, black or latino, or otherwise somehow different, still is today and that is why we need to pass H.R. 1592 today.

Mr. Speaker, these stories are just a small glimpse of the vicious crimes going on out there. We must pass this legislation today, in the memory of Michael Sandy, Gwen Araujo, and countless others who are now dead, simply because they were themselves. People have a God given right to be themselves and as law makers we must protect everyone from violence based on hate. As an African-American woman who has faced so much hatred and so much discrimination in my life I implore you today to remember the words of Dr. M.L. King, Jr. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the amendment offered to the Head Start reauthorization bill by my friend and colleague from Texas, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson.

This amendment would encourage partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Head Start.

This amendment builds on the important step that the underlying bill takes. That is, H.R. 1429 will require that fifty percent of Head Start teachers have a Bachelor's degree in early childhood education by 2013.

This amendment would create a partnership between the Secretary of HHS and HBCU's to meet the new degree requirements. It would require those who benefit from this partnership to teach at a Head Start program for a period of time equivalent to the time they received assistance.

This is a significant amendment not only because it will provide students with qualified teachers in their classrooms, it will also set a good example for these students. In fact, evidence suggests that students who attend early childhood programs have a better chance of success later in life. In an article published in the Developmental Psychology journal of the American Psychological Association in 2005 showed that children in Early Head Start had better test scores, had better cognitive and language development. These children also showed less aggressive behavior then non-early Head Start children, which goes towards improving the overall environment of our elementary and secondary schools.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and the underlying bill.

Madam Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding and for your leadership, Mr. Payne, in making sure that this resolution came to the floor today in a bipartisan way and also for making sure that the history of African Americans, which, of course, started during the Middle Passages, is told not only here on the floor of Congress but in our public schools. So thank you very much.

Let me thank our ranking member, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and also Mr. Lantos for their leadership and for their assistance.

And let me take a moment to acknowledge our staff, because they have worked very diligently. And not only do they work for us. They really do believe in what we are doing, Madam Speaker: Kristin Wells, Pearl Alice Marsh, Joan Condon, Genora Reed, and Ven Neralla from my office. They have done remarkable work in a bipartisan fashion to get this resolution to the floor.

This resolution, Madam Speaker, H. Res. 272, commemorates a very somber and very serious occasion, the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade by the United Kingdom. Two hundred years ago on March 25 in 1807, Great Britain abolished the transatlantic slave trade in England and its colonies. This act began a worldwide revolt against the trade of human beings by other European nations.

This is a very important milestone because it represents the beginning of the end of one of the most deplorable, deplorable chapters in human history.

Madam Speaker, on several occasions, like many of my colleagues, I have had the overwhelmingly heart-wrenching, and I mean heart- wrenching, experience of traveling to the areas from where slaves were captured and put on ships for that deadly passage to America from Africa. And this is called, of course, the Middle Passage. One of my most distinct memories was standing on several occasions at the ``doors of no return'' in Ghana and in Senegal. Every slave castle has such a door. This door represents so many things to me. At this door my ancestors stood on the shores of their homeland for the last time in their lives. At this door a fate awaited them that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. And over 400 years later, there I was standing in the doors as one of their descendants who survived and returned.

Standing in front of those doors, it is really impossible for me to ignore the fact that those who walked chained through those doors laid the foundation of many modern nations that have a colonial past, including the United States of America.

The slave trade was vital to England and other European colonial powers. It provided the basis for modern capitalism to take root, generating immense wealth for business enterprises in colonial America and Europe. In many ways the industrial strength of our Nation was built on the blood, sweat, and tears of African American free labor. Free labor. Today, this great country of ours, the United States of America, reaps the fruits of labor of these enslaved Africans, and we cannot forget that.

However, in spite of the considerable riches enslaved Africans created for others, what the slave trade also represented was really the lowest expression of humanity, and I mean the lowest expression. Captured Africans were subjected to the worst forms of cruelty and inhumanity. Millions were crammed in the hulls of slave ships like sardines in a can. The stench of filth and death reeked from the ships. Disease ran rampant through the ships. Traders used any means of violence to subdue insurrection, including torture, mutilations, and rape. The death rate during transport would reach as high as 50 percent. The world will never know really the exact number of enslaved Africans transported to America, but it is estimated that between 10 to 15 million were brought here to the United States, making it the largest forced migration in history.

Given its immense significance, it is unfortunate that the transatlantic slave trade is a subject only briefly discussed in our Nation's classrooms, and

the study of the transatlantic slave trade really, if you ask me, should be a requirement for all of our public schools. It is essential that we acknowledge how slavery created attitudes of racism that persist in our society today.

Sadly, the legacy of the slave trade and slavery are with us to this day. Just consider these facts: nearly one quarter of African Americans in the United States live in poverty. African Americans have one of the highest unemployment rates at 9.6 percent, and of the 46 million who lack health insurance, about 20 percent are African American and many of these are children.

Slavery may be over, at least legalized slavery may be over, but in many ways the vestiges remain. That is why, Madam Speaker, it is important that we are considering this resolution today. We must honor the memory and the legacy and the courage of those who died in slavery and those who worked to end it. But at the same time, we must use this occasion to recommit ourselves to eliminating the disparities that exist in our society. We must not let their sacrifices be in vain.

Madam Speaker, I thank again Mr. Payne for yielding.

Let me commend Mr. Pitts and all those who have cosponsored this resolution, and say how important it is today for us to be discussing this in a bipartisan way and commending and remembering Mr. Wilberforce.

This resolution talks about how he devoted his life to the suppression and abolition of the institution of slavery, but it also calls upon the youth of the United States, especially, to form clubs and groups dedicated to working against modern slave trade and human trafficking and the degradation of human dignity.

Also it calls on the reflection of Mr. Wilberforce's selfless dedication to fight against slavery and his commitment to the neediest in society. I think we should today remind ourselves that we need to rededicate ourselves to the principles and values which Mr. Wilberforce demonstrated through his life.

Let me give you some examples of how we really can do this today. When you look at this budget and the appropriations process, we are talking about cutting programs such as GEAR UP and TRIO that really help our youth, especially our African American and Latino youth, receive an education that allows them a level playing field.

When you look at California, affirmative action ended. We have very few students entering into the University of California, very few African American and Latino businesses because we have ended equal opportunity efforts in California, very few people of color employed by the State of California. And why? Because they did not adhere to Mr. Wilberforce's ideals and his principles.

When you look at the prison population and the disparities, when you look at African American young men and women, the huge disparities in the prison populations, huge disparities in the dropout rate. Why? You have to understand, and I think this resolution, as minded, talks about the vestiges and the legacy of slavery; and so in rededicating ourselves to end this, we need to do what we can do today and close these disparities and make the right, correct budget decisions as we look at these budgets that we are putting together.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding and for your leadership, and just say today that I fully support and am a cosponsor of this resolution, and want to thank Congresswoman Solis for staying on point and continuing to focus and make sure that this House of Representatives understands the type of torture and violence that is taking place with regard to Guatemalan women.

As the resolution says, the murders of Guatemalan women and girls have increased significantly, from 303 to more than 500 in 2006. Since 2001, unfortunately, more than 2,500 women and girls have been killed. So it is up to us, I believe, to make sure that we as a neighbor to Guatemala, as people who care about women and girls, that we urge the Guatemalan Government to do some of the things that have been put forth in this resolution.

First, of course, we extend our sincere condolences and deepest sympathies to the families of the women and the girls who have been murdered in Guatemala. But also we have to do more than just extend our sympathy and express solidarity. We have to do what this resolution says. Let me just mention a couple of those things that we need to do.

We need to urge the Government of Guatemala to recognize domestic violence and sexual harassment as criminal acts. Nothing less than that will do. We need to make sure that our Secretary of State works with the Government of Guatemala to hold those accountable for their crimes. We need to make sure that the ambassador continues to meet with the families and the victims of the women and girls. We also need to make sure, and this resolution calls upon our Secretary of State, to develop a comprehensive plan to address and combat the growing problem of violence against women in Latin America.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Sires, because this is such an important effort for women and girls, not only in Guatemala and Latin America, but for women and girls throughout the world.

Mr. Speaker, 4 years ago, President Bush stood on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, in front of a banner that said ``Mission Accomplished,'' and told us that a major combat operation had ended. Since then, 3,200 United States troops have died in Iraq, and almost 25,000 have been wounded, and countless Iraqis.

The President has said that he will veto a bill very shortly that sets a goal for ending the occupation of Iraq signaling his insistence on an open-ended commitment to a failed policy. Rather than change course, the administration offers only increasingly desperate rhetoric about victory and surrender.

The fact is, you cannot win an occupation just as there is no way that the United States can win a civil war. The American people recognize that this failed policy is making our Nation and the world less safe, even if the Bush administration refuses to recognize this.

Mr. Speaker, the American people are squarely behind our efforts to end the occupation of Iraq and to bring our troops home, and history will record the President's veto of those efforts with the same ridicule as it does his remarks 4 years ago.

Last year, and I guess also nearly 2 years ago, and really for many of our lives, we have known that there is a poverty crisis in America, which is growing. I think what we saw after the terrible hurricanes was that this gap, of course, is widening between the haves and the have-nots, and it is not only in the gulf coast region, it is throughout our country.

While the hurricanes, especially Hurricane Katrina, exposed the disparity for all to see, the fact is, poverty is not just isolated to the gulf coast; it does exist throughout our Nation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about the fact and to remind the country that our land really should be a land of opportunity, but the sad reality is that income inequality continues to grow, and more people are falling into poverty than getting ahead. We are heading in the wrong direction, and we need a national commitment to address the growing poverty crisis in the Nation. That is why this week's release of a report by the Center for American Progress entitled, ``From Poverty to Prosperity'', a national strategy to cut poverty in half, this is a significant contribution to the efforts of antipoverty activists, and it is a valuable roadmap for concerned lawmakers, like all of us are.

The report found that not only is poverty in the United States bad, it's getting worse. Just consider the fact that over 37 million Americans, more than the population of my home State, are in poverty, and the number has grown by 5 million since the Bush administration took office. One in eight Americans now live in poverty. Poverty in the United States is far higher than in many other developed nations, and poverty and inequality, of course, here is at an all-time high.

The richest 1 percent of Americans in 2005 held the largest share of the Nation's income since 1929, and at the same time, the poorest 20 percent held only 3.4 percent of the Nation's income.

The report's recommendations are based on four principles: promoting decent work, promoting opportunity for all; ensuring economic security; and helping people build wealth. Based on these principles, the report offered 12 steps, which include raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation, expanding the earned income and children's tax credits, promoting unionization by making it easier for employees to vote to join a union, offering child care assistance for low-income families, guaranteeing early education for all, and providing 2 million people with opportunity housing vouchers.

Madam Speaker, you may have noticed that the new Democratic Congress has taken steps toward enacting these recommendations. Additionally, many of my colleagues have been advocating for related poverty alleviation issues and ideas and strategies through the Out-of-Poverty Caucus that I founded, along with my colleagues, Congressman John Conyers, Congressman Butterfield, Congressman Mike Honda, and Congressman Joe Baca.

In the same vein, I have also introduced a comprehensive package of poverty elimination legislation. These three bills are designed to create leadership, accountability, and the national reevaluation of our economic priorities and developing policies to eliminate poverty in our Nation.

The first bill, H. Con. Res 19, calls on President Bush to submit to Congress a plan, this is just a plan, mind you, to eradicate poverty by 2015.

The second bill, H. Con. Res 10, requires accountability from Congress by requiring the Congressional Budget Office to report the poverty impact of legislation pending before Congress similar to environmental impact statements.

The final bill, H.R. 352, demands a reevaluation of our priorities by rolling back tax cuts for the wealthiest 5 percent and dedicating the funds to poverty elimination programs.

Madam Speaker, fighting poverty really isn't a mystery, it's just not a priority for us, and it's time to make it a national priority. It just requires us to make a commitment to the goal of eliminating poverty and then dedicate the resources to do that.

So I urge my colleagues to join me in this important fight by reading the report, first of all, and cosponsoring these bills and joining the Out-of-Poverty Caucus.

Madam Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 1 o'clock and 15 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until Monday, April 30, 2007 at noon.

Madam Speaker, let me thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on so many issues relating to human rights and genocide and our foreign policy.

I also want to thank Chairman Lantos. I want to thank Speaker Pelosi. I want to thank our majority leader, Mr. Hoyer, and I want to thank Congressman Don Payne, who for so long was the lone voice in the wilderness speaking out against the horrific genocide that is taking place in Darfur. Also I want to thank Congressman Smith and all of our Republican colleagues, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen; our staff, Joan Condon, Pearl Alice Marsh, Christos Tsentos, all of you who have not only worked so diligently with your expertise and your clarity but also because you all are committed to the work that we are doing to try to end this genocide.

Let me thank our cosponsors of this resolution. We have over 115 cosponsors, bipartisan cosponsors.

This is a very important moment for this House of Representatives and for the world. Thirteen years ago the world did stand by as nearly 1 million people were slaughtered in the genocide of Rwanda. The best our country could do then, the best we could do, was apologize, and that was after the fact. Many of us swore that another Rwanda would never happen again, would never take place on our watch. But, today, Madam Speaker, it is happening again.

Nearly 3 years ago, on July 22, 2004, Congress formally declared that genocide was taking place in Darfur. Estimates indicate that nearly 450,000 people now, 450,000 people, have been killed and 2.5 million innocent civilians have been displaced to this date. That is mind- boggling.

I witnessed this ongoing tragedy in January of 2005, when I first visited the refugee camps in Chad and in Darfur, led by another leader against this

genocide, Congressman Ed Royce; also with two great humanitarian leaders, Don Cheadle, Academy Award nominee for ``Hotel Rwanda''; and Paul Rusesabagina, who also is a hero who was in Rwanda and led many people out of that tragedy.

In February 2006, once again under the leadership of our great Speaker, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I visited the refugee camps with a bipartisan delegation in Darfur. And just 2 weeks ago, we returned from Darfur again. This was my third visit, again a bipartisan congressional delegation under the leadership of our leader, our majority leader, Congressman Steny Hoyer.

I say this to say that I have seen this now three times, this tragedy, and it is quickly, quickly, continuing to deteriorate very rapidly. More and more people are dying. Regardless of what you hear, we know that more and more people are dying. We heard now that 1,500 to 2,000 a week are dying, and even humanitarian aid workers are at risk. Cars are being hijacked. The day before our delegation arrived, five African Union soldiers from Senegal were killed. They were killed. And the general, the head of the African Union, he begged us to send more peacekeepers. He begged us to send more logistical support and to help with what they need so that they can provide the civilian protection against this slaughter. Unfortunately, for many Darfurians, the situation is still very, very grim.

As part of our visit this time, we also went to Egypt and met with President Mubarak. He indicated that Egypt had deployed 900 troops to help implement the comprehensive peace agreement in southern Sudan. Additionally, Egypt had sent about 150 military observers and police to Darfur and was supporting a field hospital that was serving 200,000 people. These efforts are extremely, extremely important. But we urged him to do more and to use his influence with the Sudanese Government to help stop the atrocities.

News reports last week indicate that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the League of Arab States and the United Nations were all instrumental in pressuring President Bashir of the Sudan to accept the second phase of the three-part agreement to implement an African Union-United Nations hybrid peacekeeping force. If true, this agreement to deploy the so- called ``heavy support package'' would provide for an additional 3,000 peacekeepers, helicopters, and significant logistical and military support for the hybrid force. But as the African Union told us, they need at least 22,000-plus troops.

So whether or not we see this 3,000 force come into Darfur remains to be seen. Past experience has taught us that we can never take President Bashir at his word. News reports the very next day detailed a United Nations investigation that caught Khartoum disguising military supply planes in United Nations colors in order to supply weapons to their janjaweed allies.

The international community and our friends in the League of Arab States cannot allow this sort of double-dealing to take place. We have all got to keep the pressure on Khartoum, and that is why we have got to pass this bipartisan resolution today.

The thrust of this resolution is very simple. It calls on the League of Arab States and each member state to be our partners for peace by stepping up their efforts to end the genocide in Darfur. For too long the world has been silent in this struggle. I remember in my trips to Algeria, meeting with the President of Algeria, and a previous visit to Egypt several years ago that the government officials were very reluctant to call the ongoing atrocities in Darfur genocide, and some even denied that genocide was taking place. But we know that it is.

Even just last week, Egypt expressed its opposition to further United Nations sanctions against Sudan, urging that we give President Bashir more time. More time for what? To allow more innocent people to get killed?

While it appears today that in some cases those outlooks are changing of some of the Arab states, there is still much more that they can do and that we can do. We must demand that President Bashir follow through on the full deployment of the AU-UN hybrid force; and we must urge all parties, the rebels and the government, to end the violence and come to the table to negotiate a political solution. But we cannot and we should not hold a cease-fire declaration hostage to a peace agreement or vice versa. We cannot wait for a peace agreement to stop the slaughter. We must do both at the same time. And we must insist that Darfurians return to their homes, figure out a way so they can get home quickly to their villages and reclaim their lives.

Our own efforts to stop this genocide must intensify also. We must pursue divestment to remove all United States funding from any business that is supporting the Sudanese Government and the ongoing genocide. And we have got to explore further sanctions and legislation that I know my colleague Congressman Don Payne is working on.

Lastly, we must engage with the Chinese to leverage their influence on the Sudanese Government and help put a stop to this violence. As the principal buyer of oil from the Sudan, the Chinese have the ability to exert political and financial pressure on President Bashir. We need their help to end the genocide.

I salute the faith community and our young people around the country who are organizing and speaking out and working day and night to end this genocide. This week they are conducting a series of ``Darfur Days'' as they continue to say ``not on our watch.'' We hope that our friends in the Arab world join these young people in saying not on their watch, never will this happen again.

I just want to mention that our beloved colleague Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, who passed away this weekend, worked tirelessly to end this genocide in Darfur. So I am asking for a strong bipartisan vote on this resolution in her honor. And for the young people, the men and the women whom we have seen and whose lives we know have been destroyed, and for those who have died, let us say to the entire world and let us ask our partners for peace in the Arab world to end this genocide now.

Mr. Speaker, first let me just thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) for organizing these 5-minute speeches tonight, and for his leadership in fighting for home ownership and opportunity and against predatory lending practices.

As my colleague Congresswoman Jones just said very eloquently, it is a real shame and disgrace that we once again have to take to the floor to raise the issue of predatory and deceptive lending practices.

As many of us can attest, which you are hearing tonight once again, these practices are out of control and on the rise, and they are leaving many, many people out in the cold and in foreclosure.

The statistics regarding the current subprime lending debacle are staggering. It is estimated that bad loans have forced 1.5 million homeowners into foreclosure this year alone, according to ACORN. In 2006, the number of foreclosures stood at 2.6 million, topping the prior year total of 900,000 people. The problem is only getting worse.

The subprime industry's practice of higher rates, teaser rates, higher fees, prepayment penalties, payday loans, check cashing facilities and other unfavorable and hidden costs combine to create conditions that push homeowners into hopelessness. We must remember that foreclosures not only devastate individuals and families, but they also depress communities and decrease property values.

This does not have to be the case for many subprime customers. The assumption that subprime loans are for people who cannot qualify for a prime loan at a good rate is false. Fannie Mae, and this is really unbelievable, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have assessed that one-third to one-half of subprime borrowers could have qualified for better loan rates but were not given that option. They just weren't given that option. The education and the information were simply not provided to these customers, and I wonder why.

Regulators haven't done enough to protect consumers against predatory lending. Because of the Bush administration's lack of regulatory rigor and oversight of the subprime mortgage industry and their tendency to pander to the business industry at the expense of hardworking middle- and low-income Americans, we are in the mess we are in today.

Sadly, many of the victims of predatory lending are the elderly, single parents, and people of color. In fact, communities of color continue to be the target of predatory lenders. I call them loan sharks. They are all over my community, and these unscrupulous financial service schemes prey on the dream of home ownership and the prospect for generational wealth building.

Within the last year, investigations of real estate agents were designated by HUD for testing, they uncovered an 87 percent rate of racial steering and a 20 percent denial rate for African Americans and Latinos.

A Federal Reserve study showed that African American and Latino borrowers are more likely to receive higher cost subprime loans than their white counterparts. However, the likelihood of receiving a higher cost loan to buy a house than a white borrower for African Americans is 3.7 times more likely and for Latinos, 2.3 times more likely.

So we must put an end to this type of lending discrimination and predatory practice. Enough is enough.

Sometimes people ask me what is institutional racism. They do not quite get it. Well, let me tell you, this is a very glaring and unfortunate clear example of institutional racism, and so we must support all of the efforts by Congressman Cummings and other efforts by Congressman Mel Watt, Brad Miller, Barney Frank, members of the Financial Services Committee to put forth legislation that provides a floor, not a ceiling, for a policy such as this. We have got to face reality. That means we must take a look at these, and I just call them exotic loans, and they are exotic, and adjustable rate mortgages that soon become unaffordable, as Congresswoman Tubbs Jones said, after a couple of years.

To entice borrowers to take on risks that they may not be aware of is just plain setting them up to fail, and this is just wrong. It is a shame. It is a disgrace.

We need to provide relief, first of all, to victims of these loan sharks and protect the national economy from the consequences of a mortgage industry crisis which I believe is looming. We must act immediately to protect a generation of homeowners. They are counting on us. They deserve an opportunity to achieve the American Dream of homeownership which is quickly turning into a nightmare for many.

For the majority of Americans, like for myself, purchasing a home is the only way, I mean the only way, you can build any type of equity to be able to just send your kids to college or to buy a house or to do some of the things that you want to do, start a small business. So we have got to clamp down and we have got to clamp down hard on these loan sharks.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary life and career of Lawrence Barnes. Larry served with distinction as the Postmaster of Oakland from 1995 until 2007. His appointment as Postmaster came after more than 35 years of loyal service to the United States Postal Service (USPS), in addition to four years of honorable service in the United States Air Force. Today Larry celebrates his retirement after more than four decades of outstanding service to his community and his country.

Larry graduated from high school in 1965, at which time he joined the U.S. Air Force. There he served as an Air Traffic Control Technician, and was honorably discharged in 1969.

Upon leaving the military, Larry began his career with the USPS as a distribution clerk. Due to his exceptional performance and natural leadership abilities, it did not take long for him to begin moving through the ranks and into management. In the years that followed, Larry was promoted to MPLSM Clerk; Working Group Leader; Supervisor of Mail; MPLSM Supervisor; Management Trainee; Assignments in LRR; Postal Systems Examiner; MCS; Acting Superintendent; and General Supervisor. Following his extraordinary service in all of these areas, Larry was appointed as the Postmaster of Oakland on December 23, 1995.

As Postmaster, Larry worked tirelessly not only to improve USPS functions for individual customers and employees, but also to build a stronger community. A regular speaker at neighborhood meetings, he always made the effort to reach out to Oakland residents, and to be available to hear their ideas and concerns. Larry and his staff have also been active in local efforts to improve air quality and public health. I was proud and honored to host Larry as a speaker at my September 2006 Town Hall Meeting on West Oakland air quality. At that forum he provided updates on USPS efforts to modernize its vehicles and decrease its diesel emissions, actions that have greatly helped to improve air quality and public health in West Oakland.

In addition to being a dedicated government servant throughout his career, Larry is a committed husband, father, grandfather, bowler, and fan of the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders. Furthermore, he is a leader in the faith community, serving as an active member of the Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church (AMBC) Men's Ministry, serving under the direction of Dr. Kevin D. Barnes, Pastor of AMBC. Education has also been a priority for Larry throughout his life. He graduated from Merritt College with an AA in Social Science in 1976, and is currently attending C.B. Mason Bible College.

I have known Larry for many years, and it has always been a pleasure to work with him. His commitment to his employees, his customers and to the Oakland community has had a positive impact on countless lives. On this very special day, I join the friends, family and colleagues of Lawrence Barnes in thanking and saluting him for his profound contributions to California's 9th Congressional District, our country and our world.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary life of Bessiefrances J. Meador of Riverdale, New York. The residents of California's 9th Congressional District remember Beth as a brilliant woman, an astute politician, a dedicated community activist, an accomplished attorney, and a loving friend to many. Beth passed away on March 30, 2007.

Beth spent her early years in Independence, Missouri and Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1955, she and her family returned to the Kansas City area. There, they joined the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church where Beth was very active as a youth and young adult.

Upon her graduation from Sumner High School in 1961, Beth began her undergraduate studies at the University of Kansas. After earning her B.A., she obtained her law degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and was admitted to the bar in California and New York.

Beth led a distinguished career in the legal profession, serving in a number of important roles. She was an administrative attorney in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, and also maintained a private law practice. Beth worked as a litigation compliance officer for the New York City Child Welfare Administration and as Minority Business Specialist for the State of New York and the New York City Transit Authority. She previously worked as Assistant Director in the Office of Legal Services of the State Bar of California. In the last years of her life, Beth was a teacher in the New York City Public School System.

Beth was active in politics throughout her life. Living in Oakland, California in the 1970s, she ran for the State Assembly, and was actively involved in many local campaigns. She participated in the 1972 National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana, as well as numerous State and national political conventions. Delegates always sought her counsel, for as much as she was an idealist, she was also very practical in seeking strategies and initiatives for making the United States a better country.

Always actively involved in her community, Beth was centrally involved in a number of organizations. An accomplished concert pianist, she contributed her talent as the youth music director at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where she was also a member. Beth belonged to the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and the Coalition of 100 Black Women.

On a personal note, Beth was my roommate for a year, and I was privileged to benefit from her wise counsel, her musical genius, and our thought-provoking discussions. After Beth moved into her own apartment, as a generous gesture of gratitude she gave me a beautiful set of dinnerware which I use to this day. Her memory and her love are deeply etched in my heart and in the hearts of many.

The last time I saw Beth was in September 2006, when we celebrated my sister Mildred's birthday in New York City. We enjoyed our evening with Congressman Charlie Rangel, who welcomed us with open arms and generous hospitality to his district in Harlem. Beth was delighted to be with Congressman Rangel and enjoyed the evening tremendously. Little did we know that these would be our last moments together.

Today, California's 9th Congressional District salutes and honors a great human being, our beloved Beth Meador. We extend our deepest condolences to Beth's family, and our deepest gratitude for sharing this great woman with us. She will be deeply missed. May her soul rest in peace.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the African American Association. Throughout its extraordinary history, the Association has been known for promoting equality, diversity, social justice, and African American community empowerment. This year the Association celebrates the 45th anniversary of its founding.

The African American Association was first organized in the early 1960s by African American students at the University of California, Berkeley. Among the founding members were community leaders such as Khalid Al-Mansour (known then as Don Warden); future Judges Henry Ramsey and Thelton Henderson; future Congressman and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums; and future Black Panthers Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.

The Association's founding occurred in the midst of a turbulent time for African Americans and for our country. Malcolm X was fearlessly expressing his views on race relations. Many African nations were being liberated after years of colonial rule and oppression. The civil rights movement was gaining national momentum, and many young African Americans were feeling a newfound source of pride in their African heritage. A primary impetus for the group's establishment was an interest in learning the real history of Africa and slavery in the United States. Not having the resources for a mass media campaign, group members took their message to where the people were: they took their message to the streets.

Of central importance to Association members were questions related to the African American self-image. Members wanted to address the negative light in which many African Americans viewed themselves, specifically in the context of their African heritage and physical features. Moreover, the Association's mission was to help African Americans cultivate the sense of self-love that for many had been missing as a result of slavery's destructive legacy within the African American community and throughout our country.

After being met with skepticism initially, the Association began to reach more and more people with their message of empowerment. Members began reaching a wider audience by broadcasting a half-hour radio show on Oakland KDIA, entitled We Care Enough To Tell It Like It Is. After approximately a year of meeting in various locations, the Association established regular meeting facilities on Grove Street in Oakland. The best known and most attended events were the Association's weekly Monday Night Lectures and Friday Night Forums. These gatherings featured discussions of books on African and African American history, religion, architecture, current events, and other topics. People of all ages attended these lively meetings because they always represented an opportunity to learn, and to look at things from a new perspective.

Over the years, the Association continued its advocacy for social, political, economic, and educational equality for African Americans. Members urged African Americans to establish businesses, and the Association formed its own employment office to match members with job opportunities. The Association also remained centrally involved in the struggle to promote education among young African Americans, urging them to not only complete their education but to obtain the highest grades at the highest level of education that they could. In addition, the Association organized to address countless other issues, including community safety, the devastating impact of the Jonestown Massacre, and social justice in African countries.

Today the members and supporters of the African American Association have come together to celebrate not only the organization's 45th anniversary, but also the group's permanent and positive impact on our community. On this very special day, I join all of the members in thanking and saluting the Association for its profound contributions to California's 9th Congressional District, our country, and our world.