Karen Bass

Madam Speaker, today I would like to honor Allyson Felix, who lives in my district, for her illustrious track and field career. Ms. Felix finished her 20-year international career by winning bronze and gold medals on U.S. relay teams at the July 15-24 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Ms. Felix holds the distinction of winning more medals than any United States track and field Olympian in history, male or female. She has competed and won in five straight Olympic games, medaling in Athens, Beijing, London, Rio, and Tokyo.

Ms. Felix joined the track team at LA Baptist High School in North Hills, California, mentored by Coach Jonathan Patton. During that time Ms. Felix ran the 200 meter in the Mexico City World Junior Championship, finishing with a time of 22.11 seconds, the fastest recorded time for a high school girl in history.

She won her first silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens while enrolled at the University of Southern California. She went on to graduate with a degree in elementary education.

Her ``firsts'' continued when, at the 2005 Helsinki World Championship, she became the youngest person to win in the 200 meters race. Two years later she defended that title at the 2007 Osaka World Championships and became just the second female athlete to win three gold medals at a single IAAF World Championship in Athletics.

She has also used her platform to speak out on disparities in pay for athletes during and after pregnancy, and disparities in care for Black people giving birth. Her 2019 New York Times op-ed on pregnancy pay discrimination prompted public outcry and a Congressional inquiry. That year, Ms. Felix also testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on Black maternal mortality after suffering life-threatening pre-eclampsia while carrying her daughter.

Ms. Felix has won a total of eleven Olympic medals: one bronze, three silver, and seven gold, including her most recent gold and bronze medals at the Tokyo Olympics. The Nation, our state of California and our city of Los Angeles can feel justifiably proud of her accomplishments both on and off the field.

Madam Speaker, today I celebrate the life and legacy of civil rights activist and Tuskegee Airman G. Mansfield Collins.

Collins was a key figure in the civil rights movement on the west coast. Under his leadership as executive director, the Western Christian Leadership Conference (WCLC) raised more than $6 million in the struggle for civil rights, mostly through fundraisers at the homes of stars like Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston, and Sammy Davis, Jr., and through events that attracted the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Dick Van Dyke and Mahalia Jackson.

In 1963, Collins played a key role in organizing and coordinating the ``Los Angeles Freedom Rally,'' which drew nearly 40,000 people including many celebrities to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1965, Collins personally chartered four airliners to the Selma-to-Montgomery marches. On one occasion, Dr. King asked him to organize a singing tour for his wife, Coretta Scott King. In August of 1965 during the Watts uprising, an LA Times account credited him with saving the life of a white man targeted by a group of rioters.

Born 102 years ago to Reverend H. Mansfield Collins, a pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, and Amelia Davis Collins, a former schoolteacher, Gamaliel Mansfield Collins moved to Los Angeles, California at age 15 when his father was appointed to lead at what is now known as First AME Church. Collins attended high school with Tom Bradley, who would become Los Angeles' first Black mayor.

During World War II, Collins was drafted, and assigned to the 2044th Quartermaster Unit. With recommendations from a Congressman and an army general, Collins tested for the segregated Air Force Flight School and became one of the renowned Tuskegee Airmen. Collins' lifelong fight against racism began when, in 1945, he and members of the 447th Bombardment Group attempted to integrate an all-white officers club. This action led to the arrest of 162 black officers.

Honorably discharged, Collins returned to L.A. and his father's church, serving as assistant pastor and musical director, and singing with famed actor and composer Jester Hairston. This led to bit parts in the films Mighty Joe Young, Imitation of Life and Porgy and Bess. By 1961 he had worked with Rev. Maurice Dawkins, Rev. Larry Odom, Bishop H. Hartford Brookins, Rev. John Doggett, Rev. E.V. Hill, and Rev. James Hargett to establish the WCLC.

Some years later, Collins became an AME minister and served out his years with pastorates in Tacoma, Washington; Perris, California; St. Louis, Missouri; and Oakland, California. In 1995, he served as a founding board member and advisor to his daughter, Lisa Collins, in the establishment of L.A. Focus Newspaper, which has become a significant outlet serving the African-American community. I am proud to honor his memory and to share the story of his century of contributions.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7240, the READ Act Reauthorization Act of 2022. This bipartisan bill, I authored with Africa Subcommittee Ranking Member Chris Smith, is a straightforward reauthorization of the Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development (READ) Act of 2017, which was signed into law in the 115th Congress.