[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 127 (Tuesday, July 29, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H7224-H7227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
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APOLOGIZING FOR THE ENSLAVEMENT AND RACIAL SEGREGATION OF AFRICAN-
AMERICANS
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to
the resolution (H. Res. 194) apologizing for the enslavement and racial
segregation of African-Americans, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 194
Whereas millions of Africans and their descendants were
enslaved in the United States and the 13 American colonies
from 1619 through 1865;
Whereas slavery in America resembled no other form of
involuntary servitude known in history, as Africans were
captured and sold at auction like inanimate objects or
animals;
Whereas Africans forced into slavery were brutalized,
humiliated, dehumanized, and subjected to the indignity of
being stripped of their names and heritage;
Whereas enslaved families were torn apart after having been
sold separately from one another;
Whereas the system of slavery and the visceral racism
against persons of African descent upon which it depended
became entrenched in the Nation's social fabric;
Whereas slavery was not officially abolished until the
passage of the 13th Amendment to the United States
Constitution in 1865 after the end of the Civil War;
Whereas after emancipation from 246 years of slavery,
African-Americans soon saw the fleeting political, social,
and economic gains they made during Reconstruction
eviscerated by virulent racism, lynchings,
disenfranchisement, Black Codes, and racial segregation laws
that imposed a rigid system of officially sanctioned racial
segregation in virtually all areas of life;
Whereas the system of de jure racial segregation known as
``Jim Crow,'' which arose in certain parts of the Nation
following the Civil War to create separate and unequal
societies for whites and African-Americans, was a direct
result of the racism against persons of African descent
engendered by slavery;
Whereas a century after the official end of slavery in
America, Federal action was required during the 1960s to
eliminate the dejure and defacto system of Jim Crow
throughout parts of the Nation, though its vestiges still
linger to this day;
Whereas African-Americans continue to suffer from the
complex interplay between slavery and Jim Crow--long after
both systems were formally abolished--through enormous damage
and loss, both tangible and intangible, including the loss of
human dignity, the frustration of careers and professional
lives, and the long-term loss of income and opportunity;
Whereas the story of the enslavement and de jure
segregation of African-Americans and the dehumanizing
atrocities committed against them should not be purged from
or minimized in the telling of American history;
Whereas on July 8, 2003, during a trip to Goree Island,
Senegal, a former slave port, President George W. Bush
acknowledged slavery's continuing legacy in American life and
the need to confront that legacy when he stated that slavery
``was . . . one of the greatest crimes of history . . . The
racial bigotry fed by slavery did not end with slavery or
with segregation. And many of the issues that still trouble
America have roots in the bitter experience of other times.
But however long the journey, our destiny is set: liberty and
justice for all.'';
Whereas President Bill Clinton also acknowledged the deep-
seated problems caused by the continuing legacy of racism
against African-Americans that began with slavery when he
initiated a national dialogue about race;
Whereas a genuine apology is an important and necessary
first step in the process of racial reconciliation;
Whereas an apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization
and injustices cannot erase the past, but confession of the
wrongs committed can speed racial healing and reconciliation
and help Americans confront the ghosts of their past;
Whereas the legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia has
recently taken the lead in adopting a resolution officially
expressing appropriate remorse for slavery and other State
legislatures have adopted or are considering similar
resolutions; and
Whereas it is important for this country, which legally
recognized slavery through its Constitution and its laws, to
make a formal apology for slavery and for its successor, Jim
Crow, so that it can move forward and seek reconciliation,
justice, and harmony for all of its citizens: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) acknowledges that slavery is incompatible with the
basic founding principles recognized in the Declaration of
Independence that all men are created equal;
(2) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty,
brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow;
(3) apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people
of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them
and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow;
and
(4) expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering
consequences of the misdeeds committed against African
Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the
occurrence of human rights violations in the future.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.
General Leave
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Michigan?
There was no objection.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 194, which
is bipartisan legislation apologizing for the enslavement and the
continued racial segregation of African Americans. For numerous
Congresses past, similar resolutions have been introduced, but none
have made it to the floor for consideration by the full House. So I
salute my colleague, the gentleman from Tennessee, a member of the
Judiciary Committee, the Honorable Steve Cohen, for his leadership and
indefatigable energy in bringing us to this point in support of this
resolution which he has created.
While much progress has been made since the civil rights era, the
legacy of slavery and Jim Crow is still at the root of many critical
issues facing the African American community today; educational
opportunities, health care access, business capital, they are still
victimized by crime, and many other socioeconomic considerations.
Our friend the former President, Bill Clinton, expressed his regrets
over the Nation's role in the slave trade. The current President,
George W. Bush, described it as ``one of the greatest crimes of
history.'' A number of States, Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina,
Virginia and New Jersey, have made moving apologies in their own ways.
Now, with an official United States Government apology before us, this
measure will take us another step forward toward the national healing,
atonement and continued progress that must be made along these lines.
The discussion of race is a sensitive, difficult issue even today in
our society. And, of course, the apology is not the end of the story,
but it does reaffirm our national commitment to understanding and
addressing, in the words of the resolution, how to rectify the
lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African
Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of
human rights violations in the future.
So I am proud to join the many Members on both sides of the aisle
that have helped us bring this suspension forward today.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 194 appropriately reminds us of the horrors of
slavery. Slavery was a stain on our original Constitution. It took the
blood of hundreds of thousands of Americans who died in the Civil War
to erase that stain and to pave the way for passage of the Civil War
amendments to our Constitution. We must never forget that.
This resolution exhorts us not to repeat the mistakes of the past. I
would like to address two of those mistakes in some of this time.
One of the clauses of this resolution notes that after emancipation
from 246 years of slavery, African Americans soon saw the fleeting
political, social and economic gains they made during Reconstruction
eviscerated by virulent racism and lynching.
It is worth noting in that regard that the government's campaign
against the Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction Era included the use
of military commissions approved by Congress to try those vicious
terrorists of the day. Klan terrorists disguised in plain clothes
embarked on a campaign of terror that included lynchings,
assassinations and even the disemboweling of their innocent victims.
The experience, Mr. Speaker, of that period, presaged the dangers of
extending habeas corpus litigation rights to enemy terrorists today.
The campaign to defeat the Klan collapsed during the Reconstruction Era
when Klansmen asserted habeas litigation rights in Federal court
against their captors.
As one historian has written, the result of the required legal
release of the Klan was that Klansmen not only escaped punishment, they
turned the law on their erstwhile prosecutors with a series of suits
and harassments that drove some of them from the State as fugitives. No
sooner had Colonel George W. Kirk, the local commander, brought his
prisoners to Raleigh, then two of them sued him for false arrest. He
was released on bond and returned to his command, while other similar
suits accumulated against him. In effect, he became a refugee from
process servers and sheriffs, protected by his own soldiers.
I fear the Supreme Court has repeated that mistake today by granting
terrorists habeas litigation rights to challenge their detentions in
Federal Court. Resolutions like the one we consider now help to remind
the Nation of the mistakes of the past so they will not be repeated in
the future.
This resolution also expresses a commitment to rectifying the
lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African
Americans under slavery and Jim Crow. Those misdeeds, of course, were
premised in the notion that people should be treated differently on
account of their race.
One the most significant civil rights developments out of the 2006
elections was passage of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, an
amendment to the Michigan State Constitution that passed by a wide
margin, 58 percent to 42 percent. The Civil Rights Initiative in
relevant part reads simply, and I have heard Ward Connerly make this
statement in person and it booms from his voice and it reaches my
heart, Mr. Speaker. It says, ``The State shall not discriminate against
or grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis
of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of
public employment, public education or public contracting.'' Similar
efforts are underway in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and
Oklahoma. This resolution reminds us all that American government
should operate on a color-blind basis.
As I read through this resolution, I pick out some pieces that don't
fit my sense of history. I would add that the Civil War is often taught
to being fought over slavery. The people on the south side of the Mason
Dixon Line would say it was fought over States' rights. I would say
among those States' rights was the argument that the Southern States
could declare their policy with regard to slavery.
Slavery has put a scar upon the United States that was a component of
history as it arrived here, and it has been a component of most of the
history within the continents. It has not, as it says here, imposed a
rigid system of officially sanctioned racial segregation in virtually
all areas of life. Subsequent to the Civil War and the emancipation,
there were many areas in the North that were integrated, socially,
economically, with a heart to do so, and I think they deserve some
credit here as well, Mr. Speaker.
The vestiges of Jim Crow law today, I hope we learn what they are.
The one I can think of is the Davis-Bacon wage scale. That is a vestige
of Jim Crow. I can't think of the others.
I do appreciate the language that says, ``However long the journey,
our destiny is set: Liberty and justice for all,'' and I mean that
sincerely. And as this resolution apologizes to African Americans, I
would correct that and say that there are many African Americans in
this country who are immigrants from other countries, and they do very
well here in America. They haven't felt the same sense as those who are
descended from slaves that lived in this country. So I would say this
resolution more speaks to the descendants of slaves and those being in
this country exclusively African Americans.
I would add that there are some missing components altogether. I
brought this book because I think it puts some more perspective on this
as well, Mr. Speaker. This is a book written by Robert Davis,
``Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters.'' He is a professor, I believe, at
Ohio State University.
I have read this carefully. It grips my soul like this subject grips
my soul. It tells the story of 1.25 million Christian slaves hijacked
on the seas of the Mediterranean who were subjected to slavery and
forced to build the edifices along the Barbary Coast and the northern
coast of Africa. They don't have descendants because they were worked
to death and dumped overboard from the corsairs, those who pulled on
the oars instead of built the edifices. Some of the women were pushed
into being concubines. But, for the most part, this is very
instructive. It says many of us are descended of relatives of slaves,
but there are no descendants from these slaves because they didn't
survive. That is 1.25 million.
So I think that in this context, this Nation is rising above this
debate, and I would like to think we have put this debate behind us. I
know that Chairman Conyers knows my head and my heart on this, and I
have spoken about how deeply it has affected me to walk into a church
in Port Gibson, Mississippi, and look up to the balcony and see that
that balcony was made for African Americans, while white people went to
church downstairs on the ground floor. It is hard for me to fathom a
faith that would recognize a division like that, Mr. Speaker.
I know also that Abraham Lincoln spoke to this subject matter, and
perhaps I will come back to that.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I yield such
time as he may consume to the author of the measure before us, the
distinguished gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).
Mr. COHEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
It is with pride that I introduced this resolution with 120
cosponsors from both sides of the aisle, and it is with pride that I
serve as a Member of this institution and this building that was built
with slave labor and for which the new Visitors Gallery will be known
as Emancipation Hall. It was the gentleman from this side of the aisle,
the party of Lincoln, Representative Zach Wamp from my State, and this
side of the aisle, Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., who eloquently
spoke to a subcommittee of which I am a member urging the remembrance
and recognition of the work of the slaves who helped construct this
magnificent Capitol Building and have the entryway named Emancipation
Hall.
This country had an institution of slavery for 246 years and followed
it with Jim Crow laws that denied people equal opportunities under the
law. There was segregation in the South and other places in this
country at least through the year 1965 when civil rights laws were
passed.
There were separate water fountains for people marked ``white'' and
``colored''; there were separate restaurants; there were separate
hotels; there were job opportunities that were not available to African
Americans; there were
[[Page H7226]]
theaters that were segregated. It is hard to imagine today in 2008 that
such a society existed and was sanctioned by law, that the laws of this
Nation provided for segregation and enforced fugitive slave laws.
In fact, the history of slavery goes not just through the
Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to our
Constitution, but, as so eloquently written just yesterday in the
Baltimore Sun in an editorial by Mr. Leonard Pitts, Jr., that slavery
existed up until about World War II, but it was a form of slavery where
people were bought and sold for debts. It was slavery by another name.
In a book called ``Slavery by Another Name'' by Douglas Blackman, a
correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, he talked about a convict
leasing system in the South where poor black men were routinely
snatched up and tried on false, petty or nonexistent charges by
compliant courts, assessed some fine they could not afford, and then
put into the servitude of an individual who bought them. This system
continued up until World War II.
The fact is slavery and Jim Crow are stains upon what is the greatest
Nation on the face of the Earth and the greatest government ever
conceived by man. But when we conceived this government and we said all
men were created equal, we didn't in fact make all men equal, nor did
we make women equal.
We have worked to form a more perfect Union, and part of forming a
more perfect Union is laws, and part of it is such a resolution as we
have before us today where we face up to our mistakes and we apologize,
as anyone should apologize for things that were done in the past that
were wrong, and we begin a dialogue that hopefully will lead us to a
better understanding of where we are in America today and why certain
conditions exist.
In 1997, President Clinton talked to the Nation about the problem
that this country had with race, and he wanted a national dialogue. He
considered an apology for slavery. I happened to run into President
Clinton at that time at the Amtrak station here in Washington and
discussed with him having an apology for Jim Crow as well as slavery. I
encompassed that in a letter dated July 2, 1997, that as a State
senator from Tennessee I wrote to President Clinton.
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In that letter, I urged him to have a slavery apology and a Jim Crow
apology, and to mark it on the 30th anniversary of the assassination of
Dr. Martin Luther King, an event that tragically took place in April of
1968 in my city, and that the appropriate time for President Clinton to
have that apology would be on that 30th anniversary.
In going through my papers as I was elected to Congress, I found this
letter and I thought about it and I said to myself, ``You are a Member
of Congress. You don't need to wait on a response from the President of
the United States, which, my friend, the President's office failed to
make a response. I can take action myself.'' So I introduced the
resolution in February of 2007, with 120 sponsors joining me as time
went on. It is important on this day that we admit our error, that we
apologize.
I have been in this body and voted with the rest of the body on a
unanimous voice vote to encourage, this past year, the Japanese
government to apologize for its use of Chinese women as comfort women
during the war, and not a voice was raised questioning that resolution
which passed unanimously on us calling on a foreign country to
apologize for its use of comfort women.
Twenty years ago, this Congress passed a bill apologizing for the
internment of Japanese citizens during World War II. In fact,
subsequent to the consideration of this resolution, the distinguished
lady from California (Ms. Matsui) has a resolution recognizing and
celebrating the 20th anniversary of the passage of that bill.
This Congress did the right thing in apologizing for the imprisonment
of Japanese Americans during World War II and in encouraging the
Japanese government to apologize for the use of comfort women. But the
fact that this government has not apologized to its own citizens,
African Americans, for the institution of slavery and for the Jim Crow
laws that followed, and accepted that fact and encouraged changes in
our dialogue and understanding and the actions of this country to
rectify that, is certainly a mistake, and today we rectify that
mistake.
This is a symbolic resolution, but hopefully it will begin a dialogue
where people will open their hearts and their minds to the problems
that face this country from racism that exists in this country on both
sides and which must end if we are to go forward as the country that we
were created to be and which we are destined to be.
So it is with great honor that I speak on this resolution and urge
the Members of this body to pass this historic resolution, recognize
our errors, but also recognize the greatness of this country; because
only a great country can recognize and admit its mistakes, and then
travel forth to create indeed a more perfect union that works to bring
people of all races, religions, and creeds together in unity as
Americans, part of the United States of America.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the time, and I urge my
colleagues to vote unanimously to pass this resolution today.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
As I listened to this debate, Mr. Speaker, I looked back through some
documents that I made sure that I could take a look at before I came to
floor, and one of them is H. Res. 1237. That is a resolution that
passed here on 18 June 2008. And that date is timely, because it
recognizes in the House of Representatives President Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamation, but it recognizes especially Juneteenth, the
date upon which the last slaves were freed. And that was roughly about
2 years from the time that President Lincoln signed the Emancipation
Proclamation. And it takes me to this point that I think is an
important discussion.
This is a piece of information that I gathered from a Washington
historian, and I qualify it a little bit because I haven't gone back
and Googled it, I haven't checked Wikipedia, but I like this story so
much that I want to tell it as qualified in that fashion, from a
respectable Washington historian, but this way:
When President Lincoln was considering signing the Emancipation
Proclamation, he reportedly called his cabinet together. They sat
around the cabinet table, and President Lincoln laid out his argument
that he wanted to emancipate the slaves. And so as he made the
argument, the men--it would have all been men sitting around the
cabinet table then in 1863. He turned to the first cabinet member and
said, ``What say you?'' The first cabinet member reportedly said, ``Mr.
President, you can't free the slaves. Those who are under your control
and authority and jurisdiction are already free; they are north of the
Mason-Dixon Line. Those on the other side, you can't reach because they
are protected by the Confederate Army.''
And Lincoln turned to the next cabinet man and said, ``What say
you?'' The next cabinet member said, ``Mr. President, I would suggest
that there are men fighting in Union uniforms today that aren't so
enthusiastic about ending slavery. They really want to defend the North
and they want to defend the colors that we have, but there are really
some racists in the Army. So you are going to lose their support if you
emancipate the slaves.''
And he went to the next cabinet member and the next cabinet member,
and each one came up with a different argument. As it came around the
table, every single cabinet member had said to President Lincoln, ``Mr.
President, do not sign the Emancipation Proclamation. My advice to you
is there isn't enough upside to offset the downside.'' Or, as we say
today, the juice is not worth the squeeze.
President Lincoln reportedly said, ``Well, gentlemen, the aye has
it,'' and signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Now whether that story is true or not, and I know there are a lot of
urban legends around Lincoln, I really love that story, because that
shows the character and the quality of leadership that we had in the
White House at that time, and also a man who gave his life for the
emancipation of the slaves. A man who believed it. A man who had such a
strong conviction that when I
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stand at the Lincoln Memorial and I read the words of President
Lincoln's second inaugural address that say, ``Yet, if God wills that
it continue until all the wealth piled up by the bondsmen's 250 years
of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn
with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was
said 3,000 years ago, so still it must be said `the judgments of the
Lord are true and righteous altogether.' ''
Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, the central part being:
If the price to be paid was until every drop of blood drawn by the
bondsmen's lash be paid by another drawn with the sword, Mr. Speaker,
that is the powerful vision that there was a sin on this Nation, and
Abraham Lincoln understood that. And 600,000 Americans died in the
conflict to free the slaves.
I brought with me, this is my great, great, five times great uncle's
Bible. This is the Bible that he carried in his shirt pocket for 3
years during the Civil War. If I open it up, I can show you fly specs
and verses that are written in this Bible. His sister presented to it
to him on the eve of his departure for the war, and he returned with it
in his shirt pocket 3 years to the day. I found his grave when I was
trimming grass around the gravestones for Memorial Day. No one knew
where he had been buried. This is John Richardson's Bible. My great
grandfather five times great was killed in the Civil War. All of his
artifacts are lost. This remains. This remains as a connection to me,
to my family members who were strong and powerful and committed
abolitionists, and some of them gave their lives to free the slaves.
So as I read this resolution today, Mr. Speaker, I don't see a
reference of gratitude for all the blood that was given by people to
end slavery. I think that needs to be part of this record as well. The
horrible price that was paid to pay back in blood drawn by the sword
for every drop of blood drawn by the bondsmen's lash. That is a point,
too, that the next generations need to learn and need to hear.
And then with the balance of this discussion, Mr. Speaker, I just
would emphasize that this Nation threw off the yoke of slavery. We rose
above it because we had a strong conviction as a people, we had a
strong religious faith that rejected slavery as a sin against this
Nation. We can be proud of the price that was paid to free the slaves.
And it was a struggle of 100 years to pass the Civil Rights Act that
lifted another level. And here we are today at a point where I look
forward to the time when we can say we are fully integrated and there
is no vestige of slavery and no vestige of racism, and an understanding
that we are all God's children created in his image. And because he has
blessed us with enough distinctions that we can tell each other apart,
it is no reason for us to discriminate for or against anyone, as Ward
Connerly says and as the Civil Rights Initiative in Michigan says so.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of
House Resolution 194, a resolution that apologizes for the enslavement
and segregation of African-Americans.
This is a significant moment in our nation's history when the nearly
20-year fight to consider federal legislation that apologizes for
slavery has at last become a reality. Indeed, it is fitting that we
consider legislation of this content and caliber at this time. A global
trend has emerged within the 21st Century in which governments have
apologized for slavery and discriminatory laws and promised to work
toward a better future.
Within the past year, states that were once members of the former
Confederacy and were a cesspool for racist and bigoted laws and
practices did something that no state had done before: they apologized
for the enslavement of black people in this country. More than 240
years after the abolition of slavery and more than four decades after
the abolition of Jim Crow, it is time for the federal government to do
the same.
In 1988, Congress apologized to Japanese-Americans for holding them
in concentration camps during World War II. Congress expressed regret
for its policies on Hawaii a century after the native Hawaiian kingdom
was overthrown. And just five years ago, the Senate apologized for not
enacting anti-lynching legislation that would have saved the lives of
thousands of black people across the South.
America's greatness is exemplified in part by our ability to evolve.
Under federal and state laws and customs, African Americans were denied
their fundamental rights from 1619 until 1965. Today, we show our
growth by officially acknowledging the wrongful actions and policies
that were targeted toward African-Americans during slavery and Jim
Crow.
Sadly, there are some who continue to oppose Congress apologizing for
slavery and segregation. They see apologizing as a futile action that
is too little too late. Others contend that an official apology would
do more harm that good and would conjure painful images from the past
that would fuel resentment. These assertions miss the point.
Failure to pass this resolution that acknowledges the wrongness of
slavery and segregation would send the dangerous message that America
is unwilling to come to terms with one of the first and last great
atrocities that it placed on its citizens through the rule of law.
Slavery and racial segregation were permitted through federal law and
our government must express the appropriate and long-overdue remorse
for its tolerance of this injustice.
As we all know, Mr. Speaker, words matter. ``All men are created
equal,'' is perhaps one of the most famous phrases in American history.
In our nation's infancy, this statement encompassed the principles of a
country that promised to protect the freedom and well-being of its new
citizens. Yet it was written when hundreds of thousands of black men,
women and children were enslaved and counted as only \3/5\ of a person
under the Constitution. Nevertheless, President Abraham Lincoln later
used this phrase to argue that the institution of slavery contradicted
our nation's most fundamental values. This statement proved that
America had the potential and duty to become a fairer and more equal
nation.
The legal abolishment of slavery did not translate into the end of
racial inequality. Equally, the legal abolishment of Jim Crow has not
translated into the elimination of disparities. The reality is that
although the men, women and children who were enslaved in this country
are long gone, the wealth, culture, and even the congressional
buildings that they helped construct remain.
Indeed, in the years following Jim Crow, blacks have undoubtedly
taken advantage of increased opportunities and have achieved in every
imaginable sector. 246 years after emancipation and 43 years after the
abolishment of legal segregation, the United States has made serious
improvements in drafting and implementing policies that encourage
equality. However, it would be wrong to conclude that these successes
negate the fact that 346 years of oppression have contributed to the
economic and health disparities that continue to affect much of the
black community.
On this historic day, we must recommit ourselves to bringing about an
end to these disparities and injustices. And in passing this
resolution, the House will send a message to the American people and
others that the most powerful nation in the world is willing to look
honestly at some of the most shameful parts of its history, accept
responsibility, and apologize for its actions. Together, we will
continue to lay the necessary foundation to build a stronger future.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. I
thank the gentlemen for their cooperation along with this resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) that the House suspend the rules
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 194, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground
that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum
is not present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.
____________________