to john hope franklin tulsa greenwood race right claims accountability act of two thousand and nine for purposes of markup the clerk will report the bill h r eight hundred forty three to provide a mechanism for a determination on the merits of the claims brought by survivors and descendants of the victims of the tulsa oklahoma race riot of one thousand nine hundred eighty one without an action the bill is considered as read and is open for a minute at any point i will now recognize myself in five minutes for an opening statement today the subcommittee meets to consider the john hope franklin told greenwood right accountability act of two thousand and nine introduced by our distinguished chairman one hundred twenty one in less than one day the greenwood neighborhood  forty two square block area of tulsa oklahoma was attacked by a white mob and burned to the ground approximately three hundred of its residents were killed by the mob what had been a thriving community community was obliterated a commission established by the state of oklahoma issued a report in february of two thousand and one detailing for the first time the extent of the city and state governments involvement in the riot and the cover up that followed a civil rights based on these newly disclosed facts seeking compensation for the damages that occurred as a direct result of the government's involvement was dismissed by a divided tennis circuit on the grounds that the suit was time barred no one was ever convicted of this outrage the courts were closed to the more than one hundred lawsuits filed by greenwood residents and property owners against insurance companies seeking payment on their policy according to the commission quote local officials attempted to block the rebuilding of the greenwood community by amending the tell us a building code close quote it is painful to realize that what can only be described as ethnic cleansing took place in our nation and that it has been virtually wiped from the history books thanks to the work of the commission we have another chance to confront the past chairman kind has introduced this legislation which i have the privilege of co sponsoring to address this long standing injustice i want to thank him for his efforts to bring this terrible history to the public's attention and for his leadership in seeking to do a measure of justice this bill would give greenwood claimants whose cases with found to be time barred alexander versus state of oklahoma five years in which to bring a civil rights action and to have their claims decided on the merits is remedial and recognizes that the victims were unable to have their claims heard at the time because the courts and the government were hostile nearly ninety years have passed since the community was destroyed with the connivance of local officials no one has ever been called to account for it very few of the survivors remain alive today in the last congress we heard from some of the survivors including john hope franklin one of the nation's outstanding historians history by including the african american experience it is unfortunate that dr franklin is no longer with us to see justice done for the remaining tosa greenwood survivors but this legislation reflects his many years of work and fitting that we pass it and that is now bears his name we cannot undo the past but we can seek to make amends to take responsibility on behalf of this nation for what happened and to do what we can for the still remaining survivors but too many justice delayed has been justice denied this is a matter that can wait no longer i urge my colleagues to support this bill i yield back the balance of my time and that recognize a ranking member the gentleman from wisconsin mr sensenbrenner for an opening statement thank you mr chairman of the bill we consider today would by statute allow claims to be brought for damages relating to a tragic incident that occurred over eighty seven years ago and one hundred twenty one the specific claims the legislation would seek to revive are those brought up in the case of alexander versus oklahoma which the tenth circuit court of appeals dismissed in two thousand and four there is no doubt that the tulsa riot was a tragic event in oklahoma history as the tenth circuit described the nine hundred twenty one incident on may thirty first one thousand nine hundred eighty one the following into the next day a violent attack destroyed the african american community of greenwood oklahoma an angry white mob converged on greenwood in a devastating assault burning homes and businesses killing up to three hundred people and leaving thousands homeless the federal courts have uniformly and unanimously at every level of review dismissed the claims relating to the recent litigation concerning the tolls those claims were dismissed not to diminish the tragedy that occurred nine hundred twenty one but whole rules of fairness in the courts in this case the federal courts unanimously determine reviving claims related to the tulsa riots would not be fair or equitable in the court's wor we focus on whether the plane would put a reasonable person i'm notice that wrongful conduct caused the harm record and it is undisputed that substantial information regarding the government's involvement in the disturbance was available at the time of the riot while exceptional circumstances may have prevented victims timely redress based on that evidence the emergence of civil rights legislation  hundred sixty s gave them the ability to in fact neither allege nor even imply they were prohibited from accessing the courts in the seventy's eighty's and ninety's not satisfied with the without even the benefit of a subcommittee hearing as black's law dictionary says the purpose of statutes of limitations is to require diligent prosecution of known claims thereby providing  predictability and legal affairs and ensuring that claims will be resolved evidence is reasonably available and fresh as the supreme court has stated statutes of limitations are designed to promote justice by preventing surprises through the revival of claims that have been allowed to slumber until evidence has been lost memories have faded and witnesses have disappeared because this legislation violates such fundamental remembering the late dr john hope franklin who made his last appearance in congress before this committee and on this bill and i thank you very much i there any amendments to the bill if there are no amendments we should proceed to a vote but i do we have a reporting well we do not have a reporting quorum at the present i will go on to the next bill with the consent of the ranking member for which i extend my appreciation and will roll the vote on this bill till after the vote while till we have do that for the record i would like to enter the following letters into the record a letter dated june tenth two thousand and nine from representative john mark shumate district seventy three oklahoma house of representatives in support of passage of  hundred forty three representative shumate district covers the area of tulsa that includes the greenwood community and a letter dated june eleventh two thousand and nine from thirty five members of the congressional black caucus in support of passage of for purposes of markup the clerk will report the bill h r nine eighty four to provide safe fair and responsible procedures and standards for resolving claims of state secret privileges in the house of representative that of those read and is open for a minute at any point i will recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement today the subcommittee considers h r nine eighty four the state secrets protection act of two thousand and nine this bill codified as uniform standards for dealing with the government's claims of the state secrets privilege and civil litigation the subcommittee has studied this issue extensive we held a legislative hearing on the bill last week constitutional authority to codified the state secrets privilege that there is a need for legislative reform to curb executive abuse of the privilege and to assure consistency and fairness in our courts and that congress must exercise a legislate in a way that ensures independent and meaningful judicial review of the privilege in order for the rule of law to have any meaning individual liberties and rights must be enforceable in our courts right to that remedies and that's what we will have is the executive can have any case this miss on the mere assertion of the state secrets doctrine cease to be right if the executive can come into court at the pleading stage and then the mere incantation of the words state secrets secure th of the case then we have no way to defend our rights and the government can can violate any rights and there is no remedy in that case there are no rights separation of powers concerns are at their highest with regard to secret executive branch conduct and the government simply cannot be allowed to hide behind and examine claims of secrecy as the court noted rejecting the claims about the bush and obama administrations that the entire subject matter of the rendition to torture was a state secret and required dismissal of the entire case the executive cannot become the judge of its own conduct that is a different definition of tyranny and we cannot allow it in this country congress has already provided guidance to the courts for handling sensitive information in other contexts through the freedom of information act sieber the classified intel information procedures act and pfizer the foreign intelligence surveillance act is high time that we've provided similar guidance for handling similar claims of secrecy in civil several of the witnesses submitted testimony to this committee including federal judges the former directors of the f b i and the c and our former colleague congressman hutchinson who is also the former deputy secretary of homeland security argued persuasively that the courts have proven themselves fully competent to safeguard sensitive information and that it is the courts not the executive branch that are best qualified to balance the risks of disclosing evidence with the interests of justice this bill h r eight ninety four provide guidance to courts when handling state secret privilege claims in the following key ways i am informed that we have a reporting quorum so we will suspend my statement and suspend the clock and go to a vote eighteen forty three the bill on the tell us a greenwood gentleman from tennessee just want to one moment i know i was light that anybody bring up the fact that there was a special service today for john hope franklin know we talked about john hope franklin momenta that there was the i thought it was touching i just got it it was a notice that there was  eleven o'clock today at duke university they celebrated the sixty ninth anniversary of his wife and i thought that it was appropriate that we have this bill today because of anthrax we didn't get the invitations until today to attend but that it was eleven o'clock eleven thirty today at question is on reporting the bill favorably to the full committee those in favor say aye opposed no the eyes have it the bill is reported favorably without objection the we will  go back to my state my opening statement on bill nine eighty four i put the rest of the state of my statement in the record since we have reporting quorum here we're about to go to votes and hopefully we'll get to a vote on this bill very shortly before we lose our reporting mr chairman i'll ask the gentleman from the distinguished  unanimous consent that i put my statement in the record i support the man much but even with the man the bill is still bad i appreciate the gentleman supports the amendment to any of this question the amendment there's no other discussion the amendments all in favor the