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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 125 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 125

   Expressing the sense of Congress that Congress encourages people 
throughout the Nation to hold an annual commemorative event on or near 
 August 20th honoring Slavery Remembrance Day, featuring its Official 
                          Remembrance Program.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 9, 2024

Mr. Green of Texas submitted the following concurrent resolution; which 
     was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 
   Expressing the sense of Congress that Congress encourages people 
throughout the Nation to hold an annual commemorative event on or near 
 August 20th honoring Slavery Remembrance Day, featuring its Official 
                          Remembrance Program.

    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This resolution may be cited as the ``Original Slavery Remembrance 
Day Commemorative Remembrance Program Resolution''.

SEC. 2. SLAVERY REMEMBRANCE DAY COMMEMORATIVE EVENTS.

    (a) Encouraging People To Hold Events.--
            (1) Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that Congress, 
        in consultation with the Library of Congress and the 
        Smithsonian Institution, encourages the holding of an annual 
        commemorative event on an appropriate day at a location in the 
        United States Capitol Complex to revere, honor, and remember 
        the victims of slavery.
            (2) Others.--Congress encourages all people of good will 
        throughout the Nation to hold an annual commemorative event on 
        an appropriate day to revere, honor, and remember the victims 
        of slavery.
    (b) Location of Events.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
annual commemorative event described in this section should be held at 
a location that can provide an appropriate degree of solemnity and 
dignity for such an occasion.
    (c) Featured Program at Event.--It is the sense of Congress that an 
annual commemorative event described in this section should feature the 
Remembrance Program recommended in section 3 or a variation of such 
Program.
    (d) Purpose.--The commemorative event described in this section is 
designed to serve as a memorial to the victims of slavery, to educate 
the public about the historical reality as well as the lasting impact 
of slavery, and to inspire continued commitment to not only fight 
contemporary racial injustice and inequality, but also to continue the 
struggle for reverence and justice for the enslaved whose lives were 
sacrificed to make America great.

SEC. 3. REMEMBRANCE PROGRAM.

    (a) Contents.--The Remembrance Program recommended in this section 
is as follows:
            ``Friends, thank you for your participation. If you can, 
        please join me by standing and placing your right hand over 
        your heart to indicate heartfelt sorrow for the millions who 
        suffered the horrors of slavery.
            ``Over the next few minutes, we will recall various well 
        documented aspects of the experiences of America's enslaved.
            ``At the end of each of these summarized experiences, I 
        will say the words `we must':
            ``Immediately after I say `we must', I would like you (each 
        of you) to, in unison, say `always remember'.
            ``Let's begin.
            ``To prevent the evils of slavery from being repeated, we 
        must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``To commemorate the suffering and the lives lost because 
        of slavery, we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For the first 20 enslaved Africans who arrived in the 
        British colonies at Point Comfort near what is now Norfolk 
        Virginia on August 20, 1619, we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For the 12 million humans from all walks of life whose 
        lives were stolen from them when they were kidnapped from 
        Africa and forced into slavery, we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For the Africans forced into slavery by other Africans, 
        we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For the approximately 2 million human beings who suffered 
        the deadly middle passage and did not survive the horrific 
        voyage to America, we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For the men, women, and children on slave ships, many of 
        whom were kept naked, packed close together with many shackled 
        and chained, we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For enslaved human beings who often worked from sunup to 
        after sundown, 6 to 7 days a week, often without food, we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For the mothers and fathers who were separated from their 
        children and sold on the auction blocks, we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For liberators such as Nat Turner, who fought to free 
        enslaved people; who lost their lives in the fight for freedom 
        and justice, we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For the tens of thousands of enslaved people who risked 
        their lives in search of freedom on the Underground Railroad, 
        we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For liberators such as Harriet Tubman, who escaped 
        slavery and dedicated her life to returning to the South no 
        less than 13 times liberating enslaved men women and children, 
        we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``For the liberators such as John Brown, President Abraham 
        Lincoln, and countless others of all hues who lived and died 
        combating the horrific institution of slavery, we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``To commemorate the centuries of suffering, the years of 
        tears shed, the history of hearts broken, the brutality of 
        blood spilled, and the grieving over lives lost because of 
        slavery we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``Yet, in the spirit of righteous remembrance imbued with 
        love for our country that hasn't always loved its brothers and 
        sisters of African ancestry, we have to acknowledge that:
            ``In spite of slavery and despite its invidious offsprings: 
        mass lynchings, Black codes, convict leasing, lawful 
        segregation, and institutional racism, African Americans have 
        come a laudably long way.
            ``From our arrival on slave ships to our ascension to 
        judgeships,
            ``From surviving the Middle Passage to thriving among the 
        masses,
            ``From shackled in chains to creating societal change,
            ``From sitting in the back of buses to owning bus 
        companies,
            ``From having no house to residents in the White House,
            ``From painfully picking cotton, to proudly picking 
        Presidents,
            ``From adult males and females being disrespectfully called 
        boy and girl to being respectfully presented as Mr. President 
        and Madam Vice President.
            ``Laudably, the truth be told, although we have come a long 
        way, we still have a way to go.
            ``In closing, let us resolve that as we forge forward we 
        will commemorate our past and embrace our destiny, always 
        remembering the hardships people of African heritage have 
        endured in tandem with the victories won in spite of the 
        seemingly invincible challenges emanating from insidious 
        slavery and its invidious progenies!
            ``Through it all, we must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``We must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``We must:
            ``Always remember.
            ``If you are able, I would ask that you participate in a 
        moment of silent solemnity at noon on August 20th wherever you 
        may be.
            ``During this moment of silence, wherever you are, place 
        your right hand over your heart and with a moment of silence, 
        give thoughts to our economic foundational mothers and father, 
        to the millions who toiled and lost their lives under slavery, 
        and lovingly utter the phrase `Always remember'.''.
    (b) Recitation.--The Remembrance Program set forth in subsection 
(a), or some variation thereof, should be recited by the leader of the 
event, except that each instance of ``Always remember.'' is to be 
recited by the audience.
                                 <all>
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