Original Slavery Remembrance Day Commemorative Remembrance Program Resolution

Bill: 118-hconres-125
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Green, Al [D-TX-9]
Introduced: 2024-08-09
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Latest action: action_date: 2024-08-09
text: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Summaries:

tv_txt: IV 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. CON. RES. 125 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.

1. Short title This resolution may be cited as the Original Slavery Remembrance Day Commemorative Remembrance Program Resolution . 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. 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.