Date: 2015-10-28
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I thank the leadership for allowing us to have this time to discuss H. Con. Res. 84. This recognizes the works of the Honorable Frank M. Johnson. a Federal judge. Not only was he a Federal judge. he was one of the greatest unsung heroes of the civil rights movement. a lawyer par excellence. a great student of jurisprudence. and. I would daresay. he was the hidden hand of justice in the civil rights movement. Before continuing. however. let me just thank some additional persons. It is appropriate that I thank the six original cosponsors of this resolution. Of course. we would mention the Honorable ALCEE HASTINGS of Florida. and we thank him for signing on to this resolution. We also would like to thank the Honorable SHEILA JACKSON LEE of Texas. the Honorable GREGORY MEEKS of New York. the Honorable ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON of Washington. D.C.. and I especially want to thank the Honorable TERRI SEWELL of Alabama. because Judge Johnson was from Alabama. She has signed on to this resolution. meaning that she has given her approval. I am grateful to her. She is a great. great Member of this body and has done quite well in representing the people of her district and. indeed. her State and her country. And. finally. the Honorable FREDERICA WILSON of Florida. All of these Members have signed on to this resolution honoring the Honorable Frank M. Johnson. The Honorable Frank M. Johnson was a unique person in American history. unique in that he was one of those people that made real the great and noble American ideals: liberty and justice for all. government of the people. by the people. for the people. He trulyhe trulymade justice more than a word. It meant something to him. and. as a result. people were able to benefit from justice. Justice was more than a word for the Honorable Frank Johnson. He did not have it easy. however. He was appointed to this Federal District Court by the Honorable President Dwight Eisenhower in November of 1955. After being appointed. he immediately had a very difficult case come before him. This is when we learned of the character of Frank M. Johnson. His character was such that he refused to allow himself to be intimidated. Over the course of his life. he had a cross burned on the lawn of his yard. Over the course of his life. and he lived for 80 years. his mothers house was bombed. It was thought that it was his home. It was bombed by the KKK. He was a person who had. as a classmate in law school. Governor George Wallace. He was a person who probably could not have been predicted to be one of the most significant persons in the civil rights movement at the time he was appointed to the bench. There are people who. for whatever reasons. decide that they are going to do the just and honorable thing. and Frank M. Johnson was such a person. While he lived. he had to have 24hour protection24hour protectionfor his very life because there were those who saw him as a threat to the way of life that existed at that time. They wanted to end his life because of his being perceived as a threat to their way of life. What is it about him that caused people to want to burn a cross on his lawn. that caused persons to bomb his mothers house thinking that it was his? What was it about this man that caused people to believe that he was such a huge instrumentality that was moving the South in a direction that they did not want to see it move into? Well. he was one of those persons who actually proved. Mr. Speaker. that Black lives matter. He proved that Black lives were as important as any other lives. that all lives matter. but he proved that Black lives matter by his decisions that he made. I indicated earlier that one of his first decisions. Mr. Speaker. was a difficult one. It was a case that involved the bus boycott in Montgomery. Alabama. It was a case wherein Rosa Parks. the Alabama female of African ancestry. took a seat on a bus. and after taking that seat. she was required to move because. as others came on the bus who were White. she would have to move. as would any other Black person. and give White persons an opportunity to have seats on the bus. She would either have to move back or. if all of the other seats were filled. she would have to stand. She refused. As a result of that refusal. Mr. Speaker. a civil rights movement was born in Montgomery. Alabama. and a protest movement was led by the Honorable Dr. Martin Luther King. As a result of this protest movement. many people galvanized. They came together. and they decided that they would not ride the buses and that they would transport themselves to and from work. Well. one might think that this boycott was the reason that the bus line was eventually integrated after about a year of protestations. But. Mr. Speaker. the hidden hand of justice was the Honorable Frank M. Johnson. because he. on a threejudge panel. concluded that the Brown decision. which applied to schools. should be applied to public accommodations. should be applied to public transportation. He convinced another judge to do so. and. as a result. they issued an order that desegregated the buses in Montgomery. Alabama. He was the hidden hand of justice. The protest movement was absolutely necessary. but he showed that Black lives mattered when he decided that he was going to stand for justice and that he was going to issue that order integrating the bus lines. Later on. in the case of Gomillion v. Lightfoot. this is a case that invalidated the City of Tuskegees plan to dilute Black voting strength. At that time. it was not unusual for Black voting strength to be diluted such that Blacks could not get representation. We were not represented in Congress to the extent that we are today. At that time. gerrymandering was almost commonplace to make sure that Blacks did not have the opportunity to represent constituents in city councils. and not only city councils. but in county government. as State Representatives. as State Senators. gerrymandering. Well. it was the Honorable Frank M. Johnson that invalidated that plan that they had and ordered the redrawing of the lines. In the United States v. Alabama. in 1961. literacy tests were required for Blacks. but they werent required for Whites. Blacks had to take the test. which was impossible to pass. in many cases. How many bubbles are there in a bar of soap. all sorts of ridiculous things. were required of Blacks. But this judge. the hidden hand of justice. the man who believed that Black lives mattered. required Black people be registered to vote to the same extent as the least qualified White person was registered to vote. Allowing Black people to register allowed more Black representation to manifest itself in the years that followed. In the case of Lewis v. Greyhound. 1961. this case involved the Honorable JOHN LEWIS. who is now a Member of Congress. It involved protesting at a bus station. It involved being seated at a counter and involved desegregating the bus lines and the bus stations. JOHN LEWIS was one of several persons who were arrested. and this violated his civil rights. It was the Honorable Frank M. Johnson that required the desegregation of the bus depots across the length and breadth of the country. By directly doing it in Montgomery. Alabama. it eventually became the law across the land. Again he demonstrated that Black lives mattered to him. and he moved on it. He didnt just believe it. He acted on his beliefs. In the case of Sims v. Frink. in 1962. this had to do with Alabama reapportioning. Alabama had not reapportioned since 1900. The lines had been left as they were because. by leaving them as they were. they could keep certain people from having a right to vote or having their vote really count in the scheme of one man. one vote. It was Frank M. Johnson who required that one man. one vote. principles be utilized. giving Black people a greater voice in voting. In Lee v. Macon County Board of Education. in 1963. this was the first statewide desegregation of schools. and it happened in Alabama. It happened because Frank M. Johnson concluded that Black lives mattered. He ordered the desegregation of these schools. and it was the beginning of something that would spread across this country. He was a part of the avantgarde of the civil rights movement. but he did so with a pen from the bench. As a matter of fact. he did not wear a robe when he was on the bench and he did not have a gavel. He believed that. if you are a just judge and you are going to follow the law. you didnt need the robe and you didnt need the gavel. You just needed to follow the law. And he did so. He did so in the case of Williams v. Wallace. This is a landmark case in that it involved the Honorable Dr. Martin Luther King. As we know now. persons assembled at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They assembled there for the purpose of marching from Selma to Montgomery. When they assembled at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. they decided that. in marching from Selma to Montgomery. they would assemble themselves at a church. and they marched from that church to the bridge. If you have not been to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. you should do so because. as you do so. you will see that that bridge has an arch. As you move across the bridge. you cant see from the start of your movement to the bridge what lies on the other side. But on the other side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge were men. members of the constabulary. They were on horses. They had clubs. And these men on horses. with clubs. confronted the marchers. who were peaceful. They were unarmed. They were Black. They were White. They were multiethnic in terms of their ethnicity. They were persons of goodwill who only wanted to exercise their freedom of movement to demonstrate. to move from one city to another. protesting the way African Americans were being treated in the South in terms of their voting rights. in terms of their inability to receive the same treatment as others under the law. Well. in doing this. in marching from Selma to Montgomery. when they encountered these officers with clubs. these officers beat them. The Honorable JOHN LEWIS was a part of the march. He has said on many occasions that he thought he was going to die. They beat them all the way back to the church where they startedall the way back to the churchblood on their heads. on their bodies. on the ground. on people. as they tried to flee and tried to fend for themselves against these members of the constabulary. The marchers returned later to march again. but this time they had gone to court and they had appeared before the Honorable Frank M. Johnson. He issued an order requiring the constabulary to get out of the way and allow the marchers to move from Selma to Montgomery. Few people are aware that Bloody Sunday was followed by an order from the hidden hand of justice. the Honorable Frank M. Johnson. I would daresay that that order and that movement. that march. were the basis for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965. It passed shortly thereafter. The President signed it into law. As a result. many people who are in Congress today are here because that march took place and because the Honorable Judge. the hidden hand of justice. Frank M. Johnson. signed an order requiring the constabulary to get out of the way. What is interesting about this order. Mr. Speaker. is that it was issued by his classmate. whom I mentioned earlier. Governor George Wallace. Governor George Wallace and Frank M. Johnson were at constant odds with each other. They were at odds with each other not only as it related to this march. but as it related to the integration of schools. As a matter of fact. there were many people in Alabama who were of goodwill who started to call Frank M. Johnson the real Governor of Alabama because he stood toe to toe with Governor Wallace and. in so doing. made real what the Governor had the opportunity to do. but refused to do. The Honorable Frank M. Johnson. the hidden hand of justice in Alabama and the United States of America. In White v. Cook. 1966. he ruled that Blacks should be allowed to and must serve on juries in Alabama. Black people have not always had the opportunity to serve. even when the law said they had the right to serve. As a result of not having the right to serve by virtue of the way people interpreted the law. they were denied service on juries. It was the Honorable Frank M. Johnson that permitted this to happen by his ruling. Mr. Speaker. how much time do I have left? I would like to make sure that I properly cover certain materials.