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

Mr. Speaker. Frank M. Johnson. in making this ruling that allowed Blacks to serve on juries. was taking a giant step forward in that he was bringing Black people into the courthouse and they were now allowed to come right in and go right in and sit up front. Black people havent always been able to go into the courthouse and sit on the front row. They havent always been respected when they have been in the courtroom. In my lifetime. I have heard African American lawyers referred to as "Boy" in the courtrooms of this country. In my lifetime. I have seen African American lawyers required to wait while White lawyers were being served. In my lifetime. I have seen some things that I am not proud of. But. in my lifetime. I have seen great changes take place. and many of these changes took place because of people like Frank M. Johnson. unsung heroes. people who have not received the kinds of accolades. the kinds of kudos. that they merit for the actions that they took and the bravery that they exhibited. But tonight I want to make sure that at least one person who was an unsung hero gets the notoriety that he deserves. Of course. I am speaking of the Honorable Frank M. Johnson. In 1966. United States v. Alabama. he ruled that the poll tax was unconstitutional. the poll tax. At one time. you had to pay a tax to vote. Unfortunately. that time has returned. In my State. the State of Texas. we now have a poll tax. That time has returned. Frank M. Johnson declared it unconstitutional. giving Black people the right to vote without having to pay a fee. Well. in my State. the State of Texas. we find now that. if you want to vote and you dont have a license to carry a gun and you dont have certain other IDs. well. you will have to then acquire an ID to vote. And while the State of Texas will provide at no cost a certain type of ID. these IDs are predicated upon your having proof of birth. a birth certificate. I took the test myself. I went to the polls to vote. and I went to the polls without my voter registration intentionally. I might add. and I voted a provisional ballot. I was given time to go out and acquire the proper identification. I did it knowing that I would bring the proper identification. and I did so. And I voted timely. But I did this because I wanted to see what does one go through to simply get a birth certificate. Well. I applied for my birth certificate. I was born in the State of Louisiana. I applied for it and. to this day. I have not received my birth certificate. This was about a year ago that I applied for it. I still have not received it from the State of Louisiana. I applied for it. paid the fee. Now. why am I saying it is a poll tax? Because in the State of Texas. if you get your birth certificate from the State of Texas. then there is a provision for indigent persons to acquire the certificate and the ID and you can do this without a fee. But if you are from out of state. you have got to pay that fee to that outofstate agency to get your birth certificate so that you can get it to the State of Texas and you can get your ID. The point is paying for the right to vote is a poll tax. No one should have to pay to vote. no one. Frank M. Johnson outlawed the poll tax in the State of Alabama. I pray that we have some other Frank M. Johnsons on the bench who will eventually outlaw the poll tax in the State of Texas because. to Frank M. Johnson. Black lives mattered. They mattered. They ought to matter to other people who understand that invidious discrimination still exists. that people are finding clever ways to keep people from voting today. just as they did many. many years ago. The struggle for human rights. human dignity. civil rights is not over. There are still challenges before us. There are still people who are in high places who are making it difficult for people to vote. I thank God for the Frank M. Johnsons of the world who are willing to stand for justice and make it possible for people to have the same right to vote as other people have had in this country for many years. I know that there are some who would say: "Well. you have got the right to vote. you ought to have an ID." Well. I dont have a problem with people having an ID. I do have a problem when you have to pay for that ID so that you can vote. Voting is separate. and it is sacred in this country. We ought not require people to have to pay a fee to acquire an ID so that they can vote. So he declared the poll tax unconstitutional in 1966. In 1970. in Smith v. the YMCA of Montgomery. he ordered the desegregation of the Montgomery chapter of the YMCA. The YMCA has not always had its doors open to Blacks. and many of the institutions in this country who did open doors opened only the back door. I know. I have been to the back doors. I know what it is like to go to a bus station and have to go to the back door. I know what it is like to go to a food service establishment and have to go to the back door to get your food. I have been there. I know what it is like to travel across country and to have to pick your places to stop because in certain places it was known that you were not permitted to stop. and in those places where you were permitted to stop. you would have to use back doors a good amount of the time. So I know what discrimination looks like. I have seen the face of discrimination. and I understand how it hurts people. I understand the pain that is inflicted upon people. I am proud that we can now go through front doors because of judges like Frank M. Johnson. who had the courage to order the desegregation of public accommodation facilities in this country. I am so proud that there are unsung heroes who took a stand when others would simply conclude that this is not the right time. the country is not ready. There were many other judges who could have taken the same position that Frank M. Johnson took. but they didnt do so. It takes courage to do the righteous thing. Frank M. Johnson was a righteous person. and he had the courage to do the righteous thing. In the case of the NAACP v. Dothard. which required Alabama to hire one Black State trooper for every White State trooper. which was to be done until parity was achieved. it was the Honorable Frank M. Johnson that ordered this be done. Frank M. Johnson understood the necessity to have the DPS in Alabama demonstrate diversity. He understood that if you have a diverse police department. Department of Public Safety. that you are going to get people there who can help other people be better people. It was by doing this that we got more Blacks into the Department of Public Safety in Alabama and. as a result. across the country later on. He had the courage to do this because he knew that Black lives matter. Now. this is not to say that only a certain color of person is going to make a good peace officer. not true. People of all hues. of all ethnicities. of all races. of all creeds can make good peace officers. But there are some who are not good. and those have to be removed from their positions. You ought not have people who dont respect all people. but especially at this time when we are seeing so many things happen to Black people. that dont understand that Black lives matter. I cannot resist the temptation to avoid speaking about what happened to that young girl in South Carolina. I think the sheriff did the right thing. He has removed that officer from his department. But there is something about that case that I think we need to talk about very briefly. tersely. this: If the cameras eye had not been there. I conclude. I prognosticate. he would not have been fired. He would not have been fired without the cameras eye. The sheriff. himself. said that two adults who were there. who saw what happenedtwo adults. one a teachersaid they thought the officers behavior was correct. They didnt have a problem with the officers behavior. It was the eye of the camera. Mr. Speaker. that made the difference. The camera brings to us what we cannot acquire when we get people with conflicting stories about what happened. We had an opportunity to see for ourselves what happened. This is why we need body cameras. This is why Congressman CLEAVER and I have introduced the CAM TIP Act in this Congress. so that people across the length and breadth of this country can be protected who are officers. If they have the body camera on. you have the evidence of what occurred. Citizens are protected. Officers cant have these frivolous charges made real. They will help both officers and citizens. Body cameras make a difference. They are not the panacea. they are not the silver bullet. they wont be the endall. but they will be a means by which we will have additional evidence of what actually occurred. And many times that evidence is going to be much more potent. much more revealing than what people will say when they have conflicting stories. I believe we ought to do all that we can to help the municipalities. the police departments across the length and breadth of this country acquire these body cameras. because these body cameras will make a difference in the lives of people. In this case in South Carolina. if not but for the eye of the camera. I conelude we would have different results because you had two adults who proclaimed the actions of the officer to be appropriate. It was Frank M. Johnson who declared that there should be parity in the DPS in Alabama. Finally. I want to mention this case. It is the case of a 39yearold White female. Viola Liuzzo. who came down to Alabama to do what she thought was the righteous thing and help in the civil rights movement. She was murdered by the KKK. And after an informant in the KKK revealed the identities of the culprits. and when they were brought to trial with overwhelming evidence. in the first trial. there was a hung jury. In the second trial. an allWhite jury acquitted the officers. In the third trial. before the Honorable Frank M. Johnson. they were all found guilty. but they were not found guilty without the judge requiring the jury to deliberate at length. He may have been one of the first to give what is known as an Allen charge today. requiring the jurors to continue to deliberate notwithstanding their belief that they had exhausted all of their options. He required them to continue to deliberate. and. as a result. these three members of the KKK were found guilty. After having been found guilty. they were each sentenced to 10 years. So I am honored tonight to have brought to the attention of this august body. to the attention of our State of Texas. to the attention of the United States of America the many. many exploits positive of Frank M. Johnson. I pray that this resolution will pass in the Congress of the United States of America for this unsung hero who understood that Black lives matter. Mr. Speaker. I believe my time is up. and I am honored that you were gracious enough not to remove me from the microphone. Thank you for the additional time. God bless you. I yield back the balance of my time.