Date: 2002-10-01
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to pay tribute to my dear friend and colleague. Congresswoman PATSY MINK. PATSY spoke for the women of the world. children of the world. and really broke so many barriers that she also was a role model for women and children of the world. She was an aggressive fighter for what was best for citizens of the second district in Hawaii. but also for the Nation and for the whole world. She was a tireless supporter of the Congressional Black Caucus and its agenda. She was a disciplined and focused advocate for the voiceless. and she was my dear friend. As heaven gains another angel. we in Congress mourn our unfortunate loss. May God be with the Mink family. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to pay final tribute to my dear friend and colleague. Congresswoman PATSY MINK. Congresswoman MINK was- able to break through racial and gender barriers to attain goals that others thought were impossible. Her career was a series of firsts: the first woman of color elected to Congress. the first AsianAmerican woman to practice law in Hawaii. the first AsianAmerican woman to be elected to the Territorial House. Representative MINK entered this world as a fighter for equality. Born in Maui in December of 1928. from her earliest years. she was encouraged to excel in academic courses. As a four year old. she recalled how she hung onto the shirt of her older brother. demanding.-and eventually winning the right to accompany him to the first grade. As PATSY MINK grew up in Hawaii. she saw her life change overnight with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She turned 14 the day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. At that time. anyone who was looked up to in the Japanese community was seen as a threat. this included her father. He was taken away for questioning but returned to the family. PATSY realized that anyone could be arrested for no reason except that they were Japanese. MINK attended Maui High School. where she played basketball at a time when girls played halfcourt because. as MINK put it. "they said it was too strenuous for us." When she ran for student body president during her junior year in high school and won that campaign. she began her unofficial political career. In 1944 she graduated as high school class valedictorian. Representative MINK went on to attend college at the University of Hawaii. but transferred to the University of Nebraska where she faced a policy of segregated student housing. She arrived at the campus and was housed at the international house. When she found that this housing was for the "colored" students. she was outraged. PATSY wrote a letter of protest and sent it to the local newspaper. The accompanying protests and objections resulted in the University changing its policies. However. PATSY was not able to enjoy the changes she had caused to be made because she became very ill and had to return to Hawaii where she finished her baccalaureate degree. She returned to the University of Hawaii to prepare for medical school and graduated with a degree in zoology and chemistry. However. in 1948. none of the twenty medical schools to which she applied would accept women. She decided to study law and was accepted by the University of Chicago because they considered her a "foreign student." Choosing not to inform the University that Hawaii was an American territory. she obtained her Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1951. Getting a job in the legal field was not easy for a woman at that time. but that did not deter PATSY. No one was willing to hire her. even as a law clerk. She worked at the University of Chicago Law School library until the eighth month of her pregnancy. Six months after giving birth. she. her husband John and baby daughter Gwendolyn moved to Hawaii. When she found no law firm that would hire a woman. she decided to start her own firm. She became the first JapaneseAmerican woman lawyer in Hawaii. She also taught. at the University of Hawaii. In 1965. PATSY MINK was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and began the first of six consecutive terms in. the House of Representatives. Again. she was the first woman of color to be elected to Congress. MINKS ability to build coalitions for progressive legislation continued during her tenure in Congress. She introduced the first comprehensive Early Childhood Education Act and authorized the Womens Educational Equity Act. MINK believed one of her most significant accomplishments in Congress was Title IX of the Education Act. which she helped authored in 1972. It mandated gender equality in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Title IX has become the major tool for womens fuller participation. not only in sports. but in all aspects of education. The law promotes equality in school athletics. Scholarship money for women increased from $100.000 in 1972 to $179 million in 1997. but was equally important in opening academics. Representative MINK was an early opponent of the Vietnam War and accompanied fellow Representative Bella Abzug. pN.Y.. to Paris to talk to participants in the Vietnam War peace talks. She supported womens rights. was against the death penalty and had as her spending priorities education. housing and health. MINKs strong liberal stands led conservative opponents to dub her "PATSY Pink." Her career included an appointment by President Jimmy Carter as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans. International. Environmental and Scientific Affairs from 1977 to PATSY MINK returned to Washington. DC in 1991 and has been here ever since. Congresswoman PATSY MINK was an aggressive fighter for what was best for citizens of the second district in Hawaii. as well as thisnation as a whole. She was a tireless supporter of the Congressional Black Caucus. She was a disciplined and focused advocate for the voiceless. And she was my dear friend. As Heaven gains another angel. we in Congress morn our unfortunate loss. May God be with the Mink family.