Date: 2015-04-30
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague from California. Congressman BARBARA LEE. for her courtesy. I join today in standing with my chair. Congressman BUTTERFIELD of the Congressional Black Caucus. I. as well. am overwhelmed with the pain that we have seen not only in Baltimore. which we have seen most recently. but in cities like Ferguson. in North Charleston. in New York. where we have seen the convergence of poverty and the need for criminal justice reform converge. I too want to offer my sympathy to the family of Freddie Gray. We have watched them over the past couple of days. In the midst of their mourning to be able to stand up and call for peace. nonviolence. nonviolent protests. they should be honored. And to those in Baltimore. and particularly my colleague from MarylandI will call him Congressman CUMMINGS with the bullhorn politics. the bullhorn leadershiphe should be commended for the stunning and outstanding engagement. that he touched the hearts and minds of his constituents. walked those streets. to be able to acknowledge the pain. the poverty. but that there is a better way. that there is a way toward the stars that we all want our children to have. And. yes. to Ms. Graham. who wanted better for her son Michael. I want him not to be embarrassed but to be proud that he had a mother with such deep love that she wanted to take him away from doing it wronglynot against protests. not against the quiet marching of the spirit of Dr. King. but to know that engaging in violence is intolerable and will not allow him to reach the very high heights that he can reach. Today I stand here to acknowledge the convergence of the need for criminal justice reform and the deep and abiding poverty in the African American community. One in every six Americans is living in poverty. totaling 46.2 million people. This is the highest number in 17 years. Children represent a disproportionate amount of the United States poor population. It falls heavily on the African American community. In my district. there are 190.000plus living in poverty. It falls heavily on the African American community. Mr. Speaker. this is not a standing invitation for the door to open and say. lets blame President Obama. President Obama has been a stellar leader on the questions of realizing the investment in people. From the stimulus that brought us out of the depths of collapse of the markets and a complete imploding of the capitalistic system. he provided the stimulus that moved us toward an economy where we were creating jobs. But here we have in Congress this dastardly sequester that is cutting Head Start seats. not investing in infrastructure. not creating jobs or providing opportunities for our young people. So today I say that there needs to be a call for action. That call for action is that this Congress must get rid of sequester and must look at the Baltimores and must look at the Fergusons and Houstons and L.A.s and New Yorks and cities across America and realize that we are coming upon a summertime. And if we dont act to invest in our children and to begin to give an agenda to release ourselves from poverty. we will have doomed ourselves. And I would offer to say that the inertia of moving toward criminal justice reform in this Congress is unacceptable. I call upon Members to come together collectively to be able to pass legislation. the Cadet bill that I have introduced. the Build TRUST bill. But. more importantly. I am calling upon our government to invest in our youth. to get rid of the poverty. to prepare them as they go into higher education. as they go into upper grades. We must have a program of summer jobs this summer. and we must have a collaborative effort with corporate America. Wake up. corporate America. Wake up. corporate Baltimore. Wake up. corporate New York. Wake up. corporate Houston. There must be an investment in summer jobs. collaborating with the Federal Government to make a difference to lift families out of poverty. We do know that summer jobs with young people elevate families ability to pay their bills and to provide resources for their families. So if the story of Baltimore is any. it is one. dont jump to conclusions. Dont jump to conclusions that Freddie Gray tried to hurt himself. Dont jump to conclusions that these young people dont mean well. Dont jump to conclusions that they shouldnt have done what they have done. Jump to the conclusions that these are young people who are hungry and looking for leadership and are in pain. as Congressman CUMMINGS said. Look for the opportunity for them. Help rebuild Baltimore. Help give them jobs. Help tell them that the improved relationships between police and community are going to be moved forward as a number one agenda for the United States Congress and this government that they call the United States of America. Let us have a call to actionnot of condemnation. but of action. I want to thank the young people who nonviolently marched all over America. indicating Black lives matter and all lives matter. The Congressional Black Caucus stands to stamp out poverty. and we stand. Mr. Speaker. to bring opportunities to young people.