Condemning President Trump's Racist Comments Directed At Members of Congress

Floor Speech

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I said earlier today that I wish we were not here, but we are here. Now, I wish to indicate that I am appalled at any commentary that demeans or hurts a fellow human being or a fellow American or fellow world citizen. So the recounting of various statements, I realize and recognize that comments were made about statements to ease the pain of those who were receiving it.

Right now, we are talking about comments that came from the highest office in the land, which really does reflect what this little book, the Constitution, says, that this Nation was organized to create a more perfect union. Yet, unfortunately, the officer in the White House, the President of the United States, took to tweeting and talked about the first African American woman from the Seventh District, the first Palestinian American woman, the youngest woman elected to Congress, and the first Somali American woman, women of color.

It is imperative today that, along with H. Res. 494, my resolution, we condemn this action, and we do it together. I ask my Republican colleagues to vote for the underlying resolution.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security, I rise in support of H. Res. 489, a resolution condemning President Trump's racist comments directed at Members of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, on November 6, 2018, in an election widely regarded as a referendum on the performance and disapproval of the Administration of President Donald J. Trump, the American people voted to vest control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the Democratic Party to restore the system of checks and balances designed by the Framers in 1787 in Philadelphia.

The Representatives elected to the 116th Congress comprise the most diverse class in American history with respect to its racial, ethnic, and religious composition, and also includes the largest contingent of female Representatives and the most members ever of the LGBTQ community.

Among the cohort of the 40 Representatives first elected to the Congress in the November 2018 election are several whose membership is historic, including the Representative for the Seventh District of Massachusetts, the first African American woman elected from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; the Representative from the Thirteenth District of Michigan, the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress; the Representative from the Fourteenth District of New York, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress; and the Representative from the Fifth District of Minnesota, the first Somali-American elected to Congress.

In the discharge of their official duties as Members of Congress, these talented and dedicated Members of Congress traveled to the southern border of the United States to observe the living conditions and treatment received by migrants and refugees seeking asylum in the United States who are currently being held in detention facilities operated under control or supervision of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), some consisting of nothing more than tent villages cordoned off under highways.

Upon their return to the Capitol, these Members of Congress reported their shock and horror regarding the appalling and inhumane conditions to which detainees were being subjected by CPB at a public hearing of a House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

On July 14, 2019, the President of the United States reacted to the criticism of his Administration's treatment of detainees by these Members of Congress in a series of unhinged tweets that questioned their loyalty to the United States and implied that due to the circumstances of their birth they had no right to exercise the responsibilities and privileges of duly elected Members of Congress.

Specifically, the President tweeted that it was:

``So interesting to see ``Progressive'' Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly . . . and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.''

The President's statements are false in that three of Members of Congress he impugned are in fact natural born citizens and the fourth- is a naturalized citizen.

Although the recent statements of the President are inaccurate and offensive, they are consistent with prior statements he has made to stoke to division, discord, and disharmony among the American people.

Let us not forget that the current President of the United States burnished his political reputation by claiming falsely for more than 5 years that his predecessor was born in Kenya and not in the United States and thus was an illegitimate President. The current President of the United States launched his 2016 campaign for the Presidency by saying of persons from Mexico seeking to immigrate to the United States: ``They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.''

The current President of the United States claimed that a Hispanic federal jurist could not preside over a court proceeding to which then presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization were defendants accused of civil fraud because ``He's a Mexican!''

In January 2018 the current President of the United States is reported to have inquired of his advisors: ``Why are we having all these people from (expletive deleted) countries come here?'', referring to persons from countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

And most contemptible of all, on August 15, 2017 the current President of the United States said he regarded as some ``very fine people,'' the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and Ku Klux Klansmen who descended on the peaceful community of Charlottesville, Virginia to advocate racism and who were met by peaceful counterprotestors in a clash that the white supremacists turned violent and resulted in the death of Heather Heyer and left injured many other innocent persons who were gathered to affirm the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and to honor the sacrifice of unsung American heroes who devoted their lives to the ongoing quest to continue perfecting our union.

Mr. Speaker, the recent and past statements and actions of the current President of the United States demean the office he holds and falls short of the standard set by the 16th President, whose administration was devoted to unity, healing, and ending racial division.

In his famous March 4, 1861, Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln foretold the reasons why the efforts of the current President of the United States to rend our union are destined to fail:

``We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.''

Before closing, Mr. Speaker, I think it appropriate to share my perspective on immigration and significant and positive impact it has in the development of this, the greatest nation in human history.

Like the Framers did in the summer of 1776, it is fitting that we gather in the nation's capital on a sweltering July day to reflect upon America's long and continuing struggle for justice, equality, and opportunity.

After all, all that any of us wants is an honored place in the American family.

I am often reminded that as I speak there is a family somewhere about to begin a dangerous but hopeful quest.

Somewhere south of the border, maybe across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Laredo, Corpus Christi, or Brownsville or maybe just south of Tucson or San Diego or Douglass, Arizona.

Somewhere there is a family in the Old Country anxiously about to embark on their own journey to the New World of America.

They come for the same reason so many millions came before them, in this century and last, from this continent and from every other.

They come for the same reason families have always come to America: to be free of fear and hunger, to better their condition, to begin their world anew, to give their children a chance for a better life.

Like previous waves of immigrants, they too will wage all and risk all to reach the sidewalks of Houston or Los Angeles or Phoenix or Chicago or Atlanta or Denver or Detroit.

They will risk death in the desert; they will brave the elements, they will risk capture and crime, they will endure separation from loved ones.

And if they make it to the Promised Land of America, no job will be beneath them.

They will cook our food, clean our houses, cut our grass, and care for our kids.

They will be cheated by some and exploited by others.

They work in sunlight but live in twilight, between the shadows; not fully welcome as new Americans but wanted as low-wage workers.

Somewhere near the borders tonight, a family will cross over into the New World, willed by the enduring power of the American Dream.

I urge all Members to join me in supporting H. Res. 489.

All American should take pride in and celebrate the ethnic, racial, and religious diversity that has made the United States the leader of the community of nations and the beacon of hope and inspiration to oppressed persons everywhere.

And in addition to the love and pride Americans justifiably have for their country, all persons in the United States should cherish and exercise the rights, privileges, and responsibilities guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, the way to move forward is by voting ``yes'' on the underlying resolution.

To paraphrase the Declaration of Independence, it is indicated that we all are created equal, with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That is immigrant and nonimmigrant. That is an individual whose religion you believe in and one you do not. That is a lifestyle that you may not know and understand. It may be a race or ethnicity that you have never come to be able to accept.

In this Nation, the founding Thirteen Colonies fleeing persecution were described as creating an experiment. It was not a perfect experiment.

There were some of us who came to this Nation in the bottom of the belly of a slave boat. There were some who were indentured servants. Many came by boat. Some walked across a border that has created havoc. But they were people desperate for freedom and the right to make their lives better.

We can account for those people by the history books and the decades of heroes and sheroes who have come in a different skin, a different religion, a different basis. They have even put on the uniform of this Nation because they love this country.

I am reminded of the era of Dr. Martin Luther King, the many miles he walked with the soldiers, the Civil Rights soldiers, and his early book titled ``Why We Can't Wait.''

I join with the idea that we must work for the American people. We must provide for the increase in the minimum wage, good healthcare, and education.

At the same time, there is something in this Nation that our children demand that we do. What are the values of the red, white, and blue? What are the values of those stars that represent the many States of this Nation? The values are that we are a Nation based upon laws, morality, values, a love of country, due process, equality, and justice. It means that every single person must have the fundamental right of respect.

This resolution is simply that. It is a fundamental right to respect and dignity--in this instance, for four Members of the United States Congress from Boston, from New York, from Minnesota, and from Michigan.

As they go on to their places, it is very clear that they must have the respect that is deserving of this particular Congress.

These four women are no less deserving of dignity than anyone else. This resolution is simply one that is to seek--not condoning, as was said--a condemnation of attitudes that may parlay racist beliefs.

No one stands for that. We cannot go on to all that is good without saying to the Nation and the world that this is not good; it is not America; and we will not accept that as our definition because we do believe in the creation of a more perfect Union.

I conclude by saying that we condemn the hurtful and offensive comments that demean immigrants and people of color, especially if those comments originate from the White House. What we will do today is accept the challenge of Dr. Martin Luther King, a peacemaker, a man of hope, and we will say why we can't wait because the Nation calls upon our higher angels.

That is what we will do when we affirm this resolution on behalf of the people of the United States of America.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote for this very important resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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