Our Power, Our Message

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BEATTY. Madam Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to open our first Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour of this year, during Black History Month, utilizing to the fullest extent possible: Our Power, Our Message.

I would like to thank the Congressional Black Caucus members for having the confidence to elect me to be chairwoman during the 117th Congress. I stand on the shoulders of greatness as I acknowledge the past members and chairs for their tremendous leadership.

For the next 60 minutes, we have an opportunity to speak directly to the American people about the issues of great importance to the Congressional Black Caucus and the millions of constituents we represent.

Tonight's Special Order hour topic will serve as part of a rollout of our policy agenda and celebrate our 50th anniversary in the context of the many critical issues facing the Black community.

The Congressional Black Caucus kicked off Black History Month, Madam Speaker, with the powerful Travon Free film ``Two Distant Strangers,'' a moving story about a young Black man caught in a George Floyd type of nightmare with his local police department.

During tomorrow's CBC meeting to be held at 12 p.m., the ``Living Black History'' vignette, featuring all 58 members of the CBC, will be unveiled to the public via Facebook, TheGrio, and my YouTube page.

We are also hosting a virtual film screening of director Lee Daniels' film, ``The United State vs. Billie Holiday,'' tomorrow evening.

In that spirit, later this week, I will be introducing the Black History is American History Act to close out our Black History Month.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the CBC with the largest CBC group ever, 58 members who represent the diversity, hope, and promise of this great Nation. It has been stated before, and it certainly bears repeating, the CBC is commonly referred to as the conscience of the Congress and over the decades has forcefully advocated on policies that our Nation cares about, ranging from economic justice and reparations, healthcare, voting rights, consumer protection, education, and fair policing to far beyond.

The killing of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd drew America closer to another watershed moment last year, amid a pandemic that has disrupted life as we knew it, triggering an intergenerational cross-class collective of people demanding change, which led to the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill that is the first-ever bold, comprehensive approach to hold police accountable, change the culture of law enforcement, empower our communities, and build trust between law enforcement and our communities by addressing systemic racism and biases to help save lives.

I also wear another hat, and that is as chairwoman of the Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee. Though it may speak for itself, I appreciate that kind of transformative change which we seek in the spirit of policy, legislation, and regulation that will, hopefully, result in building a record that we can use as we promote diversity and inclusion in our democracy. As CBC founder member Bill Clay noted, we have no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests.

The CBC's priorities will allow us, in many instances, to work with the Biden administration to deliver relief to our constituents who have been so devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and to work on long-term plans for recovery. To that end, we are so pleased that we will announce our domestic policy team tomorrow, as we have met with Ambassador Susan Rice, who is head of the Biden domestic policy team.

It is so important that I end by saying the Congressional Black Caucus is committed to dramatically reversing these alarming trends by working with our community leaders, allies, and colleagues in Congress to pass critical legislation and by working with the Biden-Harris administration to encourage responsible executive branch policies and actions using Our Power, Our Message.

Now, I am honored to announce our CBC anchors for tonight: Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a scholar, a strategist, an orator, a woman who has sponsored legislation and helped craft much of the changes that we will be talking about through the 117th Congress; and I am equally as proud to say that the Special Order hour will be co- chaired by her coanchor, Congressman Ritchie Torres, a freshman, a member of the Financial Services Committee, a giant in public housing legislation. Tonight, you will hear from them.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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