Congressional Black Caucus
Floor Speech
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I thank my colleague, Representative Frederica Wilson from the great State of Florida, for conceptualizing, dreaming up, thinking up, and putting into play not only the opportunity for a discussion, but the tremendous work and the great record she has achieved on behalf of African-American boys and men as she continues to represent her entire district.
I trust that those who are watching are in good health and good spirits because our country is facing one of its most difficult periods in the history of America. There is tremendous friction, anxieties, different approaches to doing things, and I think about that every day as I try and represent the 759,000 individuals who live in the very diverse area called the Seventh Congressional District of Illinois.
Some of the wealthiest people in America live along the Gold Coast, the Magnificent Mile. Some of the most disadvantaged individuals live on the south and west sides of Chicago, areas that were devastated during the period of movement action, especially after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
As an elected official, I try to balance the concerns of all these different individuals, all of their hopes, their aspirations, recognizing their issues, their problems, and their concerns. While I represent every aspect of the district--Chinatown; what used to be called Jewtown; Little Italy, an Italian community; Ukrainian Village, a Ukrainian community; a large African-American community; suburban areas--lots of issues, lots of problems, tremendous needs, lots of hopes and aspirations.
African-American males are at the forefront of these issues and these problems for many various reasons that I won't even attempt to really characterize or go into. Oftentimes, when you look at quality of life and those things that are indicators of quality of life, the most disproportionate number of individuals incarcerated, African-American males; the individuals who drop out of school without graduating, African-American males; the unemployed. We brag about less than 4 percent unemployment in our country, but the highest level of unemployment is African-American males.
Something has to be done beyond the average, beyond the norm. We need programs, but we really need to keep working on reducing poverty. Many of these individuals live in poverty-stricken areas, poverty-stricken homes, single-parent homes, areas where the schools are not as good as they might be in other areas.
Therefore, we need special consideration, special treatment. We need to make sure that low-income families can get a real child tax credit like we enacted for the year 2021 where individuals who earned $75,000 or less were able to achieve for their children under 6 $300 a month. That helped a great deal. Of course, if they were 6 and over, under 17, it was $250. That helped a great deal.
What can we do that relates to the needs of African-American men and boys? We can enact a serious child tax credit. We have institutions called PBIs as well as historically Black colleges and universities. I attended one. I credit it with saving my life, my being, or putting me in a position.
However, we can also do some things ourselves. Put more focus on reading. I think if a child, a young person learns to read and likes it, they then can fly as high as their understanding and imagination will take them. One of the reasons that I stand here tonight as a Member of the House of Representatives is because I learned to read when I was a little boy, and I loved it.
The more I read, the more I wanted to read.
The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn.
Of course, my father used to tell us, the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.
Education is the cornerstone, the key, and that is one of the reasons that I just love Representative Frederica Wilson, because she has been an outstanding educator and has taken what she knew, brought it here to us in the House of Representatives, brought it from Florida to Washington, and now people all over the country are trying to emulate her 5000 Role Models of Excellence for African-American males; boys who were put into special programs and special activities. I commend her for that.
The last thing that I will say is in order to deal effectively with the problems associated with being an African-American male, I have been told that where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. Meaning, that if there is righteousness where we make decisions here in Washington, D.C., our activities will follow that righteousness. We will come up with the laws, appropriate the money, and make sure that every individual in our country has the opportunity to grow, develop, to become whatever their manhood/ womanhood, hardworking ambition combines to make them. That is the promise of America.
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