On Introducing A Resolution Regarding Black-Jewish Relations And The Shooting At The United States Holocaust Memeorial Museum

Floor Speech

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce a resolution expressing the sense of Congress regarding Black-Jewish relations and the June 10, 2009 shooting at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, an African American, was shot dead by a white supremacist while defending an institution devoted to Jewish history and to the eradication of all forms of hatred and violence.

Madam Speaker, last week's tragic act of violence reminds us yet again that black Americans and Jewish Americans share a great deal in common. Our two communities have a long history of fighting injustice and hate, whether in the form of racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, or any other form of senseless hatred. We have so often stood together, united in our desire to create a world free from the kind of violence that plagued this nation last week. When Jewish Americans helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909 and the Urban League in 1910, they did so out of a conviction that by mitigating the evils of racial intolerance all people would benefit from an America free of discrimination and committed to equal justice and equal opportunity for all. Indeed, W.E.B. Dubois told the Jewish Daily Forward in 1928 that ``the Negro race looks to Jews for sympathy and understanding,'' referencing the sense amongst both communities that in their respective histories they had endured similar challenges.

A few decades later African Americans would denounce the Nazis' racial policies and fight against Hitler, while those of African descent were marginalized in Germany and, in a little-known twist of history, many African Americans found themselves prisoners in concentration camps. Jewish Americans have always been deeply grateful to the members of the Armed Forces who liberated the concentration camps, including African American soldiers who took part not only in freeing the camps but seeing to the health and well being of Jewish refugees afterward.

Here in the United States, during the 1950s and 1960s, black Americans and Jewish Americans often stood side by side in the fight for civil rights and equal justice. Sometimes they even died for their efforts, as was the case with the infamous 1964 murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi. Over 50% of civil rights attorneys in the South during those years were Jewish, and the two communities and their various advocacy organizations were often united against the inflamed hatreds and acts of violence of that era.

Madam Speaker, last week's shooting exemplified the extent to which our two communities can be united on issues that profoundly and tragically affect us both. There is no doubt that the act of violence at the Holocaust Museum was directed against the very notions of equality, acceptance, and mutual respect that our communities constantly strive for. We both share a common historical narrative around discrimination, persecution, injustice, and hatred. But a significant part of that narrative also includes our efforts to overcome those hardships and together rise above the petty hatreds and tragic acts of violence that plague our communities.

I hope that last week's shooting at the Holocaust Museum will not be dismissed as the random ravings of a crazed lunatic. But let us also not forget that there have been many more acts of violence here in this country since last week, and it is incumbent upon both of our communities--indeed, our entire society--to boldly confront not only the white supremacists but also the gang violence, and not only the anti-Jewish screeds but also the horrific racial diatribes littering the social conscience. We must not only improve security at the Holocaust Museum and other Jewish institutions but also put more police on the streets in our urban neighborhoods; not only redouble our efforts on education, training, and outreach but also take concrete measures to expand opportunities like college, jobs, and health care to all Americans. Let us once again have African Americans and Jewish Americans stand together for justice and equality.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

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