S6364 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 13, 2005 Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask These three men, driven by their en- can become a better people by cele- unanimous consent to speak as in trepreneurial energy, opened a small brating the glories of our past—but morning business for what time is re- grocery store that catered primarily to also our imperfections. That includes quired. African Americans. They took business continuing to do our utmost to protect The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without away from nearby White business own- voting rights for all Americans. objection, it is so ordered. ers. Driven by hatred and jealousy, by Mr. President, I yield the floor and f rage and prejudice, an angry White suggest the absence of a quorum. mob stormed their store. Acting in The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- A FAILING OF THE SENATE self-defense, Wells’ three friends fired pore. The clerk will call the roll. Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in 45 min- on the rioters. The police arrested the The bill clerk proceeded to call the utes or so, we will be turning to an im- grocers for defending themselves. The roll. portant issue which people have spoken mob kidnapped all three from jail, and Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask to over the course of the day, an issue all three were murdered in the Mem- unanimous consent that the order for we will be spending the evening on. It phis streets. the quorum call be rescinded. is an issue that is one of the worst These brutal murders galvanized The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. failings of this institution in our his- Wells into action. Her righteous anger, CHAFEE). Without objection, it is so or- tory, a failing surrounding a refusal to blistering editorials, and strong sense dered. act on our part against lynching, of justice further enraged Memphis big- Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous against vigilantism, against mob mur- ots. They burned her newspaper presses consent that the debate time on the der. It has been a shame in many ways. and threatened to murder her. Wells Griffith nomination be yielded back We have to be careful when we use that moved to Chicago and became one of and the Senate proceed to legislative word, but when we look at the reality that city’s leading social crusaders. session in order to consider S. Res. 39. of missed opportunities to act, we can, Wells’ book ‘‘Southern Horrors: Lynch The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without with justification, use the word Law in All Its Phases’’ and her dogged objection, it is so ordered. ‘‘shame’’ on the institution and a investigative reporting exposed mil- f shame on Senators who didn’t just fail lions of Americans to the brutality of to act but deliberately kept the Senate lynching. In a nation rife with racism LEGISLATIVE SESSION and the whole of the Federal Govern- and prejudice, Ida Wells and her col- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under ment from acting and from acting leagues began the civil rights move- the previous order, the Senate will now proactively. ment. They helped bring us integra- return to legislative session. Although deep scars will always re- tion. They paved the way for equality. f main, I am hopeful we will begin to And they taught all of us that racism heal and help close the wounds caused is a terrible evil. APOLOGIZING TO LYNCHING VIC- by lynching. Four out of five lynch After many years of struggle, after TIMS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS mob victims were African American. many setbacks, and after much heart- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The The practice followed slavery as an ache, they won. From President Tru- clerk will report the resolution by ugly expression of racism and preju- man’s Executive order ending segrega- title. dice. In the history of lynching, mobs tion in the Armed Forces to the 1964 The bill clerk read as follows: murdered more than 4,700 people. Near- Civil Rights Act, a series of civil rights A resolution (S. Res. 39) apologizing to the ly 250 of those victims were from my laws moved the Nation toward legal victims of lynching and the descendants of State of Tennessee. Very few had com- equality. those victims for the failure of the Senate to mitted any sort of crime whatsoever. But no civil rights law is as impor- enact anti-lynching legislation. Lynching was a way to humiliate, to tant to our Nation’s political process Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask repress, to dehumanize. as the 1965 Voting Rights Act. unanimous consent that the clerk pro- The Senate disgracefully bears some It enfranchised millions of African- ceed with the reading of the resolution. of the responsibility. Between 1890 and American voters and it brought many The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 1952, seven Presidents petitioned Con- black politicians into office. objection, it is so ordered. gress to ban lynching. In those same 62 Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act The bill clerk read as follows: years, the House of Representatives will be up for reauthorization in 2007. Whereas the crime of lynching succeeded passed three antilynching bills. Each President Reagan signed into law a 25- slavery as the ultimate expression of racism bill died in the Senate, and the Senate year reauthorization in 1982. in the United States following Reconstruc- made a terrible mistake. Section 4 contains a temporary tion; The tyranny of lynch mobs created preclearance provision that applies to Whereas lynching was a widely acknowl- an environment of fear throughout the Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mis- edged practice in the United States until the American South. Lynching took inno- sissippi, South Carolina, Texas, Vir- middle of the 20th century; cent lives. It divided society, and it ginia, and parts of Alaska, Arizona, Ha- Whereas lynching was a crime that oc- thwarted the aspirations of African curred throughout the United States, with waii, Idaho, and North Carolina. documented incidents in all but 4 States; Americans. Lynching was nothing less These States must submit any voting Whereas at least 4,742 people, predomi- than a form of racial terrorism. changes to the U.S. Department of Jus- nantly African-Americans, were reported It took the vision and courage of men tice for preclearance. If the Depart- lynched in the United States between 1882 and women such as Mary White ment of Justice concludes that the and 1968; Ovington, W.E.B. DuBois, George H. change weakens the voting strength of Whereas 99 percent of all perpetrators of White, Jane Adams and, of course, fel- minority voters, it can refuse to ap- lynching escaped from punishment by State low Tennessean Ida Wells-Barnett to prove the change. or local officials; pass Federal laws against lynching and While I recognize that this can im- Whereas lynching prompted African-Amer- icans to form the National Association for put an end to the despicable practice. pose a bureaucratic burden on States the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Ida Wells-Barnett, indeed, may have acting in good faith, we must continue and prompted members of B’nai B’rith to done more than any other person to ex- our Nation’s work to protect voting found the Anti-Defamation League; pose the terrible evils of lynching. A rights. That is why we need to extend Whereas nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were school teacher from Memphis who put the Voting Rights Act. introduced in Congress during the first half herself through college, she became Quite simply, we owe civil rights pio- of the 20th century; one of the Nation’s first female news- neers such as Ida Wells nothing less. Whereas, between 1890 and 1952, 7 Presi- paper editors. A civil rights crusader I hope the day will come when racism dents petitioned Congress to end lynching; from her teens, Ida Wells committed and prejudice are relegated completely Whereas, between 1920 and 1940, the House of Representatives passed 3 strong anti- herself to the fight against lynching to our past. This resolution is a posi- lynching measures; after a mob murdered her friends— tive step in the right direction. Whereas protection against lynching was Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Transforming our Nation requires the minimum and most basic of Federal re- Henry Stewart. that we recall our history—all of it. We sponsibilities, and the Senate considered but VerDate jul 14 2003 05:10 Jun 14, 2005 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G13JN6.055 S13PT1 June 13, 2005 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6365 failed to enact anti-lynching legislation de- understanding of lynching. A group of cated across the street from a White- spite repeated requests by civil rights angry White men take an accused and owned grocery store that had pre- groups, Presidents, and the House of Rep- presumed guilty Black man deep into viously been the only grocer in the resentatives to do so; the woods and hang him. Those are the area. Angered by the loss of business, a Whereas the recent publication of ‘‘With- out Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in images, although accurate and tragic, mob gathered to run the new grocers America’’ helped bring greater awareness but they delude us from the true na- out of town. Forewarned about the at- and proper recognition of the victims of ture of lynching in this dark period of tack on their store, the three owners lynching; American history. armed themselves for protection, and Whereas only by coming to terms with his- The thought of a small, angry mob in the riot that ensued, one of the busi- tory can the United States effectively cham- murdering Black prisoners in the dead nessmen injured a White man.