S3204 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 25, 2017 RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF President Reagan highlighted the im- In closing, the feeling of dread and TRUSTEES OF THE WASHINGTON portance of making child safety a pri- helplessness that families must feel NATIONAL OPERA ority when he established May 25 as when a child goes missing is unimagi- Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, my wife National Missing Children’s Day for nable. To help prevent similar trage- Marcelle and I know and respect Jac- the first time in 1983. On this day, we dies in the future, I urge my colleagues pause to remember those children who queline Mars. She joined the Wash- to join me in supporting these impor- have gone missing and honor those who ington National Opera’s board of trust- tant pieces of legislation. are dedicated to their rescue. ees in 2003. She was elected as chair- According to the FBI, hundreds of f man of the board of the Washington thousands of children are reported ASIAN PACIFIC HERITAGE MONTH National Opera in 2011 and oversaw missing each year. Most of these cases WNO’s affiliation with the John F. are closed within hours, thanks to the Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I Kennedy Center for the Performing quick actions of families, communities, wish to recognize May as Asian Pacific Arts. Some of the highlights during her and law enforcement personnel, but American Heritage Month and cele- tenure as chair have been the ac- there also are children, like Lyric Cook brate the many contributions of Asian claimed production of American Ring— and Elizabeth Collins, who never make Americans and Pacific Islanders, AAPI. The Ring of the Nibelung; M&M’s it home safely. The Asian American and Pacific Is- Opera in the Outfield; the Holiday Ten-year-old Lyric and 8-year-old lander community is diverse and draws Family Opera; and the American Opera Elizabeth disappeared in 2012 while from a variety of distinct cultures, Initiative. Marcelle tells me that, in taking a bike ride near their grand- each of which has strengthened this recognition and appreciation of all of mother’s house in Evansdale, IA. Their country—providing leaders, innovators, her tireless efforts and enormous con- bodies were found in the woods nearby scientists, activists, artists, and citi- tribution and support of the Wash- later that year. Almost 5 years have zens. ington National Opera, the Board of passed since their lives were cut short, As we take the time to recognize Trustees of the Washington National but the perpetrator has yet to be iden- Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Opera have unanimously approved that tified. and their heritage, it would be neg- Jacqueline Mars will now be recognized My heart goes out to their grieving ligent to forget that this year marks 75 as chairman of the board of trustees families and the families of all the years since President Franklin Delano emeritus of the Washington National other children who have lost their lives Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. Opera. in similar tragedies. These child abduc- He signed Executive Order 9066 in the I ask unanimous consent that this tion and murder cases are a reminder aftermath of the attack on Pearl Har- resolution be printer in the RECORD. of the need to promptly pass legisla- bor and authorized the Department of There being no objection, the mate- tion to extend the key programs au- War—today known as the Department rial was ordered to be printed in the thorized by the Adam Walsh Child Pro- of Defense—to establish ‘‘military RECORD, as follows: tection and Safety Act. The Senate zones.’’ The military had complete au- RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF passed such a bill by a vote of 89 to 0 in thority over these zones, including con- THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA the 114th Congress. Another measure trol over who entered and who was per- The Board of Trustees of the Washington that would make a difference in the mitted to leave. The military zones be- National Opera (the ‘‘Board’’) does hereby lives of missing children is Kevin and came internment camps. In total, some adopt the following resolutions: Avonte’s Law. Last year, the Senate 75,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry Whereas, the Board recognizes the extraor- unanimously passed this legislation, and 45,000 Japanese nationals were im- dinary achievements of Jacqueline Badger which is named in honor of two boys prisoned in these camps across the Mars as Trustee and Chairman of the Wash- with autism who died after wandering country. ington National Opera; from safety. This bill, which I cospon- At the time, many attempted to jus- Whereas, in her years as Chairman, Jac- sored, promotes the use of technology queline Badger Mars has provided wise, far- tify the internment camps by citing to help locate children with autism and sighted, and creative leadership in guiding Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. They related conditions who may be suscep- the Washington National Opera from the cited the need to protect our homeland tible to wandering away from safety. It challenges it faced in effectuating its his- from potential espionage. They cited also supports training for first respond- toric affiliation with the John F. Kennedy the fact that Japan was our wartime Center for the Performing Arts, through its ers and other community officials to enemy. They cited the likelihood that successful and acclaimed production of Wag- help prevent and respond to these the next attack would come from ner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle of op- cases. eras—perhaps the most ambitious project A related bill passed the other Cham- someone ‘‘looking like’’ the enemy. that can be undertaken in the opera world, ber by a wide margin late last year. I What they failed to explain was why to its commissioning and introduction of am currently working with the sponsor no internment camps were established new works by new composers and librettists for Americans of German ancestry—or as part of the American Opera Initiative; of that companion bill, Congressman CHRIS SMITH, to resolve the differences Italian ancestry. Japan was not our Whereas, Jacqueline Badger Mars’s service only wartime enemy; yet Japanese as Chairman has included numerous other between our two bills. Congressman highlights and accomplishments; and SMITH and I intend to reintroduce an Americans were the only ones thrust Whereas, the Board wishes to recognize its updated version of Kevin and Avonte’s into imprisonment under the guise of deep appreciation to Jacqueline Badger Mars Law in each Chamber in the coming ‘‘national security.’’ for her untiring efforts and enormous con- weeks. It is not difficult to guess why. Japa- tribution to and support of the Washington Finally, I would also like to take this nese Americans were targeted because National Opera and the operatic art form opportunity to announce that I will their heritage was thought to be easier generally, and for her friendship over the soon introduce legislation, known as to perceive. Of course, in many cases, years, now, therefore, be it: the U.S. Department of War did not Resolved, That Jacqueline Badger Mars the Trafficking Victims Protection Act shall hereinafter be recognized as Chairman of 2017. The bill I am developing in- draw distinctions between Americans of the Board of Trustees Emeritus of the cludes several provisions to help in the of Japanese ancestry and Americans of Washington National Opera; and further fight against child exploitation. First, other Asian or Pacific Islander ances- Resolved, That this resolution shall be ef- it promotes training of school resource try. If you were thought to look like fective May 15, 2017. officers, to ensure that they can better the enemy, you were a target—full f detect and respond to child trafficking stop—and were at risk of being impris- cases. Second, it updates the authoriza- oned illegally by the American Govern- NATIONAL MISSING CHILDREN’S tion for the National Center for Miss- ment. DAY ing and Exploited Children. Third, it This is one of the darkest periods in Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I extends and updates some of the key our history. We must not forget it. We would like to take this opportunity to programs that were established under cannot forget the tens of thousands of remind my colleagues that today is Na- the Trafficking Victims Protection innocent families who were stripped of tional Missing Children’s Day. Act. their basic human and legal rights and

VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 May 26, 2017 Jkt 069060 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A25MY6.060 S25MYPT1 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with SENATE May 25, 2017 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S3205 property, racially profiled, and de- AAPI community’s concern is war- Jews—including me—to pursue public graded. We cannot forget that ‘‘na- ranted; people’s fear is understandable. service. Today, as I stand in this Cham- tional security’’ was then—and is Each Member of Congress must realize ber as a U.S. Senator from Maryland, I now—a poor justification for racial that caring about the mistakes of our am struck by the impact of Mendes profiling and a transparent attempt to past means working with purpose and Cohen’s legacy. If I were able to speak sanction and institutionalize racism. with conviction to prevent them from to him now, I would tell him: thank These are lessons the Asian Amer- happening again in the present. We you. Thank you for paving the way for ican and Pacific Islander community must use our votes where our values me to have it all: my faith, my family, has carried for generations, all while need defending and our voices where my heritage, and my career in public making our country stronger and more there is silence. service. If Mendes were able to speak inclusive. The AAPI experiences—when As we move forward through Asian now, I imagine he would tell us that we take the time to hear them—force Pacific American Heritage Month and his work is unfinished. He would en- us to engage in self-reflection, to be beyond, I implore every member of this courage us to continue carrying the more aware of our own biases, and Chamber to remember that the best torch of public engagement and civil more cautious of our own impulses. way to honor that heritage is to re- service. He would remind us that path As the former chairman and ranking spect the community bearing it. Hear- toward progress, by its very definition, member of the Senate Foreign Rela- ing their experiences, carrying their has no endpoint. tions Subcommittee on East Asia and lessons with us into the policy arena, These values underpin the broader the Pacific, I have worked hard to stay and considering their needs and fears Jewish community in Maryland and mindful of the needs and concerns of as our own, these are the substantive across the country. We learned early in the AAPI community. I have learned ways by which we can truly honor our own history that the tide of oppres- that, while we have come a very long Asian American and Pacific Islander sion and bigotry can rise quickly and way over the past 75 years, the AAPI Heritage. I am committed to honoring that, when it floods one shore, it floods them all. We learned that, when it community still battles nativism that it accordingly and join every American comes for one community, it spares portrays its members as something of Asian or Pacific Islander heritage in none. We learned that we must be our other than ‘‘real’’ Americans. They celebrating this month as their own. own stewards—that pluralism and still bear the burden and pain of dis- f crimination, and they still struggle to equality demand constant guardians have their voice and their perspective JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE and that, when prejudice threatens heard during the great debates of our MONTH them, nothing but our own tenacity time. Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I can fend it off. The changes Republicans are seeking wish to recognize and celebrate Jewish That tenacity is needed now more on healthcare, for example, would have American Heritage Month. As a proud than ever, as we are confronted by re- surgent anti-Semitism in every corner far-reaching consequences for the AAPI Jewish American, I am honored to have of the world—even here, at home. In community. Asian Americans and Pa- the opportunity to acknowledge our the past few months, we have wit- cific Islanders have one of the highest heritage and the ways by which it has nessed hate speech targeted at the Jew- incidences of Hepatitis A. In fact, in helped shape this country. The list is a ish community on social media, the os- 2013, they had the highest Hepatitis A long one, but this year, I want to focus tracism and vilification of Jewish stu- rates out of any ethnic group in the on Mendes Cohen, whose legacy serves dents on college campuses, and attacks country. In 2015, tuberculosis was 30 as a microcosm of our community. against Jewish businesses and syna- times more common among Asian Mendes Cohen was born in Richmond, gogues; yet it is precisely because the Americans than among any other VA, in May of 1796 to Israel and Judith Jewish community has endured genera- Solomon Cohen, both of whom were im- group. Both Hepatitis A and tuber- tions of persecution that promoting migrants. Mendes’s father came from culosis would be considered preexisting tolerance, equality, and inclusion has Germany, and his mother came from conditions—conditions that would have become a central tenant of Jewish England. His father died when Mendes made many Asian American and Pa- American culture. cific Islanders uninsurable before was just 12 years old. The event was a Jewish Americans participated in the President Obama signed the Affordable tragedy, of course, for Mendes, his six abolitionist movement in the 19th cen- Care Act into law and conditions that siblings, and his mother, who moved tury. They joined the ranks of the Stu- would result in sky-high premiums the family to Baltimore for a fresh dent Nonviolent Coordinating Com- under the misguided American Health start shortly thereafter. mittee during the Civil Rights move- Care Act. Mendes grew up not far from where I ment. The partnership between Julius By comparison, the Affordable Care grew up; he was raised not unlike I was Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington Act has reduced the uninsured rate for raised. He believed in the value of pub- resulted in the construction of thou- minority communities by at least 35 lic service. He believed in serving his sands of schools for African-American percent. It also expanded Medicaid, al- country and working for the good of children in the South throughout the lowing over 250,000 more Maryland his community. He held fast to an ide- 20th Century. beneficiaries to access an array of men- ology based on tolerance, equality, and Jewish Americans are proud of their tal health services like therapy, psy- fraternity. It was precisely this ide- history promoting such causes. They chiatric rehabilitation, and many oth- ology that led him to fighting in the are proud of their faith and their herit- ers. The Affordable Care Act’s Med- War of 1812 at Ft. McHenry. After the age, but they are also proud to profess icaid expansion had similar positive war, he and his brother Jacob began their support of other people’s faiths impacts for mental health services lobbying to change Maryland’s con- and heritage. They are proud to be across the country, which affects Asian stitution so that Jews could run for guardians of a free and pluralistic soci- Americans and Pacific Islanders di- public office. In 1826, he was successful, ety; they are proud to weave love out rectly as they continue to work tire- and by 1847, he was a delegate in the of millennia of knowing hate. That is lessly to reduce suicide rates. For these Maryland General Assembly. He car- the story of Jewish Americans. From reasons, when we think of healthcare, ried his love of country and belief in Mendes Cohen to the American Jewish we must consider the human cost our public service with him throughout the community’s defense of diversity and policies inflict on every community— remainder of his life, going on to serve inclusion today, every chapter we on every American. as a delegate to the State Peace Con- write, though unique, shares the same Likewise, immigration bans based on vention during the Civil War. theme: progress—progress and equal- country of origin, race, or religion are Mendes was, simply put, a historic ity. awakening newfound fear that minor- marvel. He was a forward thinker, an Jewish Americans have, therefore, ity communities will be targeted once activist, a consummate public servant, helped make the United States the more, that racial profiling will rear its and a proud Jew. He broke down the force for human and equal rights that ugly head again, licensed and sanc- single greatest barrier to Jewish entry it is today, but each day, we face chal- tioned by the Federal Government. The into public life and opened the door for lenges to those ideals, challenges that

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