October 26, 2005 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H9259 was the first African American to grad- theme between what they do and what did not debate anyone. She was a very uate. It so happens the incredible irony Rosa Parks did. It is believing that mild-mannered person. She never of history that she died last week at there is a higher cause that can sustain sought the limelight. She never, ever the young age of 63. you, just as our soldiers believe when issued a press release. She never sought I remember going on campus at the they get up every morning and face the awards or commendations. Yet she re- University of Alabama just last week bunkers and the missiles and the gre- ceived more than most people do in to speak at a memorial service for her nades, they believe that there is a this world that we live in. and to see students, black and white, higher cause that can sustain them. So So that was this one aspect of her, people from the power structure of did Rosa Parks. When she sat on that but there was another. There was in- Tuscaloosa, people from all over Tusca- bus, she believed that there was some- side her forged a set of principles of loosa gathering together to honor her thing beyond her mortal existence, and which two were very prominent in sacrifice. I am reminded, Mr. Speaker, that moved her. terms of my analysis here this evening. of a cover of Newsweek Magazine in The last thing I say today is that our One, she was a very religious woman. 1963. It showed Vivian Malone Jones, country can be moved if we simply un- She attended church with great regu- who was a very beautiful young derstand the power of individuals as- larity, but, more than that, she worked woman, it showed her standing there serting their dignity, if we put enough in the church. She helped out. She was on the campus, and beneath her image of a foundation beneath them so that there during the week. And combined was the anonymous quote: ‘‘We owe they can live their destinies. with her religious convictions was this them and we owe ourselves a better With that said, I am very happy to fierce antipathy to segregation. And I country.’’ turn over the management of this Spe- do not know how many people we can Mr. Speaker, I would submit that the cial Order to my colleague, John Con- think of that combine these two kinds Vivian Malone Joneses and the Rosa yers from Michigan, who employed of characteristics, soft spoken and Parkses, what made them such icons, Rosa Parks for a number of years, humble, and yet fiercely prepared, in a nonviolent way, to fight segregation. what makes them icons to us now, is someone who was a friend of hers, and So she came to this activity not as the fact that they challenged us. They someone who has been an advocate for something that she just happened to made us believe that we owed them a many years now, almost 40 years now, get into or that she moved one day, she better country, and they also made us in this Chamber for so many progres- did something different; she had always believe that we owed ourselves a better sive causes. been an activist in Alabama. She was a country. f member of the NAACP, she was always One of the last points that I will REMEMBERING ROSA PARKS the first to sign the membership card, make tonight is that there ought to be and it is hard to remember that this The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. a challenge in this for us, because not could be the case, but in the 1940s, only do we owe their successors a bet- WESTMORELAND). Under the Speaker’s being a member of the NAACP in the ter country, we owe the people who are announced policy, and on the designa- South, and publicly acknowledging it, wounded in America, who are coming tion of the Minority Leader, the bal- was a very daring and courageous move back from Iraq, a better country. We ance of the hour will be controlled by in and of itself. owe the people who are working every the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. She subscribed to the theory of non- single day, striving to earn a living and CONYERS). violence. So when, on December 1, 1955, falling just short of the water’s edge, GENERAL LEAVE she decided that she would not give up we owe them a better country. We owe Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask her seat on a public bus in Mont- the children who are sliding into pov- unanimous consent that all Members gomery, Alabama, some thought that erty in this country a better country may have 5 legislative days within was the first time that she had ever and a better vision. That is what we which to revise and extend their re- done it. But to the contrary, previously have to understand. marks and include extraneous material she had refused to give up her seat, but This legacy of civil rights, this his- on the subject of this Special Order. she was ordered off the bus. She had tory of individuals rising above oppres- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there never been arrested. And so this time sion and segregation is a long-running objection to the request of the gen- they told her, you will be arrested, you theme in human history. The story of tleman from Michigan? are going to be arrested. people standing up against oppressive There was no objection. b 2130 systems and asserting their dignity is a Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I want long-running theme in human history. to thank my colleague from Alabama And she said, I am not giving up my It is a theme of courage, and it is a (Mr. DAVIS) whose district I had the seat. You can do whatever you want. uniquely American theme. pleasure of being in, and with him, And so we marched into this great his- So as I prepare to yield to some of only a few days ago. tory. my colleagues tonight, I will simply Mr. Speaker, this is a sad moment for Now, I wanted to point out that she make these two final points. I am very me. The truth of the matter is that we was the one that brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., into the civil rights proud to be from Montgomery, Ala- have known that Mrs. Rosa Louise movement. Martin Luther King, Jr., bama, very proud to be a son of this Parks had been in poor health; that was at that time 26 years old, and he modern South, because every day that frequently we would ask, how is she was called in to come after she had we build bridges of reconciliation, we doing this week? Is she any better? been arrested; and it was decided that How are things going? And now that pay our own tribute to Rosa Parks. everyone was going to boycott the Every day that we find a way to exist this moment has come 2 days ago, we buses as a result. across racial lines, every day that we still cannot accept this reality of this And so it is ironic that she had this find a way to transcend new bound- dear, powerful, gentle lady going to her role in addition to restarting the civil aries, every day that we find a way to reward after 92 years of being with us rights movement in America. She make better the lives of all the people on this Earth. brought in the person who would ulti- who live in our community, we pay a She has been regarded as an ordinary mately lead it at the same time. silent tribute to Rosa Parks and to person, as an example of what an ordi- I am sure Dr. King may not have Vivian Malone Jones, and we ought to nary person can do in our system. But been thinking about his future and his remember that. I am not convinced that she is an ordi- destiny, and I am sure that Mrs. Parks The final point that I will make is nary person, because I have seen her at could not anticipate what this one simply, once again, to talk about the very close range. The fact of the mat- move was going to mean. And so I am power of individual choice. I heard one ter is I believe she is an extremely ex- very happy to tell you that I had the of my colleagues on the other side of traordinary person because of these opportunity to meet her, to know her the aisle talk about the enormous two qualities. First of all, she was a before she came to Detroit, and what a courage of our soldiers in Iraq, and it is gentle lady. She was soft-spoken. She blessing it was to find out that she ul- such a thing that inspires us, their had never in the years I have known timately with her husband left Mont- courage. Well, there is a common her ever raised her voice in anger. She gomery. VerDate Aug 31 2005 06:10 Oct 27, 2005 Jkt 049060 PO 00000 Frm 00155 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K26OC7.184 H26OCPT1 H9260 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE October 26, 2005 Why? Because she wanted to go Ms.