John Lewis

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. I will continue to yield to the gentleman for additional information for the body. I notice the comp time bill is not on the schedule for next week in your announcement, but we keep hearing that this bill is coming. Can you tell us when the bill might come to the floor.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to inquire about the schedule for next week.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend for the information, but I would like to have additional information, and I will continue to yield for that information. Our side would be interested in knowing will the tax bill come up next week? The gentleman is calling the economic growth proposal the tax bill, right?

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, could the gentleman tell us whether the minority side will be allowed to offer a substitute on the floor?

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. If we deal with the tax bill on Friday, does the gentleman think our work will be completed 2 p.m. on Friday?

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. On the Workforce Investment Act, will you allow a substitute on this bill on the floor?

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Whip.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek).

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, we will work together and pull together and push together to make it all happen.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would say to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for what you are suggesting, your recommendation and your plan of action. It reminds me of another period in our history when we just got out there and did what we had to do.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings).

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek), my friend and colleague, for holding this Special Order, and I want to thank all of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus for participating in this order tonight. I want to be very brief. I had gone home and I turn on C-SPAN, and supper was happening, and I was deeply moved to come to the House floor and to say something. So I want to thank him again for doing what he is doing because I think it is important that we take time to salute and pay tribute to the young people who came here on April 1. By coming here and standing at the steps of the Supreme Court, they were standing up for what is right, for what is fair, for what is just. They were standing up for the very best in America. I remember when I first came to Washington many, many years ago in 1961, I was 21 years old, had all of my hair, and I was a few pounds lighter, to go on something called the Freedom Ride during those days in Washington, but throughout the American South, segregation was the order of the day. We saw those signs that said white waiting, colored waiting, white men, colored men, white women, colored women. There was so much violence, so much fear, so much hate, and it was the students following in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr., in the tradition of Gandhi. So sitting in, going on the Freedom Ride, marching all over the country, and by marching, by sitting in or sitting down, really they have created the climate, the environment, to get the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Nothing but nothing, I tell you, nothing moved me more in the last 50 years, or maybe in the last 40 years, than to see these hundreds and thousands of students really marching, protesting, exercising their constitutional right. In America we have a right to protest, as Dr. King would say, protest for what is right. This type of protest helped move our country to the point to get people to say yes, when they may have a desire to say no. These young people believe in the Constitution. They believe in America. They, like many of us, believe in affirmative action. It is the affirmed inclusion, the participation of people, where they are left out and left behind. I like to think these young people were touched by the spirit of history. Sometimes there comes a time when you have to be moved by the spirit of history. In 1960, 1961, 1962, and 1963 we did not have a fax machine, we did not have a Web site, we did not have a cellular telephone. We had the Constitution. We had our bodies. And that is what these young people had. They had ideas; they had the Constitution. I think when historians pick up their pens and write about this period, Mr. Speaker, they will have to say that these young people that came to Washington on April 1, not just college students, high school students, elementary school students, by the hundreds and thousands, they started, as the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) said, a new civil rights movement. I say to them tonight, and to young people and students all over our country, we will not go back, we will not stand still. We will go forward. We will create a truly interracial democracy in America. We will create a beloved community in America. For we are one people, we are one Nation. I say to all of these young people, keep the faith; do not give up, do not give in, do not give out, keep your eyes on the prize.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to David Bloom of NBC News. In the passing of David Bloom, we lost a thoughtful, passionate and courageous journalist. Yet he was more than a journalist, more than a face on NBC News. He was a husband, father, colleague, and a wonderful friend. I met David Bloom for the first time several years ago. He was someone who was very special and very eager to learn more about the civil rights movement. David Bloom was born in 1963, the same year Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his historic ``I Have a Dream'' speech at the March on Washington. David was 2 years old when thousands of men, women, and children marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965. I will never forget the day that David called me. He said, Congressman Lewis, this has nothing to do with business. This is personal. He was driving from New York to Washington, listening to a tape of me giving an introduction to the speech Dr. King delivered at the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. He talked about how the speech touched him personally. I want to say, Madam Speaker, David Bloom's true greatness was yet to come. He was truly a wonderful, talented, and just smart human being. He had energy and vigor. When he was reporting a story, he did more than talk. He used facial expressions and moved his arm and hands to tell its meaning. David Bloom made an imprint on our hearts and minds. That will never, ever be forgotten. Our hearts and prayers go out to his wife, his three daughters, and the entire NBC News family. He will truly be missed.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, this is a very sad day. I weep for my country tonight. I am sorry, very sorry, that we have arrived at this point. Tonight I think the world is a much more dangerous place for all humankind. I want to make it clear that I support all of our young men and women who are in harm's way, and I pray and I pray for their safe return. But tonight, Mr. Speaker, I want to speak for peace. War is bloody and messy. It destroys the hopes, the dreams, and aspirations of a people. In all good conscience, I cannot and will not vote for a resolution that supports and endorses a failed policy that led us to war. War is never the answer. War is obsolete. The struggle for peace is as old as the dawn of history and as fresh as the morning dew. The struggle for peace is a struggle that lasts for more than 1 day, 1 week, 1 year, or more than a lifetime. But we must struggle. Is it possible, is it too much to ask? Maybe it is possible for humankind to evolve to a much higher level and lay down the tools of hate, violence, and war. If we want to create a beloved community, a community that is at peace with itself, if that is our end, if that is our goal, then our way must be one of love, one of nonviolence, one of peace. Tonight, Mr. Speaker, I ask God's blessing on our soldiers, and may God bless our little planet we call Earth.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak for peace one more time, to speak against a rush to war. Our courageous sons and daughters have been placed in harm's way, and I will continue to support our young men and our young women, but I cannot in good conscience betray the nonviolent principles on which I have worked all my life. I cannot sit in silence when I believe there is still time. It is late, it is very late, it is midnight, but it is not too late for diplomacy, Mr. Speaker. War with Iraq will not bring peace to the Middle East. It will not make the world a safer or better place, a more loving place. It will not end the strife and hatred that breeds terror. War does not end strife, it sows it. War does not end hatred, it feeds it. War is bloody, war is vicious, it is evil, and it is messy. War destroys the dreams, the hopes, the aspirations and the longings of a people. I believe that war is obsolete. As a great Nation and a blessed people, we must heed the words of the spiritual, ``I am going to lay down my burden, down by the riverside. I ain't going to study war no more.'' For those who argue that war is a necessary evil, I say you are half right. War is evil, but it is not necessary. War cannot be a necessary evil, because nonviolence is a necessary good. The two cannot coexist. As Americans, as human beings, as citizens of the world, as moral actors, we must embrace the good and reject the evil. If we want to create a beloved community, create a beloved world, a world that is at peace with itself, if that is our end, if that is our goal, our means, our way, it must be one of love, one of peace, one of nonviolence. Gandhi said, ``The choice is nonviolence or nonexistence.'' America's strength is not in its military might, but in our ideas. American ingenuity, freedom and democracy have conquered the world. It is a battle we did not win with guns or tanks or missiles, but with ideas, with principles, this whole idea of justice and freedom and liberty. We must use our resources not to make bombs and guns, but to solve the problems that affect humankind. We must feed the stomach, clothe the naked body, educate and stimulate the mind. We must use our resources to build and not to tear down, to reconcile and not to divide, to love and not to hate, to heal and not to kill. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words, many years ago, said, ``Take offensive action in behalf of justice to remove the conditions which breed resentment, terror and violence against our great Nation.'' This is the direction in which a great Nation and a proud people should move. War is easy, but peace, peace is hard. When we hurt, when we fear, when we feel vulnerable or hopeless, it is easy to listen to what is most debase within us. It is easy to divide the words into us and them, to fear them, to hate them, to fight them, to kill them. War is easy, but peace is hard. Peace is right, it is just and it is true, but it is not easy to love thy enemy. No, peace is hard. Again, Martin Luther King said when he spoke out against the Vietnam War, he said, ``War is not the answer. Let us not join those who shout war. These are days which demand wise restraint and calm reasonableness.'' He was right then, and the wisdom of those words hold true today. War was not the answer then, and it is not the answer today. It is not the answer in this hour. War is never, never the answer. War is obsolete. It is my belief, Mr. Speaker, that humankind would rise to a much higher level if we would lay down the tools and instruments of war and violence. It is not too late to stop our rush to war. Let us give peace a chance.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to plead for peace. Every day our great Nation moves ever closer to war with Iraq. I know many Americans believe war is unavoidable. I hope and pray that they are wrong. It is not an easy thing to disagree with the administration at a time when hundreds of thousands of our brave men and women are poised in the Persian Gulf. I want to make it clear that I will support our troops regardless of what happens, but I cannot, in good conscience, betray the nonviolent principles on which I have worked my whole life. I cannot sit silent when I believe there is still time to use diplomacy and let the inspectors do their job. While I believe that the hour is late, it is not too late to stop the rush to war. It is not too late to embrace peace. War with Iraq will not bring peace to the Middle East. It will not make the world a safer or better or more loving place. It will not end the strife and hatred that breed terror. War does not end strife. It sows it. War does not end hatred. It feeds it. War is bloody. It is vicious, it is evil, and it is messy. War destroys the dreams, the hopes, and aspirations of people. I believe, Mr. Speaker, that war is obsolete. As a great Nation and a blessed people, we must heed the words of the spiritual: ``I am going to lay my burden down, down by the riverside. I ain't gonna study war no more.'' For those who argue that war is a necessary evil, I say you are half right. War is evil. But it is not necessary. War cannot be a necessary evil, because nonviolence is a necessary good. The two cannot coexist. As Americans, as human beings, as citizens of the world, as moral actors, we must embrace the good and reject the evil. To quote Ghandi: ``The choice is nonviolence or nonexistence.'' America's strength is not in its military might, but in our ideas. American ingenuity, freedom, and democracy have conquered the world. It is a battle we did not win with guns or tanks or missiles but with ideas, principles, and justice. We must choose our resources, Mr. Speaker, not to make bombs and guns but to solve the problems that affect all humankind. We must feed the stomach, clothe naked bodies, educate and stimulate the mind. We must use our resources to build and not to tear down, to reconcile and not to divide, to love and not to hate, to heal and not to kill. Let us, in Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words, ``take offensive action in behalf of justice to remove the conditions which breed resentment, terror and violence against our great Nation.'' That is a direction in which a great Nation and a proud people should move. War is easy; but peace, peace is hard. When we hurt, when we fear, when we feel vulnerable or hopeless, it is easy to listen to what is most base within us. It is easy to divide the world into us and them, to fear them, to hate them, to fight them, to kill them. War is easy. But peace is hard. Peace is right, it is just, and it is true. But it is not easy to love thy enemy. No, peace is hard. As my friend and mentor, Dr. King, said when he spoke about the Vietnam War: ``War is not the answer. Let us not join those who shout war. These are days which demand wise restraint and calm reasonableness.'' He was right then and the wisdom of those words holds true today. War was not the answer then, and it is not the answer today. War is never the answer. It is not too late to stop our rush to war. Let us give peace a chance.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Matsui).

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Matsui) for his leadership and all his good work.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall) for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay tribute to seven brave and courageous souls. The crew of the Columbia space shuttle were men and women of medicine and soldiers who chose science over war. They explored space to heal and not to kill. These astronauts were smart and tough. In their quest for the stars, they embodied the hopes, the dreams, and the aspirations of all humankind. These seven individuals were determined, dedicated, and committed. In a real sense, they personified the best of humankind. To honor their memory, we must continue to look beyond our little planet we call Earth. We must continue to soar to the heavens. The Columbia crew was leading us into the future, and we will continue to follow them. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all humanity. Today, this day, we mourn with their families, the families in America and in Israel. God bless the families of the astronauts, and God bless our little planet Earth.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak against this resolution. I rise to speak for peace. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Be they Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikhs; be they white, black, yellow, red, or brown, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Today, we must ask ourselves, are we peacemakers? Will we cast aside our fears, our prejudices, our hate and embrace peace? Will we sow the seeds of peace, or are we just another nation sewing the seeds of war? War with Iraq will sow seeds in the desert sands of the Middle East and throughout the world. What fruit will our actions bear, not just for us but for our children? And not just for the children of our land, but for the children of the West and the Middle East and the world? For it is the children, our little boys and girls, who must live with the consequences of our war. What do we gain? What do our children gain when we have destroyed another nation? What do we gain when we have killed hundreds and thousands of their men, women, and children; when hundreds of our sons and daughters have died? War with Iraq will not bring peace to the Middle East. It will not make the world a safer, a better, a more loving place. It will not end the strife and hatred that breed terror. War does not end strife; it sows it. War does not end hatred; it feeds it. War is bloody, it is vicious, it is evil, and it is messy. War destroys the dreams, the hopes and aspirations of people. As a great Nation and blessed people, we must heed the words of the spiritual, ``I am going to lay my burden down by the riverside. I ain't gonna study war no more.'' For those who argue that war is a necessary evil, I say that they are half right. War is evil, but it is not necessary. War cannot be a necessary evil because nonviolence is a necessary good. The two cannot coexist. As Americans, as human beings, as citizens of the world, as moral actors, we must embrace the good and reject the evil. As Ghandi said, ``The choice is nonviolence or nonexistence.'' The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, ``We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters, or perish as fools.'' There is something greater than military victory, bigger and greater than regime change and toppling governments. It is to this greater good that as a Nation and as a people we must aspire. The scriptures say, ``What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?'' America's strength is not in military might but in our ideas. America ingenuity, freedom, and democracy have conquered the world. It is a battle we did not win with guns or tanks or missiles, but with ideas, principles and justice. We must use our resources not to make bombs and guns but to solve the problems that affect humankind. We must feed the stomach, clothe the naked bodies, educate and stimulate the mind. We must use our resources to build and not to tear down, to reconcile and not to divide, to love and not to hate, to heal and not to kill. This is the direction great nations should move. War is easy, but peace, peace is hard. When we hurt, when we fear, when we feel vulnerable or hopeless, it is easy to listen to what is most base within us. It is easy to divide the world into us and them, to fear them, to hate them, to fight them, to kill them. War is easy, but peace is hard. Peace is right, it is just, and it is true. I know it is not easy to love thy enemy. No, peace is hard. So we have war in Israel, and no peace. We have war in Kashmir, but no peace. We have war in Afghanistan, in Colombia, in Sudan and the Philippines, and no peace. It may be hard, it may be difficult, but the quest for peace is as old as the dawn of history and as fresh as the morning newspaper. Mr. Speaker, my brothers and sisters, sometime, some place, leaders of a great Nation will have the courage to say, ``We will lay down the burden, the tools and the instruments of war. We will wage peace, not war.'' And that nation will be blessed, for they shall be called the children of God.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me. I know this is a very hard and difficult time for the gentleman and for all of us, and for the people of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this resolution remembering the life and the work of our colleague, the gentlewoman from Hawaii, Patsy Mink. Patsy was beautiful and smart. I loved this woman. I loved Patsy Mink. Sometimes on this floor when Patsy was sitting here, I would just walk over and say, hello, Patsy, how are you? What are you thinking about? I first met Patsy when she was a keynote speaker at a Democratic convention during the 1960s. Patsy was one of the most liberal and most progressive Members of this Congress. When Patsy spoke, she spoke from her soul. She spoke from her heart. She had the capacity to get our attention and hold our attention when she stepped in the well of this House. She spoke with passion. Determined, dedicated and committed, Patsy was a fighter. She fought for civil rights, social justice and equality. She was a champion of education. Patsy stood by her convictions. She would not yield to the prevailing wind. She did not put her fingers into the air to see which way the wind was blowing. Patsy will be forever missed. We will miss her as a Nation and as a people. We will never be so lucky, not so blessed to see her likeness again. Mr. Speaker, when the Master created Patsy Mink, he threw away the mold. May the mercy and the grace of God be with her family and with all of us.