The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“INJUSTICES IN REDISTRICTING” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H8800-H8804 on Sept. 12, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
INJUSTICES IN REDISTRICTING
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 12, 1995, the gentlewoman from Georgia [Ms. McKinney] is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my concerns about the words of the gentlewoman from Idaho, and to say to her and to the American people that I share her love for the institutions of this country, and I wish that tonight I had a better story to tell than the story that she just told. But, unfortunately, I think we are going to have to endure another 60 minutes of another tragedy. Let us hope that it does not become a tragedy.
On my way back from Atlanta today, I thought about what an honor it is for me to represent the good people of the 11th Congressional District of Georgia, and what I am going through right now I sincerely hope no other Member of Congress has to endure. Unfortunately, I fear that others will.
So tomorrow I have requested that other Members of Congress who are impacted come and, at about this hour, also tell their stories of what it is like to fight the fiercest political fight there is, and that is the battle for redistricting.
The first question that I pose this evening is, is redistricting about shape or shade? I have got some maps here. This is a map of Illinois' Sixth District, which has gone unchallenged despite its irregular shape. It is a district that has a supermajority of white constituents at 95 percent. This district has gone unchallenged.
I have another map of Texas' Sixth District, which is of irregular shape, which also has a supermajority of white constituents at 91 percent. This district has gone through a similar court battle as has been experienced by the 11th Congressional District, and this district has been declared constitutional.
Finally, there is Georgia's 11th Congressional District, not of grossly irregular shape, not the monstrosity that it has been called, consisting of a supermajority that is 64 percent black. However, this district was both challenged and, unfortunately, found unconstitutional.
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I am forced to conclude that the redistricting battle that the Supreme Court has embarked this Nation upon is one about shade and not shape.
The battle in Georgia, as of today, has just been landed in the courts. That is because the Georgia Legislature was caught in an impasse.
One of the questions I pose is, was the redistricting impasse in the Georgia Legislature about Democrats and Republicans?
Now, I have a newspaper article here from the Metro Courier, which is published in the city of Atlanta, GA. The headline reads, ``Committee Okays One Black District. Plan Offers Little Representation for Blacks.''
In this article, it reads,
Political analysts project that as black voters are shifted from Georgia's other two solidly black districts to simply black-influenced districts, Georgia's political landscape becomes more favorable to white Democratic candidates. Chairman of the legislative black caucus, reapportionment task force, Senator David Scott of Atlanta, said the map was a long way from being acceptable and suggested that Democrats could be due for some bad press in the black community.
He goes on to say, ``I do not think white Democrats want this label around their neck that they are dismantling black congressional seats,'' Scott told reporters.
The head of the Democratic Party in the State of Georgia, our Democratic Governor, was reported in the Atlanta newspaper: Miller staying out of redistricting fray.
Sensing that something bad might, indeed, be coming down the pike, I thought I would write a note to the Democratic leadership of the State of Georgia. We do have a Democratic Governor, a Democratic Lieutenant Governor, and a Democratic speaker of the house. And the title of my statement is, ``Ain't I a Democrat, too?'' And I am going to read this statement.
It says:
In this 75th year of the passage of the 19th Amendment giving America's women the right to vote, it is important to note the important role that women played in the abolitionist movement to free black people and the deep impression that so Sojourner Truth made on her audience when she spoke before men and women who had gathered at a suffrage convention.
When Sojourner rose to speak, there was tension in the air. Nobody knew what she was going to say. And for a brief moment some in the audience began to boo and hiss. But determined to be heard, Sojourner raised her voice and began:
``What is all this talk about women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches and have the best place everywhere? Nobody ever helped me into carriages or over puddles or gives me the best place, and ain't I a woman?''
When she concluded, she left amid a standing ovation. So Sojourner Truth had impressed upon them that, though she was black and never really was able to share the niceties of life, she was still a woman.
I entered office in 1989. When I ran I had a D behind my name. All I knew growing up was a Democratic Party. In the legislature, I worked alongside other Democrats who led our State. I thought we shared important values. I took my constituents seriously. I took my party seriously. And I have been in the trenches of the Democratic Party ever since, organizing, registering, and sounding the message of Democratic values.
One day I was asked by Jesse Jackson, when was the last time you registered anyone to vote? And since then, I have been busy registering; everywhere I go I try to register people to vote, knowing that every person I register, black or white, will vote for the Democratic Party.
I have argued with the Democratic Party, State and national, about maintaining its commitment to grassroots organizing. I have asked the party to look at its unified campaign strategy. And most important of all, I have delivered votes to the Democratic Party. I have delivered votes in the State of Georgia that have benefited members of the State Democratic Party.
And when I do my job in Washington and cooperate with the Democratic leadership of the U.S. Congress and with the Democratic values and work to further Democratic interests. I do not make a distinction between black Democratic interests and white Democratic interests. I speak on behalf of poor people both black and white who want to work in a decent work place, receive a decent wage, come home to decent housing, and enjoy a protected environment.
I speak on behalf of working people who want opportunities to advance, who want quality education for their kids and who expect Government services that work. I speak on behalf of senior citizens both black and white who have given to this country and entered into their own Contract With America. And I speak on behalf of America's women who, despite 75 years of the vote, have only just begun to take their seats at the table where policy is made.
When I cast my vote in Washington in the U.S. House of Representatives, my vote counts the same as everyone else's. I did not change parties. I did not visit with the Republican National Committee. I never considered switching parties. I just continue to sweat for the Democratic Party.
I tried to recruit candidates to run in 1994 and in 1996. I have taken Leon Panetta to Georgia so that the chair of our State Democratic Party could have a personal meeting. I have made recommendations to the State party. I have committed to help raise money for the State party. I have met with the new executive director of our State party and even recently visited the party's office. And the last time I looked, the Governor of the State of Georgia is a Democrat. The Lieutenant Governor of the State of Georgia is a Democrat. The Speaker of the House is a Democrat.
Well, ain't I a Democrat, too?
I must conclude that the redistricting impasse cannot possibly be about Democrats and Republicans. What kind of Representative have I been since I have been in Congress? I have tried to the best of my ability to be a voice for my constituents, not just one group of my constituents but all of my constituents.
I was elected as the people's candidate and sometimes I joke about it. I used to say, and sometimes I still say, I was a candidate that nobody wanted. I did not have big name people behind me. I did not have big money people behind me. All I had were the people of the 11th Congressional District.
The theme of my campaign was warriors do not wear medals, they wear scars. The people who supported me in my campaign where our State's warriors. The people who wake up early every morning, the people who go to bed late at night, the people who give and give and give and give and give and continue to give even more, and all that they ask in return is that they have a better community. And all that they ask is that their Government treat them right.
I do not have a fancy background. My mother is a nurse. My father is a policeman. He later became a member of the Georgia Legislature. But I am just an ordinary person. I come from common stock. And so it is not often that people like me can grace the halls of the U.S. Congress. The politics that I have learned to practice are not go along to get along but to come to Washington to take care of serious business and to speak on behalf of people who have been left out.
I have done my job. I am doing my job. I am giving hope to people in the 11th Congressional District in Georgia. Hope, though, in a listless people is sometimes viewed as a dangerous thing.
I have made a difference in the lives of my constituents, and somehow I cannot help but believe that that difference contributes to the problems that some Georgians may have with me.
What could have been the intent of the Democratic leadership of the State of Georgia? Was it to dilute black voting strength?
I have a document here entitled ``General Assembly Held Hostage:'' Just at the beginning of the special session that was called for the purpose of redrawing congressional districts, 17 State House districts were targeted by the plaintiffs who had successfully challenged the 11th Congressional District. Five State Senate districts were targeted. Some of the targeted representatives, State Representative Tyrone Brooks, State Representative Henry Howard, State Representative Carl Von Epps, State Representative Eugene Tillman, targeted Senators, State Senator Dianne Harvey Johnson, State Senator Robert Brown, State Senator Nadine Thomas, State Senator Steve Henson, State Senator Charles Walker.
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What could have been the purpose of targeting black State legislative districts that had not been challenged in the courts? What could have been the purpose of targeting black State legislative districts that had not been found unconstitutional?
State Senator Donzella James gathered her thoughts, and she composed a piece called the Redistricting Hoax. I will read some excerpts:
Georgia legislators convened a special session of the General Assembly to take up the issue of reconfiguring Georgia's congressional and State district lines. This effort is a result of what many have come to view as Supreme Court double talk. Specifically, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from Pinpoint, Georgia, in a five to four vote cast the pivotal vote mandating the congressional districting question is unconstitutional.
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The decision not only results in new interpretations for defining redistricting, but also prohibits consideration of race as a predominant factor in formulating district lines.
Although the Court's decision is seen by many as a major set back, these current events do not necessarily affect the integrity of Sections 2 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act. By Governor Miller signing a proclamation for State legislators to reconvene in August to readdress political boundaries in Georgia's court-challenged Eleventh District, the Georgia legislative leadership seized the opportunity to have both legislative House and Senate seats included in the redistricting cauldron. This undertaking forced us to shelve the Constitution for a short-term quick-fix remedy.
The zeal to dilute African-American voting strength appears to be motivated by the need to bring about racial polarization. The pending outcome of these efforts may indeed result in the establishment of case law, hereby, congressional seats currently occupied by African-American in Louisiana, North Carolina, Florida and Texas, will be greatly impacted by the deliberations of the Georgia State Legislature.
She goes on to say,
In this episode of political gamesmanship, Republicans attempted to play the white Democrats against the black Democrats by promising both sides their support in addressing their redistricting concerns.
Further, the struggle within the Democratic Party between competing political interests was transformed into one involving race. The eagerness on the part of the white Democrats to ``Republican proof'' their districts blinded them to their overall goal. That is, to foster equal and inclusive representation for all of the people of Georgia.
Self-serving individuals on all sides of the debate practiced deceitful game playing and clever trickery and have made a mockery of the reapportionment mandate. The Georgia General Assembly may come to regret this entire ordeal. A number of questions will have been answered concerning our legislative process. For example, was the court order legislative undertaking a hoax? And if so, could this be a needless waste of the taxpayers' money and will the lawyers laugh all the way to the bank?
My fear is that when it is all over and done, will the redistricting issue be remembered as racial rights versus civil wrongs?
Well, feeling that something unsavory was happening, certain members of the Georgia legislative Black Caucus decided to compose a letter and send it to Deval Patrick, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice. I am going to read the letter.
Dear Mr. Patrick, I am submitting this comment urging you to object to the reapportionment plans passed by the Georgia General Assembly in its special session in 1995. These plans were enacted by the State of Georgia with a racially discriminatory purpose and will have a retrogressive effect on black voters throughout the State.
The plans for the State Senate and State House also violate section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, because those plans dilute black voting strength. In carrying out these redistrictings, the State legislature specifically aimed their sights at legislative districts with majority black voting populations. The decision by the legislature, therefore, was targeted at black voters with the intent to reduce the black voting strength throughout the State.
The legislature undertook this action even though there had been no court decision invalidating our existing plans, nor had there even been a lawsuit challenging any of the districts.
The context in which these new plans were drawn is also important to understand. The special session in which these new reapportionment plans were enacted was called to address also the reapportionment of the congressional districts pursuant to the decision in Johnson v. Miller.
The white leadership in our legislature forced the assembly to address legislative reapportionment first and then proceed to congressional reapportionment.
In exchange for cooperation in legislative reapportionment, the leadership promised to work with the black Members of the legislature on congressional reapportionment. The leadership, therefore, used legislative reapportionment as a stick and forced legislators to make concessions they would otherwise not have made.
The enclosed statistics show the degree of
retrogression and discrimination. For all of these reasons, we urge you to object.
Please call us so that we can provide further details.
Sincerely,
It was signed by several Members of the Georgia legislative Black Caucus.
I have information that was compiled by Representative George Brown of Augusta that was circulated by Representative LaNett Stanley, which cites the district number, the black population of those districts in 1992, and how those districts were dismantled in 1995.
All told, the Georgia legislative Black Caucus voted to dismantle, along with the rest of the Democratic leadership, voted to dismantle nine majority black districts in the House and two in the Senate.
I also have a list of all of the districts that were changed in the course of this. Out of 56 Senate seats, 46 were changed. Out of 180 House seats, 69 were changed.
And I have the story of one incumbent black State representative whose district I helped to draw in 1992, Reverend Tillman. His district was 60 percent black as drawn in 1992. It was reduced in this special session from 60 percent to 30 percent, roughly.
He says that they told him that if he voted for this plan that dismantled all of these districts, that they would increase his percentage. They would not kick him out of office. They would at least give him a fighting chance up to 40 percent. So, he voted for the plan and his district was increased to 40 percent. But what was lost? What was lost?
Reverend Tillman used to represent three counties in Georgia: Liberty County, McIntosh County, and Glynn County. And I will never forget the day that the reapportionment committee held its hearing down in Savannah, GA, back in 1991 or so. A gentleman from Liberty County rose to speak to his elected government from the State of Georgia and he said, ``I come from a county named Liberty, but they still treat us like slaves.''
That gentleman got his district in 1992. That gentleman got representation in 1992. That gentleman might lose his representation in 1996. That gentleman might loose his representation in 1996. And furthermore, if Reverend Tillman wins in the district that the legislature drew, that gentleman would not have Representative Tillman as his representative.
What else could have driven this process? Was it protecting big business? Well, in a news release that State Senator Donzella James released September 6, she implicates kaolin interests in driving a redistricting.
Kaolin is a white clay in Georgia. In fact, there is so much of it in Georgia, that seven counties in Georgia have most of the world's reserves. And those seven counties in Georgia just happen to be in the 11th Congressional District of Georgia.
State Senator Donzella James expressed concern today that Georgia's kaolin companies are exerting undue influence on the State's redistricting process. As legislators slowly hammer out a new congressional map, Senator James is increasingly convinced that kaolin interests in Washington, Jefferson, and Glascock Counties have issued a veto threat over any congressional map which puts them in the Eleventh District represented by Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.
Ms. McKinney first drew the ire of the kaolin companies when she questioned industry practices which exploit poor landowners and force them off their property.
She goes on to elaborate.
And then, of course, it became clear to me, and so
I issued my own press release after hearing so many rumors in the State capitol under the gold dome.
Representative McKinney Says: Kaolin Lobbyists Responsible for
Redistricting Impasse at State Capitol
Kaolin industry lobbyists are preventing State legislators from reaching agreement on a new congressional map, according to Eleventh District Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.
House and Senate conferees are apparently deadlocked over the desire to protect two majority black districts, while at the same time keeping the kaolin counties of Washington, Jefferson, and Glascock out of McKinney's Eleventh District. Some legislators are suggesting that the kaolin industry has served notice to key State officials that the kaolin belt is not to be included in the Eleventh.
At present, conferees are looking for ways to move black voters from Fulton county, the City of Atlanta, into the newly reconfigured Eleventh District, in order to maintain its black majority. However, McKinney and others are pointing out that there is no need to go into Fulton County, if the new Eleventh District includes Washington, Jefferson and Glascock Counties.
Now, I have some maps here. I have a map of the State of Georgia and this is one of the plans that was put on the table. There were so many plans. People were drawing plans left and right. But this is Washington, Glascock, and Jefferson Counties. This is the Eleventh Congressional District and it has got a little finger that goes into Fulton.
I have got a blowup of that finger. That is the finger that goes into Fulton. Now, you do not have to go into Fulton County to get the finger; just put the counties in the district.
And then another map surfaced which had everything just about right. It had the Second Congressional District close to where it needed to be to protect the Democratic incumbent in the Second Congressional District. It had the necessary attributes that the Congressperson there thought were necessary in order to protect that incumbency; had the Eleventh Congressional District where the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus had said they wanted that number, which was 50 percent, which is neither a majority black nor majority white, just fair.
But, with that finger into Fulton, something happens. Washington County, which is the headquarters of the kaolin industry, is omitted from the map.
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Because you have got that finger into Fulton, what you end up doing is gutting the Fifth District. Now, we cannot do that. There is enough population in the State of Georgia to get the numbers right to protect the Democratic incumbents without encroaching upon other districts. There was no need to encroach upon the Fifth District.
I have got a couple of newspaper articles here, Atlanta Journal Constitution, September 7, 1993, ``Bring in the Feds to Probe Kaolin.'' Atlanta Journal Constitution, October 1, 1993,
McKinney takes on Kaolin Industry. Her nosing around has infuriated the industry. One Kaolin executive in Sandersville, home to several Kaolin plants,
that is Washington County,
suggested in a letter to a local newspaper that McKinney's district be dismantled.
``King Kaolin's political prisoner?'' This is from the Atlanta Constitution, Wednesday, June 22, 1994.
At first glance, U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney's suggestion that a Warner Robbins resident has been turned into a political prisoner seems rash. ``This is the American gulag, and Robert Watkins is one of its victims,'' she said, comparing the handling of the case to the infamous justice of the prison system of the former Soviet Union. Surely, McKinney was exaggerating. But a close look at the Watkins case suggests he may well be imprisoned for political reasons. McKinney is right to ask the Justice Department to investigate. Given the financial and political power of the Kaolin Industry in her district, McKinney is brave to look into the strange case of Robert Watkins. The Justice Department should immediately investigate the prison sentence of the man who dared to challenge King Kaolin in middle Georgia.''
Finally, in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, October 22, 1993,
This should not be Cynthia McKinney's fight, but Georgia's politicians are so afraid of the Kaolin Companies, they don't dare raise a peep.
The title of this story is ``Taking on King Kaolin.''
The conclusion of the article is,
So McKinney now is trying to get the U.S. Justice Department to look into the problems. Politically, that may not be a very smart move on her part because Kaolin money will try to unseat her. But then again, who knows, maybe
McKinney will prove that a woman with a backbone can succeed in a State run by men with weak knees.
Could the redistricting impasse have just been caught up in opportunities, political opportunities for favorite sons? Well, there was a plan called the DeLoach plan. That was one of the first plans on the map, on the board, and it just so happened to have been drawn by my former Democratic opponent, the gentleman who organized the lawsuit. His plan was renamed and revised a little bit and passed the Georgia State Senate. In that plan, the Second Congressional District is down from 52 percent to 35 percent, Fifth Congressional District down from 59 percent to 52 percent, the 11th Congressional District down from 60 percent to 39 percent; in other words, goodbye, Cynthia McKinney.
Women can get hurt in this redistricting fight. Women win more seats that are opened up by redistricting, and we have got women who are affected by the current redistricting fights across this country: Cynthia McKinney, the gentlewoman from Florida, Ms. Brown, the gentlewoman from Texas, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson, the gentlewoman from Texas, Ms. Jackson-Lee, the gentlewoman from New York, Ms. Velazquez. Those districts have been targeted. Other women in delegations are affected, the North Carolina delegation, Florida delegation, New York delegation, Illinois delegation. Bottom line on this redistricting is not just a racial issue.
What is the predicament in which blacks find themselves in Georgia? My father has been in the Georgia legislature for 23 years, a long time. He put out a paper entitled ``Billy's Dream.'' He says,
``I had a dream last night. I saw very clearly a group of white men gathered around a table, and they were plotting the future of black people in the South for the next century. I was surprised that I recognized all of them. They were all involved in the attempt to overturn the Voting Rights Act. This distinguished group had been stunned by the Georgia legislative Black Caucus at hearings before the Georgia reapportionment committee. The Caucus had shown unusual preparedness in its opposition to dismantling of majority black districts. In stinging testimony, the assertions of plaintiffs' attorney were proven to be untrue. The Caucus brought down from the University of Virginia a constitutional and civil rights law expert in Dr. Pamela Carlin, attorney
Robert McDuff from Mississippi, Selwyn Carter of the Southern regional council, who serves as the Georgia legislative technical assistant on the Voting Rights Act. This emergency meeting was called because what was thought to be a routine turning back of the clock had gone awry. The blacks would not march back to slavery with their hats in their hands. Like their forefathers before them, after such discussion, it was decided that the State would issue an unheard of order demanding that the State appear before the court and present maps and testimony with only 1 week's notice, 1 week of having been in the special session, and the threat of having the judges, the same judges who found the 11th District unconstitutional, draw the district was supposed to scare the members of the Georgia legislative Black Caucus. That is why you have those State legislative districts held hostage, a brilliant threat to throw panic into the Caucus, because the Caucus isn't really a player in this chess game. Black citizens are only pawns to be sacrificed in a fight between the major parties. The Democrats have three Members serving in Congress, but they do not count, because they are black. So the plan is to banish the black congressmen and spread the black citizens, who vote 95-percent Democratic, among other districts, a devious plan that can only work if the Republicans remain aloof and allow it to happen.
He goes on to say,
Conisder winning a judicial case when the prosecution and the defense are all of one accord. The poor defendant is left up a creek, and that is where black citizens find themselves at this time. The Black Caucus, although not a player at the table, must turn to the tactics of Dr. Martin Luther King, and that is to play the moral card, appeal to the decency of the American people, not to turn back the clock and expel black elected officials from policymaking positions.
That was just a dream.
I know that there are people around this country, indeed, people around the world, who are looking at what happens to Georgia's 11th Congressional District, and I also know that as the Representative for the 11th Congressional District I do not stand alone. We have many supporters.
Our supporters that have filed friendly briefs in the court are the Congressional Black Caucus, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has been of invaluable assistance to us, the State of Texas, the
National voting Rights Institute, Mexican-American Legal Defense Educational Fund, National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, the NAACP, National Organization for Women, National organization for Women Legal Defense Fund, National Urban League, People for the American Way, Women's Legal Defense Fund.
Other Members of Congress, I hope they do not have to go through what we are experiencing in Georgia, but we have quite a few who might be affected by the Georgia decision and the Georgia result: The gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Watt], the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Fields], the gentlewoman from Florida [Ms. Brown], the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Gutierrez], the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Thompson], the gentlewoman from New York [Ms. Velazquez], the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] and the gentlewoman from Texas
[Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson].
I received an e-mail from a woman to a friend of mine, forwarded to me on my computer. The date of the e-mail is Friday, June 30, and the subject is, ``Wow, I would hate to be in Cynthia's shoes. Simma, I am back from South Africa 10 days earlier than expected.'' This is not from a black American woman. ``How ironic that my return from a country where black citizens are finding new strength in the legislative process, I walk into a country where the intent of creating a color-blind society is to eliminate any possible chance for equal representation. Adding to my confusion is the battle over affirmative action. I hope other countries are not looking to us for civil rights leadership.''
This is not the first time this has happened in America's history. It has not happened yet. I am going to fight like the dickens to make sure it does not happen.
I have here the Congressional Record, and this is a Congressional Record from 1901. The Speaker is Representative George White, who was the last African-American Member of Congress to serve. He served from the State of North Carolina. North Carolina ended it; North Carolina is beginning it.
Upon his exit from Congress, he spoke, ``Now, Mr. Chairman, before concluding my remarks, I want to submit a brief recipe for the solution of the so-called American Negro problem.'' He asks no special favors but simply demands that he be given the same chance for existence, for earning livelihood, for
raising himself on the scales of manhood and womanhood that are accorded to kindred nationalities. Treat him as a man. Go into his home, learn of his social conditions, learn of cares, his troubles, his hopes for the future. Gain his confidence and open the doors of industry to him. This, Mr. Chairman, is perhaps the Negro's temporary farewell to the American Congress, but let me say, Phoenix-like, he will rise up someday and come again. These parting words are in behalf of an outraged, heart-broken, bruised and bleeding, but God-fearing people, faithful, industrious, loyal people, rising people full of potential force. Sir, I am pleading for the life of a human being. The only apology that I have to make for the earnestness with which I have spoken is that I am pleading for the life, the liberty, the future happiness and manhood, suffrage for one-eighth of the entire population of the United States.
I do not want to have to give that farewell speech and lead what might be an unending procession of African-Americans, women and people of color out of the U.S. Congress.
I want to take the opportunity to commend the Members of the Georgia legislative Black Caucus, State Senator Diane Harvey Johnson, chairwoman of the Georgia legislative Black Caucus, State Senator David Scott, who was the task force Chair, the reapportionment task force Chair, fought untiringly to protect the three Democratic incumbents of the Georgia congressional delegation, representative Calvin Smyre, served as House negotiator, State Representative David Lucas, served on the House Conference Committee, State Senator Charles Walker, served on the Senate Conference Committee.
Finally, I have a poem. State Senator Donzella James has distributed this poem in the days when time was winding down and people's hearts were very heavy because the fight was about to leave the legislature and proceed to another level, another level of uncertainty.
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Mr. Speaker, the title of the poem is ``Don't Quit.'' It goes:
When things go wrong, as they sometimes willWhen the road you're trudging seems all uphillWhen funds are low and debts are highAnd you want to smile, but you have to sighWhen care is pressing you down a bitRest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turnsAs every one of us sometimes learnsAnd many a person turns aboutWhen he might have won had they stuck it outDon't give up though the pace seems slowYou may succeed with another blow.
Often the struggler has given upWhen he might have captured the victor's cupand her learned too latewhen the night came downHow close was the crown.
Success is failure turned inside outSo stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.
I know that the good people of the State of Georgia are not going to quit in this fight for representation. I also know that the eyes of America are watching as Georgia goes through this process, and I have faith and hope that at the end of this process everyone in the State of Georgia will have been accorded what we only all ask, and that is a fair shake.
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