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“RECOGNIZING THE LEADERS OF CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST FOR THEIR LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH REGARDING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E473-E474 on March 13, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RECOGNIZING THE LEADERS OF CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST FOR THEIR LETTER TO
PRESIDENT BUSH REGARDING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
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HON. BARBARA LEE
of california
in the house of representatives
Thursday, March 13, 2003
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge and commend the leaders of the community-serving Church of God in Christ on their poignant and powerful letter to President Bush regarding Affirmative Action. I encourage my colleagues here in the House and all Americans to read this important letter.
Mr. Speaker, at this point I wish to insert the letter into the Record.
Church Of God In Christ, Inc.,
Memphis, TN, January 23, 2003.Hon. George W. Bush, President,The White House,Washington, DC.
Dear President Bush: We write to you as the leaders of the community-serving Church Of God In Christ on the matter of Affirmative Action and the recent actions of your Administration toward millions of Blacks in America seeking equal opportunity and participation in the economic, cultural and political life of the nation.
We are deeply disappointed in the actions of your Administration regarding the legal briefs that your Justice Department submitted to the Supreme Court opposing equal opportunity for Blacks in the form of Affirmative Action as practiced by the University of Michigan.
We note that the Republican Party has in recent years failed to speak with a unified voice in favor of redressing the grave effects of the historic wrongs committed against African-Americans in this country, which continue to reduce and constrain the life opportunities of their descendants. Despite the past strong leadership of Republicans such as President Richard M. Nixon, who implemented robust and vigorous measures in employment, minority contracting and university admissions to wipe away the effects of past anti-Black discrimination, we now observe that since the 1980's, your party has rapidly retreated from the historic Republican ideals of equal opportunity and racial justice.
We see that your Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, made a strong statement supporting intensive ongoing implementation of Affirmative Action. This seems to put him at odds with others in your Administration and party, as well as many of your proposed judicial nominees, on the best way to redress the continuing exclusion of Blacks from the economic benefits of American Society. We support Secretary Powell's position and think that other Republicans would do well to follow his lead in standing for strong support of Affirmative Action.
The reason Affirmative Action is needed is due to the historic experience of Blacks in America. The experience of Blacks in this country is without analogue and is unique due to the nature of American enslavement of millions of Blacks during the founding of the republic and thereafter. The political, social, cultural and economic effect of racial exclusion because of slavery, which continued in the form of Jim Crow laws and currently operate through more subtle forms of racial prejudice, result in Black Americans having a special and unique set of claims for redress by the body politic.
This month you celebrated the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and pledged yourself to renewed efforts toward equal opportunity. The way to turn your words into something beyond empty rhetoric is to support concrete action towards equal opportunity in the form of Affirmative Action. Even Dr. King called for ``compensatory measures'' to help Blacks approach parity in employment opportunities, income wealth, entrepreneurship and other indicators of well being in this country. While we believe that race should not be the only factor in Affirmative Action efforts, we do believe that it is valid to take account of race as a factor when opportunities are distributed among people in society today.
With greater effort expended by your Administration and others yet to come, we look forward to the day when Affirmative Action will no longer be necessary. That will be when America has finally attained the level of equal opportunity, inclusion and sense of beloved community for all citizens.
The Black community seeks the opportunity to be strengthened so that eventually it can stand upon its own feet, having the effects of past racial exclusion and discrimination erased and able to enter into the fullness of the blessings of America. Your Administration's active support of the Black community in this matter could be among the greatest legacies of the party of Lincoln.
We pledge to pray for you and your administration that you might encounter the Divine Wisdom in this matter.
In Christ,
G. E. Patterson,
Presiding Bishop.
The General Board: C. E. Blake; C. D. Owens; L. E. Willis; J. N. Haynes; P. A. Brooks; G. D. McKinney; W. W. Hamilton; L. R. Anderson; N. W. Wells, R. L. H. Winbush; S. L. Green, Jr.
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