What it was like to live in the United States of america in 1964. And this is not being done to shame anyone, its not being done to cause persons to have some sort of guilty reflections. This is being done so as to help us commemorate some things and celebrate some others. Its important to understand the times that we lived in. The lived i lived during these times. And id like to start with april 12, 1963, and then id like to walk us up through some events that will bring us to the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It was april 12, 1963, that dr. King was arrested in birmingham, alabama. He was there to work with others, to integrate a city that was deeply segregated. And in so doing he was informed by some members of the clergy and others that he was taking inappropriate action, he was acting too soon, that the time was not ripe for what he was doing in birmingham, alabama. As a result of being there and protesting, dr. King was arrested. He was taken to jail, stayed in jail for nine days. And while in jail he wrote his famous letter from the birmingham jail in response to a statement that was published by some other members of the clergy of the and if you have not read the letter from the birmingham jail, i beg that you read it, because it will help you better understand the times and understand why dr. King had to do what he was doing. The letter from the birmingham jail is one of the greatest pieces of American Literature that i have been exposed to. And i beg you to please take the opportunity to read it. Lets move forward to june 11, 1963. This is when governor george walz stood in the door wallace stood in the door of the university of alabama to block the entry of Vivian Malone and james hood. These were two students who were enrolling. And in so doing he caused the president at that time, president kennedy, to federalize the Alabama National guard so that these two students could make their way into the university of alabama. These were the times that i lived in. These were events that occurred leading up to the signing of the Voting Rights act of 1965, also the public accommodations act of 1964. Ne 21, 1964, three civil rights workers were in mississippi. They lost their lives in mississippi registering people to vote. When they died it caused the country to grieve, understanding that three people who but only tried to register people to vote had lost their lives at the hands of the k. K. K. These were the times that i lived in. August 28, 1963, dr. King called for a march on washington and that march took place. That march was one of the greatest events in the history of the Civil Rights Movement. 200,000 to 300,000 people assembled. And this is when dr. King gave his famous i have a dream speech. They also had a list of demands. List of demands that included a number eight on a list of 10. Number eight was a minimum wage of 2 an hour. That minimum wage of 2 an hour adjusted for inflation would be more than 13 an hour today. The minimum wage was a part of the reason why we had the march on washington. And im so proud that dr. King stood his ground so as to help us develop that minimum wage that he wanted to have at a as a living wage and there is before the house now h. R. 1010, a bill that would produce a living wage because it indexes the minimum wage to the Consumer Price index. It would move the minimum wage 10. 10 an an hour to hour in increments. Not all at once. It would also help persons who are tip workers, who are making currently 2. 13 an hour. It would raise their wages and would also continue to index their wages so that they would find themselves being able to hopefully live above the poverty line while working fulltime. In this, the richest country in the world, a country where one out of every 60 persons is a millionaire, and i dont begrudge anyone whos a millionaire, a country where in one of every 11 households is worth 1 million, and i absolute those who are salute those who are worth 1 million. But in this country, where we have so much wealth, i dont believe we ought to have people who work full time and live below the poverty line. And find that employers are subsidized so that these workers can be paid a wage that is at or near a Poverty Level and receive other subsidies from the government to help them make it in america. So i am honored that dr. King pushed for a wage of 2 an hour at that time, which would be more than 13 an hour today. Moving forward to september 15 of 1963. A tragic occurrence at the 16th street baptist church. This is when four babies, i say they were babies, addie watts 14, cynthia was was 14, cynthia was 14, another was 14 and denise was 11. They all lost their lives in church, in church, four babies, four young girls. These were the times that i lived in. These were the times that preceded the signing of the Voting Rights act of 1964 and 1965. Vember 22, 1963, a president of the United States of america decided to come to texas and while in texas the president was assassinated. The honorable john f. Kennedy lost his life in my home state. I was born in louisiana but texas is my home state at this time. And when he lost his life, the country went into mourning. It was a sad day for this country, to have a president assassinated. And this country found that it was necessary to move forward, however. And another person became president and that of course was the honorable Lyndon Johnson who was from the state of texas. And it was Lyndon Johnson who on july 2, 1964, signed the Civil Rights Act. Now, this Civil Rights Act of 1964 is one that brought great benefits to persons of my generation. Because it dealt with public accommodations and it integrated or desegregated blic accommodations, hotels, restaurants, places that we frequent now and we take for granted the opportunity to go into these places. In my lifetime we could not enter the front door of places that we now take for granted that these things have always been this way, many do, not all, but those of us who are of my il, we remember what it was like ilk, we remember what it was like. And i can remember when we would travel across country, mr. Speaker. We knew that there were certain places that we could stop and we knew that there were certain places that we dare not stop under any circumstances at all. And we would make sure that we had enough fuel to make it from one stop to the next and we knew that there were certain places that we could eat and there were places where we would have to go to the back door. And we would, when we arrived at these places, always courteous and kind to the people who greeted us, and a good many of them were courteous and kind to us, but there were many who were not. I remember once when we were traveling across the country and we wanted some water and we stopped at a service station and the operator, i dont know that the person was the owner, so i shall use the term operator, said, yes, you may have water, but youll have to drink it out of an oil can. You can take that can and you can clean it up at best you can as best you can and you can drink your water from that can. These were the times that i lived in. The times that the 1964 Civil Rights Act, public accommodations act addressed. I can remember the colored water fountains, whenever we went out some place near my home, if we wanted water we had to drink from a collar water fountain colored water fountain. That colored water fountain was usually not nearly as clean as the white water fountain. I can remember having to sit in the back of the bus. I traveled from texas to california and i remember sitting in the back of the bus and when i got to some place near california, they allowed me to sit near the front of the bus. It was the first time in my life that id actually had an opportunity to sit near the front of the bus. I remember having to sit in the balcony of the movie. We were not allowed, in my lifetime, to sit at the first level. We always were required to go into the balcony of the movie. Back of the bus, balcony of the movie, and then arrested and placed in the bottom of the jail. This is the era that i grew up in that preceded the signing of the public accommodations act, the Voting Rights acts of 1964 act of 1964. Mr. Speaker, im sure you can understand that i have great appreciation for the Voting Rights act. The Voting Rights act means more to me than a simple document with words on it. This document may have been written in ink, but it was goodman the blood of and cheney, signed in the blood of those babies who lost their lives at the 16th street baptist church, written in ink, signed in blood, and it means something to people of my generation. So im proud tonight and im honored that the leadership has allowed us to have this time to talk about the civil rights, the Civil Rights Act in this country. The means by which we have integrated ourselves. And im proud that my country has come a long way. Make no mistake about it, we have come a very long way in this country. And if anybody says we havent come a long way, i would challenge them. I would challenge them. Ecause i lived through segregation. I know what segregation looked like. Saw it on signs that said colored and white. I know what it smells like. I went to the back door and to bathrooms that were not clean. I know what it felt like. Because i was pushed and shoved and told where to go and what to do. These were the times that i lived in. But thank god weve come a long way and we no longer live in the times that preceded the signing of the Voting Rights act of 1964. Mr. Speaker, im honored that i have another member here who is going to say a few words about civil rights and i then have another member who has Something Special that he will call to our attention and i will return and im going to say a little bit tonight about the Voting Rights act of 1965. But before i do this, id like to share some time with another member from the great state of texas, from a district that includes the city of el paso, texass 16th congressional district, the honorable mr. Orourke. I yield to him such time as i may consume. Mr. Orourke its a great honor to join my colleague from the state of texas in his special order hour today to recognize our history in this country when it comes to achieving civil rightsance perseverance in the face of adversity. And some of our shameful past thats been turned through the very hard work they are hard work, the blood, the sweat referenced to my colleague, into victory, ricketries that are not yet complete, victories we are still working on, but victories nonetheless. I thought it might be appropriate to share a little bit about the area i represent, el paso, texas, and its struggle to achieve civil rights, human rights and equality for all men under the law. Ill begin with one of my favorite stories about el paso. The story of 1949 bowie Bears High School baseball team. That was team that was made up of members who lived in the segundo barrio, all Mexican American members, extreme poverty, played baseball with balls made of scrap piece of clothe, gloves stitched together in their own home and won the city championship, won the regional championship and as they traveled in 1949 on those country highways to our capital in austin, texas, traveled on a bus, they were denied the ability to stay at motels. Nomex cans or dogs allowed. They were unable to eat in restaurant, they had to eat in the kitchens or eat outside on the bus. And the night before the championship game, in austin, texas, against an austin, texas, High School Team they slept under the bleachers in the field that they were going to play on instead of being able to stay in a hotel or motel in that city and went on to win the First High School state baseball championship in texas. Not too much longer after that, in 1955, el paso became the first city in the state of texas to integrate its public schools. And as my colleague from texas has pointed out, up until that point, there were separate schools for black children, there were separate cools for white children and not too long before that, separate schools for Mexican American children. So 1955, the school board in el paso, texas, made a very important decision to integrate schools, there, the first in texas, one of the first in the former confederacy. In 196 , they elected the first Mexican American mayor of a major u. S. City. And then on june 7, 1962, the el paso city council, under the leadership of alderman bert williams, passed the first City Ordinance of any major city in the former confederacy outlawing segregation in hotels, motels, restaurants and theaters. These places of public accommodation that my colleague had so eloquently described that were segregated and in many cases barred to africanamericans and in some cases in el paso in earlier years to Mexican Americans. President kennedy in a speech that following year in 1963 a speech titled the special message to congress on civil rights and job opportunities, recognized this achievement in texas in el paso, where we were the First Community in the former confederacy to desegregate those places of public accommodation. And lastly, mr. Speaker, i would draw our attention to the 1966 Texas Western miners, a College Basketball team that fielded the first allblack starting five to compete for a National Title game. And those five young men not only won the National Championship against some of the longest of odds, versus kentucky, but in doing so, they effectively ended segregation in Intercollegiate Athletics and did a lot to further end discrimination more brdly in the United States. And so i would just join with my colleague and associate myself with his comments about the Voting Rights act and the immediate to persevere in the face of adversity, to recognize those triumphs that we have achieve sod far but not to claim victory until we are assured that everyone is treated equally under the law. Everyone has access to the ballot box. And that we truly are a country that treats everyone equally under the constitution. So i hope that as a representative of el paso, texas, a community that has such a proud history in leading in texas, leading in the former confederacy, leading in the u. S. On important civil rights, human rights and equality issues, that i will be able to join you, mr. Green, in this fight, and join this congress in doing the right thing. With that, i yield back. Mr. Green i thank you for your excellent recitation and you have already become a part of this congress, of course, but also of the fight. You really hit the ground running. I want to salute you and let your constituents know that they can be proud of what you have accomplished in a very short time in the congress of the United States of america. Thank you for spending time time with us this evening. Thank you. Id like to know how much time i have left, id like to yield some time to mr. Grayson at the end of my time and i dont know if its appropriate for you to give a fiveminute warning or not if you can just tell me how much time i have left, ill be able to work with that. The speaker pro tempore 35 minutes. Mr. Green very good. I assure you mr. Grayson, we will have time for you. Id like to now move forward to 1965. Assembled sons who at a church near the Edmund Pettus bridge. If you have not seen the Edmund Pettus bridge, i would beg that you take an opportunity to see the bridge. Remember now, we are talking about civil rights in the United States of america, weve talked about the Voting Rights act of 1964 b, and moving forward to 1965, i mentioned persons assembled at a church, ive mentioned the Edmund Pettus bridge. These persons assembled at this church because they were going to march from selma to montgomery. A peaceful march. When they approached the Edmund Pettus bridge they knew that on the other side of that bridge were men with clubs, some on horses, and they knew that their faith was their fate was uncertain but they marched on. And when they approached these men, i can remember mr. John lewis, the honorable john lewis, member of congress from georgia, he tells the story and he says that they were beating them and he thought that he was going to die. They were beating they were beaten all the way back to the church where they started. This was in 1965. A year after the 1964 Voting Rights act was signed. Well, dr. King came to montgomery, alabama, to selma, alabama, and dr. King proceeded with the march. This was after the time that we call bloody sunday. Dr. King came and they marched from selma to montgomery. But now, this is where the story gets interesting. Because there is a person that i have labeled the greatest unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement. Barring none, the greatest unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement. A person who is known to very few people, a person who made it possible for dr. King and the marchers to move from selma to montgomery without having to onfront the con stab lair that engaged in a brutal act previously and may have done a similar thing. This man, the greatest unsung her