Congressman Elijah E. Cummings Proudly Representing Maryland's 7th District

Demonstrating Our Commitment to the Dream

January 17, 2000
Remarks of Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (MD-07)
Keynote Speech -- The Urban League of Hampton Roads
16th Annual Community Leaders' Breakfast
in Honor of the Life and Work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Old Dominion University
Norfolk, Virginia
10:00AM

Good morning. Thank you for your kind words of introduction, President Koch; and thank you for Old Dominion University's hospitality in hosting this gathering - and your personal kindness to me.

I also want to thank the Urban League of Hampton Roads for inviting me to spend these few moments together with the leaders of your community. My gratitude also to the Urban League's Special Projects Director, Ms. Diana Chappel-Lewis, for all her efforts in making my visit with you a reality.

Norfolk State University's President, Dr. Marie McDemond, in her remarks about why we are here, reminded us that we should all stop and think what life would be like today without the good work of the Urban League.

Many people talk about uplifting the lives of others, but the Urban League and people like Diana Chappel-Lewis and the late Creamer Bazzel, whose memory we honoring, are the ones doing the heavy lifting every day - there on Church Street and throughout the Hampton Roads region.

Uplifting people through education - and helping to protect our community against the devastation of AIDS - the Urban League's staff and volunteers are essential leaders of this community. They deserve our support; and they have earned our commendation and applause.

1. Working Together for a Better Future, While We Honor the Past
Now, as I understand your tradition here in Norfolk, this annual community leaders' breakfast has been held every year for the last 16 years, typically at Norfolk State University. It may seem that the Urban League's new plan to alternate the site of this annual gathering between Norfolk State and Old Dominion is a break with tradition; and, in a way, it is.

But, reaching out and bringing together people like all of you - people of shared aspirations - to better serve our communities are what leaders do.   So, I commend all of you for extending, not breaking, the tradition of this annual breakfast of leaders.

In the new world of the Space Shuttle and nuclear-powered submarines - in the world of the Internet and emerging economic city states like the greater Hampton Roads area - our future progress requires that we understand one very simple fact:

We may have come to America on different boats...,

but we are in the same boat now.

So, when we come together to talk about our commitment to Dr. King's dream, we are not gathering to discuss an abstract proposition.

We are here today to talk about the future, as well as the past. We are here today because of the destiny our children will share.

When we entrust the education of our children to places of advanced learning like Norfolk State and Old Dominion, they hold our shared future in their hands. Recently, at a program in Baltimore where we were talking about federal programs that better prepare young children for college, Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education G. Mario Moreno used a phrase I will never forget:

"Our children," the Secretary declared, "are our messages to a future we will never see...."

Well, how much of our children's future we will see is in God's hands, but the shape of their shared future is in our own.

It is highly appropriate, therefore, that the two great universities to which many of you entrust your children would take the lead in acknowledging Dr. King's Dream by bringing us together today to support the community action that will benefit us all. I am honored to join you. I have traveled a few miles to be here, but those miles are nothing compared to the lifetime journeys of many in this room with us today.

I thank each of you who have given so much of yourselves to advance this Dream of which we so often speak. You are the people upon whom your community depends to make the dream real in our lifetimes.

For, when we think about the future, ladies and gentlemen, we must be clear about what we are doing.

When we come together (as our program proclaims) to "demonstrate our commitment to the dream" - we are not dedicating ourselves to a once-a-year "feel good" experience.

And we are not committing ourselves to a dream that is limited to improving the lives of African Americans.

Dr. King's dream walks beyond his lifetime experience as an African American. Dr. King's vision was one of ACTION: that we would all work together to make the American Dream real for all Americans.

So, if we are going to recommit ourselves to anything today, we must work to move our shared American Dream forward every day, not just on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.

And, now is the time to move forward, not retreat, on the road toward a more just society.

I will read to you what Dr. King declared during a Freedom Rally in St. Louis back in 1957:

"The destiny of our nation is involved. We can't afford to slow up."

"The motor is now cranked up. We are moving up the highway of freedom toward the city of equality, and we can't afford to slow up because our nation has a date with destiny."

"We've got to keep moving. We've got to keep moving."

I was a small child when Dr. King spoke there in St. Louis about our national date with destiny. Now, our own children's shared destiny is at stake. Their lives are the true objects of our commitment today, not nostalgia nor a set of abstract principles.

We can help to shape their destiny for the better. But we are talking about a commitment to action, not simply personal growth.

2. Remembering From Whence We Come
My mother is a very wise woman. She taught us to never forget from whence we came.

"If you do not remember from whence you come," Mother would say, "you cannot know where you are. And, if you do not know where you are, she would continue, how can you see where it is that you must go?"

So, before I return to talking about the future of Dr. King's dream, I will take just a few moments to talk about the past - yours and mine.

- Evelyn Butts and Joe Jordan -
A few moments ago, I shared my conviction that, to be true to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy, we must not forget the defining and unwavering focal point of his life: his unrelenting struggle for justice.

Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, in his recently published book, I May Not Get There With You, argues that the imperatives of greater racial justice could never be overshadowed by references to an abstract, "color-blind" equality.

I agree. We cannot "...whitewash our bloodstained racial history."

In May of 1957, while proposed civil rights legislation was stalled in the Congress, Dr. King and other civil rights leaders led thousands of black and white Americans on a Prayer Pilgrimage to Washington. King spoke about the importance of political power for those of us denied justice by a racist society.

"All types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent the Negroes from becoming registered voters," he declared. "The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition."

"Give us the ballot, and we will...fill our legislative halls with men of goodwill and send to the sacred halls of Congress men who will not sign a southern manifesto because of their devotion to the manifesto of justice."

African Americans' right to vote, however, was to be won by struggle - not "given" to us. That is why, each year on Martin Luther King Day, we honor those who sacrificed to forge a more just and free America.

There are people sitting with us in this room who deserve that honor.

Evelyn T. Butts and Joe Jordan have gone home, but we shall never forget that they were among those heroic women and men. Most of you here in Norfolk know their story, but I will say a few words about what happened here in Virginia and in Washington, D.C. back in the 1960s. It is right and just that we remind ourselves about those who sacrificed so that we could brake bread together here today.

A black veteran who lost the use of his legs during the fighting in World War II, Joseph A. Jordan, Jr., overcame his physical limitations and Jim Crow to become a lawyer here in Norfolk.

Evelyn Butts was an out-of-work seamstress and the wife of another disabled black veteran.

She was determined to exercise her right to vote. But Mrs. Butts was unable to pay the poll tax then required of all Virginia voters.

She asked Joe Jordan to represent her. Since Mr. Jordan shared Dr. King's understanding that African Americans need political power in order to receive justice in America, he agreed to take her case.

Most of you are well aware of their importance in the landmark 1966 Supreme Court case known as Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections.

They challenged the constitutionality of the poll tax used to exclude African Americans from voting in state and local elections across the South.

Joe Jordan and then U.S. Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall won that case for Evelyn Butts...,

And this country took another step toward becoming a truly just society.

In 1968, as a result of the expanded black voting power that his Supreme Court victory had achieved, it became possible for Joe Jordan to be elected his city's first black councilman since Reconstruction.

He subsequently became a judge.

I am told that he was no pushover on the bench if you had harmed the community. But, from 1977 until his retirement, people who came before Judge Joseph A. Jordan, Jr., found that they could obtain justice from a black man who understood what justice means.

Judge Jordan often stood up for the rights of those who had nowhere else to turn.

And both Joe Jordan and Evelyn Butts dedicated their lives to registering people to vote and getting them to the polls.

It is only right that his contribution to our lives will be remembered as we dedicate the memorial to Dr. King that Joe Jordan pursued throughout the last 20 years of his life.

The new Virginia memorial to Dr. King will be beautiful and meaningful. I must say, however, that it could equally well have shown him applauding two lawyers, Joe Jordan and Thurgood Marshall, as they sought justice for a poor black woman in the United States Supreme Court.

As Dr. King declared in 1957,

"Give us the ballot, and we will place judges on the benches of the south who will do justly and love mercy...."

The point that Dr. King was making nearly half a century ago - the same point that Mrs. Butts and Judge Jordan fought to make a reality - is the insight of realists who are committed to achieving a more ideal society.

WE DON'T ACHIEVE OUR DREAMS IN THIS LIFE WITHOUT A STRUGGLE;

AND THAT COST OF ACHIEVING DR. KING'S DREAM OF JUSTICE IS EQUALLY TRUE FOR NATIONS AS IT REMAINS FOR US AS INDIVIDUALS.

That, my friends, is something for everyone to consider later in our program when we are asked to reaffirm our commitment to Dr. King's dream and sign the Birmingham Pledge....

Plato had a dream of justice - but we do not celebrate Plato's birthday. We celebrate the people who lived for justice, who lived and often died for justice, freedom and the dignity and worth of every human being.

Here at Old Dominion and Norfolk State, we want our children to study Plato's ideas; but we want them to become people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We want our children to become like Evelyn Butts and Joe Jordan.

I am here to thank you - and the generation who stood and marched with you.

I need not point out that - were it not for Dr. King and all of the people of good will in the generation that precedes mine, black and white alike - who shared his dream, I would not be a Member of Congress. But, as important this opportunity to be of service is to me, when I thank you for my life, I am expressing my appreciation for something far more basic and profound.

Without you - and people like you - I would have been deprived of any chance to share in the American Dream.

[[ Elijah E. Cummings tells the audience about his own childhood struggles - from consignment to special education in a poor and segregated South Baltimore school to his graduation, Phi Beta Kappa, from Howard University and the University of Maryland School of Law and his career as a legislator.]]

So, I had to leave home and join you today to thank Dr. King and all who have walked with him. Without your struggle, my parents' sacrifice and faith, my own struggle and effort, would have amounted to nothing.

I would have lived my entire life a stranger in my own land.

And everything I have been able to give back to my community and this nation would have been lost.

So, I thank you for standing up for justice.

And I also thank you for standing up for a young man from South Baltimore named Elijah....

3. Working for Justice
I am almost finished now, but I must close with some observations about the future of Dr. King's dream in America.

Remember that phrase I love so well - "Our children are our messages to a future we will never see"?

Their future, my friends, is ours to fashion.

The lives of our children - and of children yet unborn - will be a testament to what we do - or do not do -during our short span of years on this earth.

On January 17^th in the year 2025..., will the children of that time praise us for our compassion and courage, as we praise those who walked before us?

In the struggles we face to earn their praise, there are promising developments.

Our meeting here today is important, as are people coming together across America to deal frankly with the questions of race, class and gender in our society.

The support you are showing today for the Urban League of Hampton Roads and its work is crucial.

Dignity in our society requires work - and it is our responsibility to assure that everyone has the tools to work at a job that pays a living wage.

We should all be supporting - financially and as volunteers - this kind of effort.

And we must continue the struggle to create a world free from the HIV virus - and protect our communities while that search continues.

The most powerful tool for empowerment to emerge in recent years is at work in the distance learning facilities here at Old Dominion. Young people - and many not so young - from throughout Virginia are gaining the tools by which they can effectively pursue their American Dream.

But - whether young people travel to Norfolk State and Old Dominion, or whether they learn over a computer screen, they must be prepared to learn.

People who believe that the civil rights movement has passed its zenith are sadly mistaken. The struggle for civil rights in America - and for human rights throughout the world, is just beginning.

Last summer in Houston, National Urban League President Hugh Price gave a penetrating speech. His was an insightful analysis of the path we must follow if we are to move toward a more just America - the America of Dr. King's dream.

Mr. Price pointed out that African Americans are making progress toward economic and social equality in this country, citing unemployment and poverty rates, household incomes and home ownership.

He noted that the earnings of many low-wage workers are rising again, while the black middle class has more than doubled in the last generation.

President Price further observed cracks in the racism that has long dominated the job markets of America - and the fact that businesses are rediscovering urban markets.

But, as Hugh Price noted, there are regions of America where the American Dream is receding into the distance.

One out of six Americans lack health insurance.

Welfare reform is touted as a resounding success. But thousands of former recipients are being denied food stamps and the education and health care benefits to which they remain entitled.

The black unemployment rate remains about twice that of whites - higher for young adults.

The gap in computer ownership among working class white and black families has actually grown over the last five years.

Black entrepreneurs seeking small business loans are rejected twice as often as whites with the same credit rating.

Police brutality continues to plague people of color.

AIDS is ravaging African American communities at rates that would not be tolerated in more affluent areas, and the same is true of other mortal illnesses.

"Now is the time," President Price declared, "to determine whether America is serious about making the American dream truly accessible to all Americans."

Recalling the Marshall Plan, the National Urban League leader called for a similar commitment to build livable communities and lives here in America. We have the resources, he correctly observed. It's our job to muster the national will.

Toward that end, The National Urban League proposed Ten Opportunity Commandments for the 21^st Century.

I submit, my friends, that if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were here speaking to you right now, his prescription for what ails America - his blue print for justice in this country - would closely parallel the 10 Urban League Opportunity Commandments. See if you do not agree that we should:

1. Offer quality pre-school education to every child whose parents cannot afford it.

2. Provide affordable health care for the 41 million Americans who are uninsured.

3. Ensure that every public school serving poor children equips them for self-reliance.

4. Vastly increase support for proven programs that get the estimated 15 million high school dropouts back on track.

5. Guarantee universal access to affordable higher education.

6. Maintain national economic policies that promote high employment and economic growth in communities that have missed out on the good times.

7. Eliminate the digital divide by making the acquisition of computers and use of the Internet affordable for everyone.

8. Assure the full participation of minorities in higher education, employment and contracting.

9. Eradicate the home ownership gap along ethnic lines by providing 100 percent mortgage guarantees for credit-worthy, working class minority families. And -

10. Equalize access to capital by totally eliminating discriminatory business loan practices, so that minority entrepreneurs can join the chorus in proclaiming that the business of America is business.

Now, it is quite evident that African Americans are denied full justice in each of the areas that the Urban League has targeted for our efforts to achieve a more just society. Equally apparent, however, is the fact that only 3 of the 10 commandments for change are specifically oriented toward problems confronting the minority communities of this country.

This is not at all unusual. Now, as in Dr. King's time, justice for African Americans in this country is inextricably bound with achieving justice for all Americans. And THAT is why it is so important that compassionate, progressive Americans of every racial background and religious tradition come together, join together and work together for that just America that is the ultimate destination and reality of Martin Luther King's dream.

As Hugh Price declared in Houston last summer, "Now we begin our ascent toward the light. Our destination is the American Dream, and nothing less."

Closing: AWe Cannot Lead Where We Do Not Go....
So, I believe, my friends, that we honor Dr. King's life and memory by committing ourselves to carrying on his work.

One element of that commitment - purging prejudice and hatred from our hearts - is something that each of us can and must do as individuals.

The wording of the Birmingham Pledge we all will reaffirm today speaks to this moral imperative: Tens of thousands of people of conscience have signed this affirmation of Dr. King's principles and practice since it was first created by Operation Birmingham 30 years ago.

"I believe," the Pledge begins in reflection, "that every person has worth as an individual..., that every person is entitled to dignity and respect, regardless of race or color..., and that every thought and every act of racial prejudice is harmful; if it is my thought or act, then it is harmful to me as well as to others."

"Therefore from this day forward," those who take the Pledge commit themselves, "I will... strive daily to eliminate racial prejudice from my thoughts and actions...and I will discourage racial prejudice by others at every opportunity."

On this foundation, the Pledge-takers commit to "... treat all people with dignity and respect," and to "...strive daily to honor this pledge, knowing that the world will be a better place...."

I will gladly participate in our reaffirmation of the Birmingham Pledge this morning, as I believe would most Americans.

But, as I have noted, we must also build upon this foundation to strengthen our tradition of constructive change and social action.

As we remember and honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we should never forget that, first and foremost, he was a man of God, walking in the Christian, Jewish and Islamic tradition of a God who lives high and looks low.

It is not enough, he would tell us, to cleanse our hearts of hatred and bigotry.

Each of us has an affirmative obligation - and golden opportunity - to uplift the lives of others less fortunate than we. The good society - that shining city on the hill - must be a just society, Dr. King would tell us.

And he would cite his father, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., as his authority.

In 1940, Rev. King, Sr., was attempting to convince the other Baptist ministers of Atlanta to take a bold and public leadership role in registering to vote. When told that this was too political, Rev. King responded with words we should never forget - words with which I will close this morning.

"Quite often we say the church has no place in politics," Rev. King began. "We forget the words of the Lord, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath [anointed] me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."

"...God hasten the time when every minister will become a registered voter and a part of every movement for the betterment of our people,' Rev. King prayed.

As I finish my remarks this morning, I want to thank each of you for following this prescription that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr., learned from his own father.

I want to thank you for having the courage to go where you lead and the insight to learn and know what it is that you are called to teach.

And, I want to thank those special people with us from Dr. King's generation - I want to thank you for my life.

May we be at peace. May our hearts remain open to each other. May each of us discover the light of our own true nature. May we be healed; and become a source of healing for others.

Thank you, and God bless you all.