CLEMENCY FOR 1,500 AMERICANS

On 2024-12-12, Representative Al Green (D-TX-9) delivered a floor speech titled "CLEMENCY FOR 1,500 AMERICANS" in the House. The speech addressed taxes and also covered labor policy, infrastructure.

CLEMENCY FOR 1,500 AMERICANS

Congressional Record, Volume 170 Issue 185 (Thursday, December 12, 2024) [Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 185 (Thursday, December 12, 2024)] [House] [Pages H7137-H7140] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] CLEMENCY FOR 1,500 AMERICANS The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 9, 2023, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) for 30 minutes. Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, very proud to have this opportunity to stand here and to address colleagues, persons who are within the Chamber, as well as people who may be without who are tuning in. I am especially proud today, Mr. Speaker, because I have in my hand a fact sheet. This fact sheet comes from the White House, and this fact sheet is styled: ``President Biden Announces Clemency for Nearly 1,500 Americans.'' I am so pleased that the President has done this. Mr. President, if you hear me or if someone informs you, I want them to tell you that I support what you are doing. I have supported you as President. I think you have made a tremendous difference in the lives of a good many people in this country. I do believe history will be kind to you. It will say to those who are not here at this time that you made a difference within your lifetime. That means something to me. I would like to read a few things from this fact sheet. Thereafter, I will go into something that is related in a very tangential way, but I would like to go into something more. First, I will read from the fact sheet. It reads: ``Today's announcement will commute the sentences of close to 1,500 individuals who were placed on home confinement and will pardon 39 individuals convicted of nonviolent crimes. Today, President Biden announced that he is granting clemency to nearly 1,500 Americans.'' Let me stop for just a moment. I will come back to this. 1,500 people will now have the opportunity to, in a sense, begin life anew. They will have a new promise that they can now address, and that promise is you can have great opportunities in this country if you play by the rules. This helps them to demonstrate to the world that they are playing by the rules. It reads, again: ``Today, President Biden announced that he is granting clemency to nearly 1,500 Americans, the most ever in a single day.'' I am sure that there are many Presidents who have desired to do more. It is difficult to do all of the things that you want to do when you have so many things to do. This President has had many great things to accomplish. He did a great job with the pandemic. He did a great job when it comes to the infrastructure bill that eluded many others for years, perhaps even decades. He did a great job in appointing people to positions: to the United Nations, a female; to the Supreme Court, a female; a Vice President who is a female, and he selected this person to run with him. He has done things that will make those who look upon this time--when they look through the vista of time back and see us at this time, they will know that President Biden left great tracks in the sands of time so that we can know that he came one way and then proceeded to do great things in other ways. He has done this, the most ever in a single day, to those who have shown successful rehabilitation and a strong commitment to making their communities safer. The President is commuting the sentences of close to 1,500 individuals who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities. He is also pardoning 39 individuals who were convicted of nonviolent crimes. These actions represent the largest single-day grant of clemencies in modern history. Mr. President, I salute you, I commend you, and I honestly believe that your desire is to do things that can benefit humankind. You have demonstrated it in so many ways. [[Page H7138]] But, Mr. President, I have an additional request. I have called it to your attention prior to this time, but I have this additional request. I have made the request here on the floor of the House of Representatives, and I make it again. I make this request because there are some people who have not been given the special treatment that others have received by virtue of the way they behaved. These persons are persons who lived many years ago. They are persons who suffered for some 246 years of enslavement. These are persons who have not been treated fairly by our country, Mr. President. They have not been treated fairly by this House of Representatives, Mr. President. They have not been treated fairly by the United States Senate, Mr. President. I can say these things, Mr. President, because I am an unbought, unbossed, unafraid, liberated Member of Congress. I want you to know that these persons, the persons who were enslaved, commenced with us, meaning the Colonies, in August of 1619 when the first 20 persons were brought into slavery in the Colonies. They have not been treated fairly, that first 20, nor have the many that followed, some more than 10 million. They have not been treated fairly. They have not been respected. I am asking for respect for the persons, these some 10 million persons, whose lives were sacrificed--not willingly, I might add--whose lives were sacrificed to make America the great country it is today. {time} 1245 They were the economic foundational mothers and fathers of this country. They planted the seeds and harvested the crops. They served in the homes, they built roads and bridges, and they helped to construct the White House. Their hands were involved in the construction of the Capitol. They have not been respected for what they have done, Mr. President. This House has not respected them. By the way, when I say this House, that includes Republicans and Democrats. There are people who seem to think that I am somehow myopic and I only see what Republicans do and not do. There are Democrats who have not respected them, as well. One way that they could be respected would be to simply sign onto a piece of legislation that would accord a Congressional Gold Medal to these persons, a Congressional Gold Medal similar to what we did for the Confederate soldiers in 1956, as well as soldiers who represented the Union, similar to what we did for them. We could do this for them. We can do this posthumously. Mr. Speaker, this is not directed to you especially. I just want you to understand the condition as I am speaking, Mr. President. Posthumously it could be done, and this House could do it. Just recently this House last week accorded some special treatment for the victims of the Holocaust, those who were heroes of the Holocaust and heroines of the Holocaust. They were accorded some special treatment. A Congressional Gold Medal will be presented to them. We passed the legislation to allow it to be done. This is the right thing to do. We should do this for those who were there to help the victims of the Holocaust. It is the righteous thing to do. It is more than the right thing. It is the righteous thing to do. I salute those who had a hands-on experience with causing this to happen. However, for 246 years, those who were enslaved have not received a similar honor. Similar, not the same, because we are talking about now persons who last week were the heroes who helped them. I am talking about the people who were the victims now. We have done things for the victims of the Holocaust that we have not done for persons who were victims of slavery. These two circumstances are not the same. They are both great crimes against humanity. That is what makes them similar. They are not the same. I don't say that the Holocaust is the same as slavery, and I don't say that slavery is the same as the Holocaust. They are two great crimes against humanity, but we have been more generous with our treatment of those who were victims of the Holocaust than we have been for those who were victims of enslavement for some 246 years. It is time for that to change. I don't see the House doing anything to change it right away. When I say the House, I am talking about Democrats and Republicans. I don't see them doing anything right away. However, Mr. President, there is something you can do right away. You can accord those persons who suffered from the indignation and humiliation associated with slavery with the harm, the pain, the suffering, and the agonizing. You can do something for them. This is not all that should be done, but if you do this, you will show that their lives meant something to us, that it means something to you, and here is what you can do. You have with the power of the pen and the will to do it. Grant them the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It has been done posthumously for many others. It could be done posthumously for them. Let's show them that this country appreciates their 246 years of sacrifice, that they didn't labor, forced into it I might add, but that they didn't labor in vain, that somebody appreciates the fact that they were the economic foundational mothers and fathers of this country. Somebody appreciates the fact that we stand on their labor. What they did to lay the foundations for what we are today still benefits those of us who are here today. Mr. President, I would ask kindly and humbly and from the bottom and depth of my heart and soul that you would give them the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It would make a difference in terms of how they are viewed. Maybe if it is done, we can get people in Texas to cease with this notion that the enslavement of some more than 10 million people was somehow a benefit to them. There is no benefit to people to be enslaved, but there are people in Texas who seem to think so. If you would do this, it would help us to better understand that we can now start to move forward to do the things that would show the respect for them that we have shown for the victims