Impact of Gun Violence in America
Floor Speech
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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield to the honorable gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick). General Leave
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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford).
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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick).
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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).
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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. McBath).
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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I thank the Honorable Congresswoman McBath from the great State of Georgia for her comments.
It is now my privilege to yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Carter).
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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I thank the Honorable Congressman Carter from the great State of Louisiana for those remarks.
Madam Speaker, today I stand in solidarity with my colleagues in this Chamber and with citizens across this Nation in condemning the pervasive violence that has taken root in America.
The scourge of violence has become an epidemic. Regrettably, the depth of its impact and its implications for our society's fabric remain inadequately grasped.
We must recognize that violence is not solely defined as the act of wielding a gun. The violence that engulfs our Nation goes beyond the confines of weaponry.
By the time hands are raised in aggression, the cultural and judicial strains have already transformed fellow citizens into adversaries. The staggering reality of 400 million guns in a Nation with 300 million citizens underscores a deep-seated issue.
It is hardly shocking then, in such an environment, that individuals increasingly view one another as foes rather than fellow countrymen. The prevailing political and cultural mood of our Nation is manipulated by the insidious use of fear.
Some of the most profound acts of violence in this country have been executed not just by those with firearms but by those exploiting fear to amplify their privilege and magnify their influence.
Is it not an act of violence to belittle 400 years of African- American resilience? A battle we should never have had to fight, a battle no one should be forced to endure.
Yet, in a single afternoon, the Supreme Court chose to undercut what took 400 years for the Black community to establish, comprehensive policies that recognize and affirm our place against practices that they aimed to dismiss. Isn't this violence too?
How can it not be considered violence when Harvard University is told it cannot use race as a criterion for admission, but it sees no restriction placed on legacy or wealth?
The Supreme Court seems to suggest that being Black doesn't inherently carry merit, but being affluent certainly does.
Perhaps a fellow Member here can enlighten me. When have the wealthy ever been disadvantaged in this Nation, that they needed further benefits because of their wealth? Can anyone refer me to such a time in history?
The Supreme Court seemed to believe that in a mere 50 years, we have surpassed the need to factor in race, yet overlooked the fact that privilege has played a larger role in Ivy League admissions than race ever has.
Where in the majority decision did the Court address the inherent advantages of unearned privilege?
Where is the dedication to meritocracy in such a stance?
Yet, it is revealing that many champion the cause of equality if it does not level the playing field much in favor of true equality.
In this Nation, uniquely certain demographics perceive true equality as an affront to their status.
For countless Black and Brown individuals witnessing the impact of this flawed ruling, the past fortnight has felt like a period of systemic aggression.
When discussing violence in America, our focus shouldn't solely be on the acts committed by those who misuse firearms. Florida's Governor didn't need a firearm to ban books and dismiss the educational value of African-American history.
The Florida Board of Education didn't wield a gun when they sidelined African-American studies in their advanced placement curriculum. Recently, we were dismayed to learn that Florida's newly approved middle school syllabus had the audacity to suggest that slavery was somehow advantageous for Black individuals.
In 2023, it is disheartening to note that in Florida, an educational curriculum was sanctioned by those brazen enough to insinuate that slavery could be deemed beneficial in any manner. There has been silence by so many in this body. This silence is tantamount to violence.
Those who sanctioned this content attempted to defend their stance, asserting that slavery taught Black individuals skills like agriculture, painting, carpentry, blacksmithing, tailoring, and transportation.
This emphasizes the importance of lawmakers fully understanding the laws they create. Had they read some of the very literature they hastily sought to ban, they would have recognized the sheer absurdity of such claims.
Black civilizations were the architects behind the pyramids. The Fertile Crescent of the Nile Valley stands testament to their prowess in civil engineering and agricultural innovation.
Timbuktu houses one of the world's earliest and most renowned universities.
A full two millennia before Hippocrates, Imhotep was already pioneering medical practices and documenting them.
African civilizations were the crucible for philosophy, science, poetry, and monotheistic religions.
How could a cadre of ill-informed, unenlightened, narrow-minded, and archaic policymakers in Florida presume to suggest that Black individuals required the shackles of slavery to grasp shoemaking?
How deeply misguided must one be to suggest that absent slavery, Black artistry would be nonexistent, when Picasso drew inspiration from modernist art from African masks?
To audaciously claim that Black individuals learned about transportation through slavery, ignoring the fact that they navigated the Congo's waters well before Europeans even embarked on their maiden voyages, is pure folly.
Slavery served to starkly remind Black individuals how America often fell short of its proclaimed values. It underscored the bitter truth that one could be despised without the slightest effort to understand their history or heritage.
To anyone who cannot see the inherent harm in teaching young Black students that slavery was somehow a boon, you are sorely mistaken about the essence of institutional and educational violence. What Governor DeSantis did was educational violence.
To shed light on some historical facts, according to records, Governor Ron DeSantis' great-grandmother landed on American shores in February 1917. She arrived in New York, eager to embrace her new identity as an Italian American, and she was fully entitled to.
Regardless of her great-grandson's current disposition, she undoubtedly contributed to this Nation, and her contribution was as pivotal as anyone else's.
But let me also remind you that the first Africans came to America in 1619, landing in Jamestown, Virginia--298 years separate 1619 from 1917, 298 years.
Yet, we have a Governor in Florida, a descendent of those who arrived nearly 3 centuries after my ancestors, presuming to dictate my understanding of the African-American experience in this country.
How dare you, Governor DeSantis. You are absolutely a disgrace. No Ron-DeSantis-come-lately will tell Black people the value of our contributions to America.
That is why all of us on this side of the aisle are elated to see Madam Vice President of the United States take the fight for Black history directly to Florida.
Thank you, Madam Vice President Kamala Harris for speaking out against ridiculous claims being made by the Florida Board of Education.
Across this Nation, individuals with a sense of justice commend Vice President Harris for her unwavering stand for truth and righteousness.
Yet, this is adversity we face. Firearms merely represent the latest form of hostility directed at Black and Brown communities. Over 400 mass shootings have occurred in 2023, and this year isn't over yet.
Discussing the glaring imbalance of having 100 million more firearms than we have citizens, while not addressing 25 million American school- age children who can't read is an incomplete picture. The link is apparent. Children lacking literacy skills may become adults more prone to resort to crime, potentially involving guns.
If we are going to have a serious debate about violence in America, then we must be willing to talk about this issue at every level.
When the Supreme Court said it was legal for a website designer to deny LGBTQ people services, what kind of violence did that do to the LGBTQ community? What kind of psychological, emotional, if not spiritual violence did that decision bring to bear in the lives of Black and Brown people?
I firmly stand with those who say that we need a national solution to solve a national problem of gun violence, but I challenge all of us not to view this issue so narrowly.
Gun violence stands at the intersection of race, poverty, and class, and needs to be understood in this way.
We cannot become so enamored with the effects of the bullet that we forget the economics of the gun. The root of the violence isn't merely in the act of pulling the trigger, but in the lived experiences of those who resort to such extremes.
The Biden-Harris administration's success in enacting the first substantial gun laws in nearly three decades is commendable. With executive orders, President Biden has significantly addressed the gun crisis.
Yet, even in a scenario where guns are scarce, the ramifications of America's inherent violence will persist as it stems from prejudice and intolerance. This kind of violence, Madam Speaker, of which I speak, is the progeny of fear. It is the direct and lamentable offspring of what happens when people use revenge to play games with the resentment of White, working-class people. This kind of violence cannot be arrested and merely thrown in jail.
Regrettably, it cannot be legislated out of the hearts and minds of people who use it to make a name for themselves. Once you allow your politics to become sufficiently murderous, the kind of social evil it produces can never be truly contained.
What is today a conversation about the inequities associated with race will tomorrow become the first line of a sad eulogy written about the American Dream. This is what we have tried to get America to see.
The willingness to mistreat Black history means that there are people living among us who are more than willing to mishandle American history as a whole.
So let us ultimately deal with every form of violence in America. Systemic cruelty, like the violence in the streets, destroys the lives and tears families apart.
Judicial roughness is no less a threat to Black children than the specter of gang violence and all illegal guns being used to destroy Black bodies without justification or remorse.
Donald Trump openly taught us what political brutality can do to the moral fiber of a Nation that has slowly begun to forget its constitutional ideals. While it is altogether fitting to talk about gang violence in Chicago, murders in Memphis, and mass shootings in Texas, don't forget to talk about the kind of economic violence being visited upon Black families this country sees every day. The members of the Congressional Black Caucus will always mention it.
We will always talk about it because our country's future depends upon an honest assessment of who we are and what it is that we owe to one another. To truly end violence in our Nation, it is not enough to just regulate guns; we must also address and rectify America's deep- rooted issues with privilege, power, and hatred.
Addressing one issue without the other is tackling an issue that will not be secure. We must render our efforts as effective so that we will be a blessed Nation.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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