Congressional Black Caucus

Floor Speech

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Mrs. McBATH. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Cherfilus- McCormick and Representative Jonathan Jackson for presiding over this critical hour this evening.

I thank my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus as well as the Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, but in particular, our chairwoman, Frederica Wilson. As a proud commissioner and a founding member, I am always grateful for the opportunity to speak in support of the vital work that this commission is undertaking.

Just last week, President Biden stood in this very Chamber, and he spoke of the transformational moment that happened 59 years ago in Selma, Alabama, as brave, nonviolent activists marched for justice and equality. We remembered our late friend and former colleague John Lewis, whose presence and influence this legislative body just really, really misses every single day.

The world has changed for Black men and boys in America since John Lewis was beaten and bloodied on a bridge in Selma, Alabama, but it is no secret that Black men and boys continue to face unjust hurdles in this country.

The reality is that life expectancy for Black men is among the lowest in the country. Most Black men do not live long enough to even collect Social Security. Black men are incarcerated at the highest rates, and Black men suffer disproportionately from income and education inequality, unemployment, health disparities, police violence, and gun violence.

I know these realities all too well. My son, Jordan Davis, was a victim of a culture of implicit bias and racism, a culture that teaches to shoot first and ask questions later, a culture that claimed the life of my son before he was even 18 years of age.

I think about the trajectory of my son's life and what his future was supposed to look like. I dreamed of watching him graduate from high school, going on to college, and starting a family of his own. Jordan should be living out his life and shaping his own legacy right now. I should never have had to bury my son.

I never should have had to bury my child and carry out a legacy in his name that works to save as many lives as I possibly can, but that is why I am here as a Congresswoman--to fight for the rights of young boys that look just like my son Jordan, to provide policy solutions that will keep them safe and allow them to grow into adulthood, to prevent mothers from having to answer the same phone call that I did when I was told that my son would never ever come home again. That is why I am a founding member of this commission.

Since its inception, the commission has searched for ways to address these inequities, from education to employment, housing to healthcare, justice to civil rights. I am very proud of the work that we are doing, lifting up the stories of Black men and boys who desperately need our support.

In particular, I am heartened by the progress that we are making on gun violence prevention and accomplishments that I helped to pass such as the historic Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first comprehensive gun violence prevention package passed in almost 30 years in this country.

That package included aspects of my Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, and it also includes $750 million in crisis prevention funding over 5 years and $250 million for community violence intervention funding to give our communities the resources that they have been crying out for.

Millions of dollars have already been provided to nonprofits and community groups to keep our neighbors safe and whole, but we need to continue to do so very much more.

Last fall, I was honored to speak from the White House Press Briefing Room the day after President Biden announced the creation of the first- ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which is overseen by Vice President Harris. This is a direct result of our sustained advocacy to President Biden and members of this administration. I am very pleased that I was able to advise President Biden and his administration on two close allies to help lead this office: Rob Wilcox with Everytown for Gun Safety and Greg Jackson with Community Justice Action Fund.

I have held many roles in my life. I am the daughter of civil rights leaders. I have been a flight attendant. I am a wife and a mother. At this moment, I am still a mother who is deeply concerned about the future generations of Black men and boys, and this cause, I will say, belongs to all of us.

Just last week, as distinguished guests arrived to hear the President's address, I was heartbroken and disheartened to hear firsthand from a young Black man being discriminated against in his school over his locs. For those of you who don't know what locs are, that is hair. He has not been allowed to learn alongside his peers in the classroom and is instead being separated and held for in-school suspension.

Even with the progress that we have made, our young Black boys face increasing hate on the streets and in our communities every single day. Places that should foster learning and help them to flourish are attempting to break down their souls and tell them that they are not worthy of their own bright futures.

This is absolutely unacceptable. We must work harder than ever before to speak in one voice and demand the change that is so desperately needed in this country.

I am grateful to my colleagues in this Congress. I am so grateful to the Congressional Black Caucus and the Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys to stand in the gap as elected lawmakers and loving parents and aunts and uncles of young Black men.

One thing I do know: There is nothing more powerful than a Black mother on a mission. As a Black mother, I will never falter in our work.

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