Education is of Great Importance to Congressional Black Caucus, Congress, and Constituents

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. McClellan for yielding, and I thank Representatives McClellan and Clyburn for initiating this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order on education.

Let me just say that I have been so inspired by previous speakers, including speakers on the other side of the aisle who held their Special Order before this one.

I rise as a proud granddaughter, daughter, and mother of a public educator, and I rise today to vehemently oppose the Trump administration's actions to close the United States Department of Education.

I rise simultaneously to denounce the President's executive orders that have closed the Smithsonian Institution for African Americans.

I rise to oppose the President's deleting information from websites, such as to honor people like the Honorable Harriet Tubman.

I rise to oppose book banning.

I rise, Mr. Speaker, to oppose assertions that DEI are ``wicked ideologies.''

I rise to speak against the notion that diversity, equity, and inclusion cause division and hostility toward White males.

I rise to oppose the idea that Pell grants are a part of the remnants of extremist education that is against, of course, the nuclear family.

I rise against the notion that Pell grants are part of creating this hostile environment.

I rise, Mr. Speaker, to say that education remains a great equalizer in our society.

When Congress created the Department of Education in 1979, they did so noting that: ``Education is fundamental to the development of individual citizens and the progress of the Nation;

``There is a continuing need to ensure equal access for all Americans to educational opportunities of high quality, and such educational opportunities should not be denied because of race, creed, color, natural origin, or sex.''

Mr. Speaker, I am reminded that one of the Department's most important responsibilities has been to enforce various civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination through their Office of Civil Rights. The OCR is one of the Federal Government's biggest enforcers of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, investigating thousands of allegations of discrimination each year which deny African Americans, in particular, of an opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge and dedicate this poem to our great leader, the President of the United States, in honor of Maya Angelou, whose birthday was April 4. I dedicate to them a message from her from the grave about the importance of African Americans and our education in this society by Maya Angelou.

It is entitled, ``Still I Rise.'' You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt, But still like dust I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? Because I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns With the certainty of tides, Just like folks springing high, Still I rise. Did you want to see me broken, Bowed head and lowered eyes, Shoulders falling down like tear drops Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I am a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.

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