WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee and Particular Consultant on Antisemitism, Racism and Intolerance for the Parliamentary Meeting of the Group for Safety and Cooperation in Europe, submitted remarks into the official Congressional Document honoring Black People who’ve influenced Maryland and U.S overseas coverage and highlighting the untold tales of Black People in celebration of Black Historical past Month.
“Black Historical past Month, like a lot of our cultural heritage months, ought to be a time to light up tales that will in any other case get misplaced. Overlooking such tales, particularly in a state like Maryland, a spot wealthy with Black historical past, can be a travesty,” stated Chair Cardin.
A duplicate of the Chair’s full remarks has been offered beneath:
Final week marked the start of Black Historical past Month. And so, I come to the ground in the present day to have fun the essential roles Black People have performed each in my house state of Maryland and in U.S. overseas coverage.
Paying homage to our nation’s wealthy Black heritage— together with studying in regards to the challenges Black People have overcome—makes our nation stronger, each at house and overseas. However in recent times, this historical past has develop into more and more polarized and politicized.
The rise of the ‘struggle on woke’ has led to a rising hostility towards variety and inclusivity. It has led to the re-writing, and even omitting, of brutal, however important elements of our nation’s story.
We can’t permit this to overshadow our celebration. We should not shrink back from learning our nation’s historical past with considerate critique. We should always not accept sanitized classes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks and others in America’s lecture rooms.
As a result of Black Historical past Month, like a lot of our cultural heritage months, ought to be a time to light up tales that will in any other case get misplaced. Overlooking such tales, particularly in a state like Maryland, a spot wealthy with Black historical past, can be a travesty.
Maryland—the location of Kunta Kinte’s arrival on the docks in Annapolis, as advised in Alex Haley’s “Roots.” Maryland—house to greats like Harriet Tubman and Thurgood Marshall. Maryland—the place Black waterman have lived on the Jap Shore for generations.
This week, I had the privilege of assembly with Black watermen and their households. Households who had been a few of the authentic stewards of the Chesapeake Bay. They had been boat captains and admirals, fishermen and entrepreneurs, oyster shuckers and crab pickers.
They laid the muse for the aquaculture and maritime business that’s so closely stitched within the cloth of Maryland’s tradition. They had been descendants of William Samuel Turner whose household owned and operated seafood processing enterprises that anchored Bellevue, a historic African American neighborhood on Maryland’s Jap Shore.
Frederick Jewett—one of many first within the Chesapeake Bay to promote crabs and crabmeat and developed the crabmeat grading system that we nonetheless use in the present day. Capt. Eldridge Meredith Sr.—a waterman and entrepreneur who was honored because the one hundred and first Admiral of the Chesapeake Bay. And Downes Curtis, one of many nation’s few Black sailmakers who was famend for his skillful craftsmanship.
They had been descendants of the often-overlooked Black ladies, like Hazel Cropper also called “Hurricane Hazel,” who labored within the packing homes selecting crabs. Ladies who grew to become the spine of Maryland’s crab meat business.
These Black Marylanders left a legacy of progress and success, however their tales additionally echo a system of inequality that exists in the present day. Lots of Maryland’s Black watermen had been redlined. They couldn’t get loans. They weren’t paid pretty. And so they lacked entry to capital to maintain their companies afloat after they suffered financial hardship.
Maryland’s Congressional Delegation has made federal investments in historic preservation to make sure that Maryland’s Black historical past is advised as a result of it has laid the muse for Wes Moore, Maryland’s first Black Governor…Adrienne Jones, Maryland’s first Black Speaker of the Home of Delegates…Anthony Brown Maryland’s first Black Lawyer Common…Dereck Davis, Maryland’s first Black State Treasurer…and Brandon Scott, Baltimore’s youngest Black Mayor.
After all, Black leaders haven’t solely contributed to Maryland however to our nation like Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Housing and City Improvement Marcia Fudge, EPA Administrator Michael Regan and OMB Director Shalanda Younger. And now, we’re proud to have our first Black lady on the Supreme Courtroom, Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson.
And, Black leaders have contributed around the globe. And so, as Chair of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee, I additionally wish to take a second to focus on the unimaginable contributions of Black People in U.S. overseas coverage.
Ebenezer Bassett the primary Black diplomat who served as Ambassador to Haiti from 1869 to 1877…Nobel Laureate Dr. Ralph Bunche, who mediated the 1949 Egyptian-Israeli Armistice Settlement and fought for African independence…Ambassador Edward Perkins and Dr. Richard Hope, founders of the Thomas R. Pickering Overseas Affairs Fellowship…
Valerie Dickson-Horton, one of many first Black ladies to function a USAID Mission Director and Assistant Administrator…Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams…And Linda Thomas-Greenfield, america Ambassador to the UN. These are pioneers and visionaries who’ve superior our nationwide safety.
The reality is that America’s numerous expertise pool is among the most precious property we have now on the worldwide stage. And but, within the final twenty years the variety of Black staff on the State Division has decreased.
It’s why the Division, USAID, DFC, Peace Corps and all of our worldwide Affairs Businesses should develop their variety, fairness, and inclusion efforts. And, following the great efforts of Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, I’m awaiting the announcement of the State Division’s new Chief Range Officer.
Onerous-won progress made due to the Rangel, Pickering, and Payne applications alongside paid internship applications should proceed. Alternate applications and analysis partnerships with Traditionally Black Faculties and Universities should develop. With 4 HBCUs in my state, I can personally attest to the brilliance and expertise these establishments contribute to our nation’s international meals, well being, local weather, financial, and different efforts which bolster nationwide safety.
With the appointment of Desirée Cormier Smith as our nation’s first Particular Consultant for Racial Fairness and Justice, our nation has additionally elevated its efforts overseas. From the North American Partnership for Fairness and Racial Justice Declaration to the UN Worldwide Decade for Folks of African Descent. Our nation is enjoying an essential position in defending the rights and recognizing the contributions of African descendants throughout the globe.
On the Overseas Relations Committee, we now have our first Director of Range, Fairness, and Inclusion—Dr. Mischa Thompson—to assist advance these efforts within the Senate, our worldwide companies, and throughout the globe. However we should all be part of this effort.
And so, as we have fun Black Historical past Month, allow us to all recommit to combating to beat prejudice and oppression. Allow us to by no means surrender hope that with willpower and dedication, we will construct the world Dr. King dreamed of. A good world…a simply world…a greater world.
We are able to do it so long as we bear in mind what Ralph Bunche stated, that “something lower than full equality is just not sufficient.”
