Barbara Lee: “Let me thank Chairman Scott for his tremendous leadership in putting forth this legislation. But also, just for his…”

“Let me thank Chairman Scott for his tremendous leadership in putting forth this legislation. But also, just for his staying very vigilant as it relates to the issues of Black and Brown students in our country, and the power that we need to push back against systemic racism and really what it is, is creeping school segregation. Madam Speaker, I rise in total support of H.R. 2574, the Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act. Just a little bit of history of myself. I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, and schools were segregated when I started school. My family fought with the NAACP, and I believe El Paso was the first city in Texas to desegregate public schools. Fast forward, my mother, Mildred Parish Massey, she was one of the first 12 students to integrate into the University of Texas at El Paso. I know from personal experience the struggles and the fights that all of us mounted just so we could have access to public education. And now, fast forward to 2020, segregation in our Nation's schools is growing. We have turned the clock back immeasurably. It can no longer be ignored. Over the last three decades, African-American students have increasingly found themselves in intensely segregated schools, and we knew unraveling segregation in schools was going to be a long struggle. This segregation, though, is a product of a number of factors, including housing segregation, economic inequality, all tied to structural racism in our country.…”