Kendrick Meek: “my colleague and fellow freshman, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), and I came to the Congress together.…”

“my colleague and fellow freshman, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), and I came to the Congress together. Since then he has been the driving force behind a movement to improve our Historically Black Colleges and Universities. For that he is to be strongly commended. HBCUs, as we call them, remain a critical part of our education system. These institutions have significantly increased educational access for thousands of economically and socially disadvantaged Americans, particularly among young African Americans. Yet our Historically Black Colleges and Universities need to maintain and improve their facilities in order to continue to meet the needs of their students. I bet you, Mr. Speaker, if a poll were taken, each Member of this House would have an historically black college or university somewhere near their district or in some way they have helped an historically black college or university. That is extremely important. Mr. Speaker, as I noted last week when we passed H. Res. 524 recognizing the contributions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, it is critical that we honor Historically Black Colleges and Universities with our deeds, not just our words, by taking such steps as funding them properly in our appropriations process.”