Elijah Cummings - Were Better Than This

Contents

By Speaker Nancy Pelosi

W E ARE BETTER THAN THIS!

In the summer of 2019, Chairman Elijah Cummingss resounding, righteous words thundered down from the Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing room and shook our nation to action.

During the height of the Trump Administrations barbaric child separation and incarceration policy, its top immigration official had been brought to explain why tens of thousands of children had been separated from their families. At the time, little children were sleeping on concrete floors, forced to eat frozen or inedible food, and denied basic sanitation. They were denied justice in court: babies who hadnt even spoken their first words were forced to show up in court to defend their immigration status.

The son of Baptist preachers, Elijah understood that every person contains a spark of divinity which makes them worthy of dignity and respectparticularly our children, who are, as Scripture says, a gift from God. And in the hearing room, when faced with evasions and mistruths, Elijah responded with towering moral clarity to remind those in charge that they were not meeting the needs of Americas children.

Chairman Cummingss forceful statement helped ignite a movement to protect the children and defeat the Trump Administrations inhumane child separation and incarceration policy. And, for many Democrats in Congress, it would become immortalized as our moral mantra: an unflinching challenge to us all to go forth in a way that is worthy of the oath of office that we take to the Constitution, worthy of the vision of our Founders, and worthy of the aspirations of our children.

In the House, Elijah was our North Star, a leader of towering character and integrity. In his twenty-three years in Congress, he appealed always to our better angels, and to the promise of America. He brought to the House a voice of unsurpassed moral clarity and truth, calling the Congress to our principles and to a higher purpose.

Elijahs moral force and commitment to justice were critically needed during the Trump Administration, which was characterized by its culture of corruption, criminality, and incompetence. As the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, Elijah used his gavel to protect and defend our Constitutions system of checks and balances as our Founders envisioned, shining a bright light on the administrations wrongdoing.

He worked to restore integrity and accountability to Washington, so that government would be a force for good for working people, ensuring that all could experience the American Dream, as he did. Indeed, Elijahs lifes work was to open the doors of opportunity for others. He was committed to opportunity, the future, and the American dream because he had lived it. His story was the story of America: a son of sharecroppers who became Master of the House.

He defied discrimination, racism, and poverty throughout his life, confronting the segregation and bigotry of his childhood with a spirit of strength and hope. Elijah, long told that he could never become a lawyer, overcame these false limits, rising to become a respected attorney, be elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, and then be elected to represent the people of Baltimore and the Baltimore area in the U.S. House of Representatives. He intimately understood that he had a responsibility to make a difference; that to whom much is given, much is expected.

That sense of responsibility to help others fueled his decades-long fight to lower health-care costs, which is why House Members decided on his passing to name our prescription drug price legislation H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. He lived in the same house in West Baltimore for more than thirty years, and he was always touched by the stories he heard in his communityparticularly about the toll that high health-care costs took on families economic security and well-being. He also saw this challenge through the prism of his own personal health challenges.

And that responsibility was why he fought to create good-paying jobs in Maryland and build the infrastructure of America as a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. As a member of the U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors, he took great pride in Marylands role in our national security. He had so much pride in Baltimoresomething that we shared and that made our work fun.

As he was Master of the House, working to create opportunities for all Americans, he was also Mentor of the House, opening up opportunities to younger and newer members. We all knew Elijah as a deeply generous leader, who always shared credit and took the time to mentor younger members, both on his committee and throughout our caucus. I remember how, during the first weeks of the new Congress, when members were being added to his highly coveted committee, he said to me, Send me as many freshmen as you can. He wanted to help them succeedand he wanted to learn from them, too.

Firm in his principles, Elijah was also a peacemaker and a bridge builder: passionate about what he believed in, dispassionate in his judgments about how to proceed. His clarion voice would cut through conflict, calming the waters and reaching out across the aisle, no matter how rough-and-tumble the debate. His friendships with members on the other side of the aisle were called unlikely by those who didnt know him. But those who knew him understood that it was values and patriotism that mattered to him, not party or politics.

Elijah knew that life was fleeting and precious; it was imperative for him to make the most of his time on Earth. The year of his death, he proclaimed, When were dancing with the angels, the question will be asked: In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?

Elijahs leadership truly strengthened America, and his life and legacy will continue to inspire us all to go forth in a way that is truly worthy of the oath of office that we take to the Constitution, worthy of the vision of our Founders, and worthy of the aspirations of our children. For, as he often said, Children are the living messengers we send to the future we will never see.

In Congress, we miss his wisdom, his warm friendship, and his great humanity. In Baltimore, we miss our champion. God truly blessed the United States with the life and leadership of Elijah Cummings.

What a blessing that, with this wonderful book, generations of Americansour living messengers to the futurewill now be able to read his words and learn from his beautiful life!

And in times of turbulence and uncertainty, may we all remember Elijahs moral charge: WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS!

by James Dale

I dont often write an introduction. I am the and or with who collaborates with the well-known or highly accomplished person, the name in smaller type beneath the principal author. My job, my craft, is to help capture and convey the thoughts, experiences, and, most of all, the voice of that lead author. Not anonymous, but far from the spotlight, behind the wall so to speak. It is only in this uncommon circumstancethe principal author, Congressman Elijah Cummings, tragically died as we were completing the workthat I feel it is warranted and enlightening to take readers behind that wall. It literally sheds light on the story we are telling in this book. Elijah is no longer here to offer the reader a glimpse inside the background, determination, and process of telling his story. So, I will try to do so...

I began working with Elijah Cummings early in 2019. His wife, Maya, contacted me to explore the possibility of my helping him relate and share his story. He had long been contemplating sharing his life story and was finally ready to do it. He and I met, a sort of cautious first date to see if we connected. He asked me question after question after question about the process. How did it work? What role would we each play? How do publishers work? Editors? Agents? I didnt yet know that questioning, digging, gathering information, relentlessly probing like a courtroom lawyer was intrinsic to what made Elijah a social and political force. I asked him what he wanted his book to be. He said he wanted to leave a story for young people, especially disadvantaged young people, to show them what is possible. He also told me he was in a hurry. He wanted to get his story out in front of people soon, very soon. I also didnt know then how much of a hurry he was in, or why.