HR 4491 Testimony Trip

Posted March 1, 2010 at by David Ofwono, President.

0

Category: Article

Photo By David Simms

Our trip to Washington D.C. to testify before the House Subcommittee on National Parks Forests & Public Lands in support of Congresswoman Jackie Speier’s Bill HR 4491 ‘the Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks Study Act’ last week was amazing!

First of all, the support we got for this trip was humbling! So many of you stepped up to the plate and gave us moral and logistical support. I would like to thank specifically, Congresswoman Jackie Speier and  Alan Spears of the National Parks Conservation Association without whom our trip would of been extremely more challenging. Along with Guy Washington and Justine Lai and many others of the National Park Service, David Smith of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands and Peter Viola, Legislative Correspondent for Congresswoman Jackie Speier for their moral and logistical support and ALL OF YOU who wrote letters of support for HR 4491 that we took with us.

Those letters will be entered in the permanent Congressional record and I would like to remind all of you that there is still time to send us your letters of support for HR 4491. We need to have them in hand NLT March 6th 2010 so that we can have them in the appropriate hands by  March 10th.

I would also like to acknowledge the Buffalo Soldiers themselves, they are the ones we are trying to honor and I hope they approve of our actions. I would like to think that they were behind us, I cannot begin to tell you the miracles that occurred that made this trip a huge success. Time after time, when we thought something was doomed, presto! it fell into place like magic!

The experience itself was educational, exciting and humbling! we were well received by members of Congress and others who went out of their way to thank us for making the trip to D.C.  Folks, I have to admit that WE THE PEOPLE do count! The reception we got was proof positive!

Several “pros” told us point blank that we got the “star” treatment from members of Congress. Our Vice President and Public Information Officer Geneva Brett gave an outstanding testimony on our Association’s behalf and Cadet Kevin Craig Jr. stole the show! That young lad is one of the luckiest kids I have ever met! He got to meet Congresswoman Speier and other members of Congress up close and personal and the “Swag” he was given!

Kevin Jr. is the epitome of what we are all about. Our efforts are not done for our personal benefit they are to educate our youth in particular about the role the Buffalo Soldiers had in this great nation and to ensure that their history is not forgotten! We, the Los Banos Buffalo Soldiers Association use the Buffalo Soldiers as TRUE role models that our youth can look up to and as many of you know I am particularly impressed by the third black graduate of West Point, Charles Young.

The experience in the Halls of Congress, our meeting with Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Counsel as well as my personal inner experience of standing next to the grave of Colonel Charles Young, will be forever etched in my memory as one of the greatest experiences I have had in my life.