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HONORABLE CHARLES B. RANGEL
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2007

CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL DOMINICAN DAY PARADE

Mr. RANGEL: Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, today I join with the hundreds of thousands of Dominican residents of my congressional district and the millions of Dominicans around the world in celebrating August 12's 25th Annual Dominican Day Parade.

What was once an expression of pride through Washington Heights has grown to be one of the largest and loudest displays of cultural pride seen along New York's Sixth Avenue, a culmination of a series of events celebrating the Dominican Republic's traditional second day of Independence, El Día de la Restauración or Restoration Day.

It is also a time to remember Dominican achievements, on the island and in the U.S. A time to remind the world that many of the hemisphere's first institutions were established on the shores of Quisqueya, including the first cathedral and the oldest university. A time to remind the Nation that from the first big wave of Dominican migration in the 1960s to the most recent wave in the 1990s, Dominicans have struggled and worked hard to become a part of our national identity. Their contributions can be found in every facet of U.S. life--from baseball stars like Pedro Martinez, David ``Big Papi'' Ortiz or Alex Rodriguez to fashion legend Oscar de la Renta to the thousands of professionals that do battle as soldiers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, educators and social workers.

I can see that hard work in my own congressional district. Dominicans have a zest for grassroots participation, as evidenced by the number of Dominicans, especially women, who are involved in government or as leaders of professional and nonprofit organizations. They are an entrepreneurial group with a keen nose for business and a yearning to be their own boss, as evidenced by the way they have transformed the livery cab, travel, and hair salon industry.

Finally, who can deny the strong desire that Dominicans have for education. Although graduation rates for all Latinos are way too low, more and more Dominicans are choosing to go back to school, get their GED and enroll into the city's university system. This is seen by the fact that 50 percent of are Latino's that are enrolled in CUNY is of Dominican descent. In the number of after-school programs and activities that there are in northern Manhattan and other Dominican barrios.

So I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating this day and congratulating founder Nelson Peña and the hundreds of volunteers that help put on this grand display of pride. The success of our current democracy depends on us keeping our doors open to communities that energize our economy and our local neighborhoods. It depends on us remembering that we are a Nation of immigrants and that how we treat our newest Americans will go a long way to how we are treated around the world.