3 H.L.C. 1 amended by section 2(3) of this Act) to an individual de2 scribed in such section 413(d) or to an individual who was 3 otherwise serving at a United States diplomatic or con4 sular mission abroad without a regular salary who was 5 killed as a result of an act of international terrorism (as 6 such term is defined in section 2331(1) of title 18, United 7 States Code) that occurred between January 1, 1998, and 8 the date of the enactment of this Act, including the victims 9 of the bombing of August 7, 1998, in Nairobi, Kenya. 10 Such a payment shall be deemed to be a payment under 11 section 413(d) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, except 12 that for purposes of this section, such payment shall be 13 in an amount equal to ten times the salary specified in 14 this section. For purposes of this section and section 15 413(d) of such Act, with respect to a United States citizen 16 receiving payment under this section, the salary to be used 17 for purposes of determining such payment shall be 18 $94,000. 110TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3432 To establish the 200th Anniversary Commemoration Commission of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and for other purposes. I IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 3, 2007 Mr. PAYNE (for himself, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. LEE, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. RUSH, Mr. CONYERS, and Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To establish the 200th Anniversary Commemoration Com 1 mission of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 4 This Act may be cited as the "200th Anniversary 5 Commemoration Commission of the Abolition of the 6 Transatlantic Slave Trade Act of 2007”. 7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 8 (a) FINDINGS.-Congress finds the following: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 2 (1) On March 3, 1807, President Thomas Jefferson signed into law a bill approved by Congress "An Act to prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States" and made it unlawful "to import or bring into the United Sates or territories thereof from any foreign kingdom, place or country, any negro, mulatto, or person of colour, with intent to hold, sell, or dispose of such ... as a slave, or to be held to service or labour". (2) Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution clearly spelled out that the international slave trade could not be banned before 1808, and it is only on January 1, 1808, that the American Act went into effect. (3) An Act entitled "An Act to continue in force 'An act to protect the commerce of the United States, and punish the crime of piracy,' and also to make further provisions for punishing the crime of piracy", enacted May 15, 1820, made it unlawful for any citizen of the United States to engage "in the slave trade, or ... being of the crew or ship's com 2 2 2 2 24 with the intent to make a slave ... or forcibly bring... on board any such ship ... .". 3 (4) The transatlantic slave trade was the cap ture and procurement of Africans, mostly from West Africa, in order to bring them to the United States and the colonies that became the United States, for the purpose of enslavement between the sixteenth and late nineteenth centuries. (5) The Middle Passage was the forced migra tion through overseas transport of millions of Africans to the Americas, many of whom suffered abuses of rape and perished as a result of torture, malnutri tion, disease, and resistance in transit, with those who survived sold into slavery. (6) During the transatlantic slave trade more than 12,000,000 Africans were transported in bondage from their African homelands to the Americas. (7) The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States recognizes that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.". (8) The slave trade and the legacy of slavery continue to have a profound impact on social and economic disparity, hatred, bias, racism, and dis HR 3432 IH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 6 10 11 12 4 crimination, and continue to affect people of African descent today. (9) In 2007, the British Parliament marked the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the former British Empire with plans launched by the Department for Education and Skills which provided joint funding of £910,000 ($1,800,000) for the understanding slavery initiative, and the Heritage Lottery Fund announced awards of over £20,000,000 ($40,000,000) for projects to commemorate the anniversary. (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to estab13 lish the 200th Anniversary Commemoration Commission 14 of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade to— (1) ensure a suitable national observance of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade by sponsoring and supporting commemorative programs; 15 16 17 (2) cooperate with and assist the programs and activities throughout the United States in observance of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade; (3) assist in ensuring that the observations of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the trans atlantic slave trade are inclusive and appropriately |