Political Quotes

“it is not very often that I appear before my colleagues in the well, but today I want to offer a special tribute to a young lady, a great American, with a proud Samoan heritage who just graduated from West Point. While it may be a common occurrence among my colleagues to witness a countless source of our Nation's finest young men and women who are nominated and accepted every year to attend our military academies, it is a very rare occasion for me to celebrate such an event among Samoan Americans, especially when there are only about 150,000 of us throughout the United States. First, my sincere thanks to the gentlewoman from Florida [Ms. Ros-Lehtinen], who after evaluating Salamasina Strokin's application, nominated her 4 years ago to attend West Point. Salamasina's father is a retired military officer himself from Florida, but her mother, Sina, is Samoan, and this is what makes this story special, Mr. Speaker. Salamasina's mother passed away last year and it was her dream to see that her daughter graduated from West Point. Nevertheless, Salamasina kept on going because she knew her mother would not want her to quit now regardless of what happened. To my knowledge, Mr. Speaker, I believe Salamasina Strokin is the only Samoan American who has graduated from West Point, and I pay this special tribute to her late mother, her father, her relatives, and her friends. This is certainly a proud moment for our Samoan community, and I give all my best to 2d Lt.…”