Brian Jones: “I thank the distinguished co-chair of this incredible Special Order sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus for…”

“I thank the distinguished co-chair of this incredible Special Order sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus for those very kind words. I will say, as someone who has spent most of his life following the work of this Black Caucus, it is an honor to finally join the legends, the luminaries who helped to inspire my own run for the United States Congress. Thank you. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the CBC for holding this hour to reflect on Black history. I want to share, in particular, the story of a young lawyer who came to the village of Hillburn in Rockland County, New York, during his fight to desegregate our public schools. {time} 2100 Like many places in 1943, the Village of Hillburn had a main school for White children. It was called the Hillburn School. And it had a school for children of color without a library, a playground, or indoor plumbing. That was called the Brook School. But our elders did not accept this. They fought back. Parents of the Brook School children organized and, with the help of a young attorney with the NAACP's legal defense fund, they sued the district. With the help of their lawyer, the parents of the Brook School children won their fight against segregation in a case that helped to lay the groundwork for Brown v. Board of Education 11 years later. Who was this young lawyer who came to the Village of Hillburn? He was the man who would later become our Nation's first Supreme Court Justice who was Black: Thurgood Marshall.…”