Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Raskin for his leadership in putting focus on the Poor People's Campaign and his advocacy for so many issues of economic justice and racial justice. I want to join my colleagues in recognizing the extraordinary moment in this country that the Poor People's Campaign has had under Reverend Barber's leadership. There was a panel that Senator Warren had a few days ago where Reverend Barber was there and ordinary individuals were testifying about their experiences, the people we should be hearing in Congress. I want to share two quotes, and then share some testimony. One is what Reverend Barber said, which, in my view, makes him one of the great civil rights leaders in this country. He said: I would rather join with you and die trying to change the moral direction of this Nation than to live and die and it be written on my epitaph: ``Lived in the time when moral dissent was necessary. And he, and they, said nothing.'' That requires such courage, and it is so believable. When Dr. Barber was with a number of others at the hearing, they had this chant that before the Poor People's Campaign will fail, they will go to jail. And that sense of civil disobedience for a moral cause is part of the great tradition of our Nation and what has brought change. I want to thank Reverend Barber for being such a moral leader and everyone who is risking arrest, risking their life for justice.…”