Zoe Lofgren: “Well, you know it reminds me, Congresswoman, of an incident that happened, and I have only been in this Congress now for…”

“Well, you know it reminds me, Congresswoman, of an incident that happened, and I have only been in this Congress now for 32 months, but I served in local government in California for a number of years, and several years ago the Republican Party in southern California hired guards and posted them around the polls but only in sections of town that were primarily Latino. And, in fact, the Republican Party was sued over that and the court found that it was discriminatory and the Republicans were fined. Many people in California are likening this investigation to that more egregious, and, I would say, intentional, effort to try and discourage Americans who are of Hispanic descent from exercising their franchise, as every other American should do. It is certainly, I think, the wrong message for America, the wrong message for our children to see. We are living in a country, fortunately, where what defines your Americanism is not where your parents or grandparents came from, it is not whether your name is Smith, Wong, or Sanchez, it is not the color of your skin. It is your belief in freedom, it is your belief in the ideals of this country that make you. It is your willingness to stand up for your country that make you an American in belief, and the separating out of Hispanic Americans I think is terribly wrong.”