Political Quotes

“It is truly a privilege and pleasure this morning to welcome to the Senate a remarkable individual who opened the Senate with a prayer this morning. He has lived an equally remarkable life and today resides in the community of Southington, CT. In the 80 years we have enjoyed the fortune of having the Reverend Ralph Lord Roy in our midst, he has been an author and columnist, an activist, a teacher, and a radio host, and, of course, a pastor to some 12 different churches and ministries in New York and for some 36 years in Connecticut. At each stop along the way, he has spread the same message: one of justice and tolerance in the face of fear, resentment, anger, and prejudice. In 1961, as part of the Congress of Racial Equality, Reverend Roy was one of the fabled 'Freedom Fighters' who traveled to protest segregation policies in the South, for which he was arrested in Tallahassee. A year later, he led a prayer pilgrimage to Albany, GA, at Martin Luther King's personal request. For his peaceful protests there, praying for the cause of desegregation, Reverend Roy was also arrested. In leading the largest group of clergy to be arrested in American history in Albany, GA, Reverend Roy became the first Caucasian Methodist minister in our Nation to be imprisoned for standing up for the civil rights of all Americans.”