Political Quotes

“I would like to discuss something that may not otherwise be discussed this year in this Congress: the wretched state of racial relations in America today. We passed a bill here about a month ago in the House of Representatives to eliminate the term ``Oriental'' from the law books. I submit that eliminating a term does not eliminate the racism that embodies that term, and I think it is about time that we recognize what this problem is, the fact that it still festers in America, and give some thought to what we can do about it. I want to begin by relating two stories, both from my home State of Florida. The first one involves a 16-year-old girl. She was White. She had an encounter with police officers who were also White. She lived on the Atlantic Coast, which is largely White, and I heard about this from a friend of a friend. What happened to her is that her parents got a call from the police officers late one night. They didn't tell her why they were calling, but they said: You have to come to this location. We need to talk to you about your daughter. She is here with us. The mother went to that location, spoke to the White police officers. They informed her that her daughter had been drinking in a car with her boyfriend, and they needed to take her home. She was shaken up a bit, so was the daughter, but everybody ended that night alive. Now I want to tell you a different story. It didn't end so nicely.…”