Austin Scott: “what a great day this is for this House of Representatives to set this moment in time aside to honor one of the world's…”

“what a great day this is for this House of Representatives to set this moment in time aside to honor one of the world's most distinguished citizens. Born into searing, piercing poverty in 1930 at the start of the Great Depression; born when he could fully see, but by the time he was 7 years old he was completely blind; lost his brother at age 5, his mother at age 15, his father absent, Ray Charles, alone in the world. But he had a genius. He had a gift deep inside of him. And his mother had the good fortune of placing him in the Florida School for the Blind, and there Ray Charles found his way to a piano. And then he learned how to play the guitar, the saxophone, the drums. What a musical genius. The hits came: 'Hit the Road, Jack,' 'That Lucky Old Sun,' 'I Can't Stop Loving You.' All of these great songs were manifested by the arena and the environment in which Ray Charles grew up. He got the gospel from the church. He got the blues from the honky tonks and the juke joints. He got his classical training where he could play Chopin, Strauss, and Beethoven. No musical genre did Ray Charles not capture. The beauty of it all was that Ray Charles transcended racial lines, economic lines, so that no matter where your standing in life, when you heard Ray Charles' voice, you felt it deep in the marrow of your bones.”