Hank Johnson: “I thank the gentleman, my friend from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Congressman Dwight Evans, for anchoring this Special…”

“I thank the gentleman, my friend from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Congressman Dwight Evans, for anchoring this Special Order hour, the subject of which is Root Out Racism, #rootoutracism. It is a sensitive topic, somewhat uncomfortable for people, both Black and White, or shall I say dark-skinned and light-skinned. {time} 2000 It is an uncomfortable subject, and no one wants to be accused of being a racist. It has all kinds of emotional connotations and negative connotations, as it should. Because what racism actually is, is a belief, or a doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievements, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior, and has the right to rule others. So in other words, what racism is, is a concept that one believes that their race is superior to the race of someone else. And how racism manifests itself in America, historically, has been that if you are a racist, you are a White person, and you believe that your race is superior to that of a dark-skinned person, a Black person. That has been how racism has unfolded here in America since the White man came to America. Of course, when Christopher Columbus, an Anglo-Saxon from Spain, came to America and discovered America, America was populated, at that time, by what we called the Red man, the Indian, a dark-skinned individual-- darker than the Anglo-Saxon.…”