Political Quotes

“First of all, I want to thank Chairman Conyers for yielding time, and I also want to thank him for his historical memories of the life of Lena Horne. Some people were fortunate to read about her, but I believe that Chairman Conyers is old enough to remember her during her heyday. As a matter of fact, I am also. And I never shall forget my sister and I having the opportunity to go and watch 'Cabin in the Sky' when we were little kids. As a matter of fact, Chris and I talked about that experience with each other all the way up until the time that she died a few years ago. I mean, for us, that was the most memorable thing that we had ever seen, that we had ever done, that we had ever been able to do. We didn't know much about civil rights at that time. As a matter of fact, I guess we were a little young to know much about civil rights. But we did know that we just revered this lady, Lena Horne. And then later on as we got older, we were able to appreciate her in different kinds of roles as not only an entertainer, not only a great performer, but also one who had a tremendous amount of spirit in relationship to what it is that she taught. She taught that you really didn't have to take certain kinds of roles if you didn't want them and if you didn't see yourself that way; that it didn't matter what anybody called you; that what really mattered was what you answered to.”