Political Quotes

“I rise in strong support of this legislation that my colleague from Illinois is handling. I agree with Senator Wofford and Senator Moseley-Braun that to say we are going to have a Commission but we are not going to fund it would be the worst kind of message that we could possibly send. It is a world where we need, as Senator Wofford and my colleague have said, where we need this message, and all these things tie in together. What happened in South Africa just a few days ago in part is a reflection of the leadership of Martin Luther King. Senator Moseley-Braun and I had the privilege of being down there for that inauguration. That night, the last ceremony we were at, we joined hands in singing 'We Shall Overcome,' the same song we have sung and used to sing, particularly during the civil rights struggle. This also happens to be very close to the 40th anniversary of the Brown decision. The Brown decision did not work in every way like we had hoped, but Martin Luther King's efforts would not have been possible without the Brown decision. His success would not have been possible without that Brown decision. While the Brown decision has not worked in terms of integrating our society as fully as many of us expected and hoped at that point, there is no question we are a better society because of that Brown decision. I come from southern Illinois. We had segregated schools long after the Brown decision.”