Andre Carson: “I want to thank my friend, Congressman Rokita, who has done a great job at representing his constituents, and we…”

“I want to thank my friend, Congressman Rokita, who has done a great job at representing his constituents, and we appreciate him for assembling a great body of Hoosiers from all across the great State of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate a milestone in Indiana's history, the bicentennial of our great State. For the past 200 years, Indiana has stood as a beacon of opportunity for millions of Hoosiers who came to the State to make a better life for themselves and their families. Indiana's history stems from our earliest Native American inhabitants. In fact, the State's name literally means ``land of the Indians.'' Early settlers befriended Native Americans as they came from New York in the Northeast, Kentucky in the South, and Ohio in the Midwest. They settled across a geography as varied as Indiana's people, stretching from rolling hills in southern Brown County to flat and sandy in the north along the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. These influences created a melting pot of influences that remain today. Over the past 200 years, Mr. Speaker, Indiana has been home to countless colorful and transformative figures like the Jackson 5, Larry Bird, John Cougar Mellencamp, Dan Quayle, Babyface, Mike Epps, and countless others. But more than any individual, Mr. Speaker, when folks think of Indiana, they think of racing, they think of basketball. In fact, the great Hoosier State is credited with the origin of high school basketball.…”